The 1970s brought a number of things: disco, disaster movies, and the rise of televangelists. But the Me Decade also brought about a revolution in prime time. Not only did series like "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son" debut, but movies started getting made for TV. One of these was "Sweet Hostage", based on Nathaniel Benchley's "Welcome to Xanadu". Martin Sheen plays an escaped mental patient who kidnaps a farm girl (Linda Blair), and the two of them develop a relationship. Their roles are reversed from what you might expect: he's a worldly guy while she can barely read and has no prospects in life. To be certain, he often corrects her grammar.It was interesting seeing Linda Blair in a role very different from the one with which she's most associated. At a Wizard World convention last year I got her autograph. She's a really nice person. Martin Sheen had just played a delinquent in Terrence Malick's "Badlands", so this wasn't a totally new role for him. Both do a great job with the characters. I really liked the scene where Sheen's character and the Indian do the Vulcan salute; that scene now feels like a tribute to Leonard Nimoy.Nathaniel Benchley was the father of "Jaws" author Peter Benchley, and it turns out that Nathaniel Benchley's father was also a noted author. The director, Lee Philips, had directed a completely different kind of TV movie the previous year: "The Stranger Within", starring Barbara Eden as a woman who inexplicably becomes pregnant and then starts behaving very strangely (it had to be the only movie in which Barbara Eden looks terrifying).All in all, I thought that this was a good movie. I wish that more movies got filmed in New Mexico. I really liked it when I spent spring break there in 2002. And above all, please remember to use correct grammar ("if I had done X yesterday", NOT "if I did X yesterday" or "if I would have done X yesterday").

A synopsis has already been provided by another user.I just wanted to comment on the film.Linda Denise Blair and Martin Sheen truly shine in this movie. Based on Welcome to Xandu by Nathaniel Benchley (father of Peter Benchley of Jaws' fame), the movie is funny, cheerful, tense, upsetting, romantic, and tragic.Linda is my favorite actress of all times, and this is her greatest performance. It is also Linda at her most beautiful and charming.Martin puts forth a delightful performance.The character Leonard Hatch is clearly not an insane man.He is in all honesty just misunderstood.Doris Mae is trapped by her narrowed minded parents who aspire to see her remain ignorant and completely uneducated.Leonard opens her mind and provides Doris Mae, a.k.a Christa Bell, with the beginning of an education and buys her her first dress.It is my favorite movie of all times!

I watched this movie many moons ago and enjoyed it very much. In todays standards it probably would not rate but even if I saw it today I would still love it, wish I could buy the movie on DVD. This movie is for the romantics at heart! It starts off strange and mean and the whole time your rooting for linda blair character to get away, but towards the middle you find yourself wanting them to get along and be together. Martin sheens character is very strange, but towards the end you love him and understand him. Even though he's supposed to be crazy you want to be like him because he sees the world differently, a kinder world until the end.

I am a Girl from Germany and I am 15 years old. I have seen "Sweet hostage" ( It is called "Geliebte Geisel" in Germany) few weeks ago( for the first time). And now i cannot forget the movie. It a movie from the seventies, but it is nicer than all movies today. I love Martin Sheens character in this movie and the whole story.Now I am searching photos of the movie (internet), but I cannot find any. I hope I will see the movie again soon. And I know that I won't forget it anymore in my whole life!I just can say: It is a wonderful Movie!