Universal International Pictures
Not part of a collection.
The Night Runner
Are mental patients turned loose too soon?
A mental patient with a violent past is released from the institution, against the advice of his doctors, and sent back to his old neighborhood. Was he released too soon?
- Original title
- The Night Runner
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Nov 13, 2023 · via TMDB
I can't say I am too familiar with Ray Danton, but his dashing good looks and considered performance go some way to keeping this sad and complicated melodrama out of the doldrums. We know from the start that he has been released from a psychiatric hospital (initially against the advice of his doctor who was rather brow-beaten into changing his mind by his board colleagues). It is fairly clear that this man, "Roy", is prone to less lucid moments and his past does limit his opportunities in his new, bustling, environment. "Roy" takes a bus up the coast and along the way alights at a garage where he quite quickly befriends "Hank" (Harry Jackson) and "Amy" (Merry Anders) and decides to take a chalet at a local motel. This is where he encounters "Susan" (Colleen Miller) who's the daughter of the owner "Loren" (Willis Bouchey). There are definite sparks between the young couple, and soon they are all but courting with their friends from the garage. A letter arrives and is read by the father that could change all this - it details the nature of the illness and causes him to lose his temper with his visitor and a rather calculated red mist descends... This is quite a savage indictment of the treatment of mentally ill people who are released, ill-equipped and with no ongoing treatment plan, into a society that is equally ill-equipped to deal with people requiring understanding, tolerance and compassion. At times "Roy" is like a young child exposed to an adult environment where emotions are running high (even when they are not) and Danton plays that character quite effectively. Miller provides for quite a decent foil too and the writing and direction leave much of the man's increasingly overwhelming predicament to our imagination. It is terribly over-scored, far too much heavy and loud music to create a tension that is doing fine by itself, and the pace isn't always the best but otherwise this is a surprisingly thought-provoking low-budget drama that is certainly worth a watch.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Ray Danton
Roy Turner
Colleen Miller
Susan Mayes
Merry Anders
Amy Hansen
Willis Bouchey
Loren Mayes
Harry Jackson
Hank Hansen
Robert Anderson
Ed Wallace
Eddy Waller
Vernon
John Stephenson
Dr. Crawford
Richard H. Cutting
Male interviewer (as Richard Cutting)
Steve Pendleton
Captain Reynolds
George Barrows
Bus Driver (uncredited)
Marshall Bradford
Mailman (uncredited)
Diana Darrin
Waitress (uncredited)
Bill Erwin
McDermott--Fingerprint Man (uncredited)
Sam Flint
Stanley--Elderly Man (uncredited)
John Pickard
Dr. Harold Fisher (uncredited)
Dale Van Sickel
Bus Driver (uncredited)
Bud Westmore
Makeup Artist
Abner Biberman
Director
Frank Skinner
Music
Heinz Roemheld
Music
Henry Mancini
Original Music Composer
Vindicta
Deadly Revisions
The Witness
My Diary of Lies
Children of Paradise
A Time to Kill
Blue Velvet
Sleepers
Dolls
Fury
The Killers
Running Out of Time
Almost Human
The Aura
Catatonia
Tsotsi
Darkness at Noon
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
Beast
Hot Road
Hard Candy
The Bounty
Manic
Belle Époque
Young and Innocent
Dying to Win
The General's Daughter
Bubble
Sharky's Machine
American Gigolo
Stuck
White Rabbit
A Free Soul
Lady in White
Burke & Hare
The Crooked Web
Black Friday
We Are What We Are
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
The King of the Hill
Goodbye Lover
The Alibi
The Omen
Sliver
48 hours in Israel
The Roommate
Settle the Score
Resurrection
Don't Look Back
Firetrap
I Demand Payment
The Hand of Now
Boarding Gate
Midnight Movie
G.P.S.
The Wind, in the Evening
The Hyena
Her Private Affair
International Prostitution : Brigade criminelle
Marit
Rear Window
Gaslight
Fourteen Hours
Skater Girl
The Three Faces of Eve
The Naked City
Kiss of Death
While the City Sleeps
Flicka
Each Dawn I Die
The Interview
The Glass Key
Bedlam
Indemnity
No Name on the Bullet
Midnight Lace
Time Without Pity
Instinct
Reality
A Double Life
Witness to Murder
Chief of Station
Sound of Christmas
Knock on Any Door
The Mean Season
The Escapist
Black Widow
Shock
The Truth About Emanuel
Edmond
Permanent Vacation
The Quiller Memorandum
Ballistic
Apr 2, 1957
