Runtime: 97 minutes
Directed by: Fred Walton
Starring: Carol Kane, Charles Durning, Tony Beckley, Colleen Dewhurst, Ron O’Neal
From: Columbia
A movie that is more than just its incredible opening 23 minutes. 45 years later there probably are many that know what it is even without having seen the film, which was the camp I was in until last night. It was a blind spot; to be frank, the hesitation to give this a shot was due to what I heard was sandwiched the film between the tremendous opening and a solid final act. Turns out, director Fred Walton made The Sitter in 1977, which I understand was the original version of Stranger’s opening act.
I enjoyed Charles Durning and his loose cannon PI search for the escaped villain from the mental health facility, so the movie’s shifting gears was not a problem due to my amusement at the character’s less than ethical attitude. The beginning brought a particular urban legend to life. Most of what the viewer sees on the screen during the long opening was solely Carol Kane and her interacting with various voices on the phone. It was constructed expertly, had a nice score, and was directed well by Fred Walton.
However, it was Kane and how well she acted which made the opening 23 minutes so memorable—so much so that the key line from the movie is still a part of pop culture and one referenced a decent amount. I was still on board w/ the pivot in the middle act and the other pivot as the final act began.
There are effective horror scares, nice views of Los Angles both old (Torchy’s Bar) and still-current (the Griffith Park Observatory Tunnel as seen in many films), a nice cast, a menacing villain, plenty of 70’s vibes that scratch my itch, an unexpected usage of Billy Preston’s Space Race… When a Stranger Call’s structure was never an issue for me.
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