Jerry Mathers hears screams while playing outside the home where his mother, Betty Garrett, is temporarily employed. Running to the window, he sees her being thrown violently to the floor. Coupled with his witness of the homeowner’s murder, the boy goes into a state of shock as he wanders off, never blinking, down a road until two truck drivers help him to safety. Enter police detective Philip Carey, with the most envious character named Tony Atlas. It is his boy who is rescued, and Mrs. Atlas is being held hostage. He is told of the boy’s condition and then proceeds to find out what happened. Maybe a hug first would have uplifted the boy. Carey’s stoic, low-key performance does not always fit the compassionate father role. Not until they track down the truck driver hours later are they able to locate the secluded farmhouse.
This B-movie includes the usual tense moments as Garrett tries and fails to befriend Corey Allen, one of the three miscreants. This must have been the era to have psychos with bleached blonde hair. From Raymond Burr to Skip Homeier and now Allen. None in the gang have their head screwed on right. We know the three losers are not going to make it, but we do not know how. Seeing their Sociopathic leader, John Drew Barrymore, break down his bravado into a sniveling coward when seriously challenged is...uh...expected. Though the hostage premise is not unique, and the hoods are typical of the era, it is not a total embarrassment.
Location filming adds realism, yet it plays out more like a television episode. Directed by William Asher with a screenplay by Leo Townsend and David Harmon, this seventy-six-minute film was released by Columbia Pictures. The music score was by the five-time Oscar-nominated George Duning.
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