An adopted teen who runs away to what he believes to be his birth town and mother, in the hopes of putting together the missing pieces of his sense of identity. He arrives during a wave of disappearances and murders, only to encounter New England aloofness and some very eccentric relatives.
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I wasn't all that interested in watching Run Stranger, Run -AKA- Happy Mother's Day, Love George at 1st.Knowing Ron Howard was in it, kinda had my curiosity but after seeing Darren McGavin was the director, I definitely had to watch it now.I was really expecting to at least like the movie but after watching it, I don't know what to think.The movie was weird.It starts out (kinda) normal, Ron Howard comes to town, looking for his birth mother in hopes of finding out who his father is.The cast of characters are weird.Everybody has something about them.The movie's vibe is weird & it gets weirder.Towards the end, it turns into a horror flick.Run Stranger, Run -AKA- Happy Mother's Day, Love George was a big, weird mess.I wouldn't recommend anybody watch it anytime soon.It's a movie that if you watch it, you watch it but if you don't then you don't.You're not missing anything at all.Damn, Darren McGavin I was hoping for something way better
When I picked up the box and saw who the cast is (and who the director is), "Happy Mother's Day, Love George" (also called "Run Stranger Run") looked very interesting. It turned out to be a pretty hokey movie, with Ron Howard as a teenager given up for adoption looking for his father in a New England town. It was definitely interesting to see Howard play a role very unlike any of the ones for which he's known, and it's not a bad movie or anything, just kind of corny. Also starring are Patricia Neal's daughter Tessa (whom she had with Roald Dahl), and Simon Oakland (the psychiatrist at the end of "Psycho"). Yeah, who would've predicted the "Dream Lover" singer appearing in a thriller? Then again, who would've predicted his ex wife Sandra Dee starring in an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's book "The Dunwich Horror"?
I took in this early 70s TV thriller last night. A young man (Ron Howard) arrives in a seaside town searching for his real mother and solve the mystery of who his father is. What he doesn't expect is to uncover a series of bizarre disappearances and murders. While the film is a bit slow (the first murder doesn't occur until over an hour in), RUN STRANGER RUN is worth a look. The script by Robert Clouse jumps from initially mysterious to predictable in the end but does carry that PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971) psycho-sexual vibe. What makes RUN interesting is it is the only film directed by actor Darren McGavin. He has a good eye and the last half hour, which includes a great scene in an empty house, is pretty tense. And McGavin fills the film with great supporting performances from Cloris Leachman, Patrica Neal, Bobby Darin and NIGHT STALKER co-star Simon Oakland. Ron Howard gives a wonderful performance as the impish kid but the best work is done by Tessa Dahl, daughter of Roald Dahl, as the psycho killer teen.
S-L-O-W, poorly scripted 70s junk What a disappointment! Patricia Neal acts like she's Bette Davis in WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? The pace is deadly slow--even for a 70s movie--and the Ron Howard character spends scene after scene just wandering through the town. Staring at a house. Wandering some more. Just awful.NOTHING happens the first hour. And the Bobby Darin character suddenly is "gone" and the end is too little too late.Skip it.Runaway, Video viewer, runaway!