The Deliberate Stranger 1986: Movie and film review from Answers.com

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky
AMG Rating:
Genre: Crime
Movie Type: Crime Drama, Biopic
Themes: Serial Killers
Main Cast: Mark Harmon, Glynnis O'Connor
Release Year: 1986
Country: US
Run Time: 188 minutes

Plot

Mark Harmon stars as baby-faced serial killer Ted Bundy in this sobering 2-part TV movie. Ostensibly the archetypal All-American boy, Bundy was, from 1974 onward, responsible for the rapes and murders of several young women in the Pacific Northwest. The clues begin to mount when one of Bundy's victims manages to escape; she can only say that her assailant was a fellow named Ted who drives a yellow Volkswagen. Finally arrested after he moves from Seattle to Utah, Bundy is so certain of his superiority over the general run of human beings that he conducts his own defense at his trial; then, when extradited to Colorado, he escapes, triggering a desperate nationwide manhunt. At the time Deliberate Stranger was first telecast on May 5 and 6, 1986, Theodore Bundy was on Death Row, still contesting his sentence and seeking a legal way out. When time came for his execution, Bundy attempted several bizarre last-minute "stays," which would make intriguing subject matter should someone want to make a follow-up film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Review

Veteran TV director Marvin J. Chomsky brings a sense of restraint to The Deliberate Stranger, which stars slick, handsome actor Mark Harmon as crafty, all-American serial killer Ted Bundy. Chomsky eschews much overt violence, instead using copious point-of-view shots and cutaways to build a suspenseful tone that's unfortunately undercut by Gil Melle's shrill, largely electronic score. Still, Harmon acquits himself admirably, using his piercing eyes to chill as well as charm and getting inside his character's solipsistic amorality. The script, based on journalist Richard Larsen's best-seller Bundy, The Deliberate Stranger and written by Children of a Lesser God scribe Hesper Anderson, spends lots of time presenting Bundy's relationship with his girlfriend as a sort of absurd soap-opera facade to the man's disturbing nocturnal activities. Unfortunately, Glynnis O'Connor must play the girlfriend, Cas Richter, like a self esteem-challenged dingbat who should have known what was going on. The film doesn't portray the cops much better; in one scene, the '70s detectives are seen rooting for budget approval for a new-fangled computer to help them piece together the theory they can't come up with themselves. Ultimately, it was mere chance that ended Bundy's career -- though not for long, as the rushed presentation of his two escapes and the attendant "Sorority Murders" attest. Like many TV movies, The Deliberate Stranger suffers from its share of cut corners and corny moments, but overall it's a lively and multifaceted account of the murders that helped turn serial killers into modern American bogeymen. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Cast

Starr Andreeff - Jane Maxwell; Jeanetta Arnette - Barbara; John Ashton - Detective Roger Dunn; Conrad Bachmann; William Boyett - Aspen Detective; Maia Brewton; Joshua Bryant - Prosecutor; Billy Green Bush - Officer Bradley - Provo Detective; Cecile Callan; Frederick Coffin - Jerry Thompson; Tom Dahlgren; Rad Daly; Steve Eastin; Terry Farrell; Frederic Forrest - Detective Bob Keppel; Timothy Gibbs - John; Deborah Goodrich - Martha Chambers; George Grizzard - Richard Larsen; Frank Hamilton; Mark Harmon - Ted Bundy; Eric Hart; Chip Heller; Virginia Kiser; Michael Laurence; Rick Lieberman; Emily Longstreth - Susan Delgato; Ben Masters - Detective Mike Fisher; Macon McCalman - Larsen's Editor; Tom McFadden; Dick McGarvin; Harry Northrup; Glynnis O'Connor - Cas Richter; Lawrence Pressman - Ken Wolverton; Jack Rader; Maggie Roswell; Ann Ryerson - Mrs. Hargreaves; Kevin Scannell; Sheri Stoner; Greg Stuart; Joe Unger; M. Emmet Walsh - Detective Sam Davies; Elaine Wilkes - Lisa Rutledge; Rita Zohar - Eleanor Rose; Fred Lerner; Julie Philips; Leilani Sarelle; Will Jeffries; Robert Balderson; Dan Chambers; Roger Hampton; Molly Fontaine - Joann Baker; Peter Vogt; Jill Andre; Bonnie Bartlett - Louise Bundy

Credit

Marvin J. Chomsky - Director, Gil Melle - Composer (Music Score), Michael D. Margulies - Cinematographer, Marvin J. Chomsky - Producer, Hesper Anderson - Screenwriter

The Deliberate Stranger
Directed by	Marvin J. Chomsky
Produced by	Executive Producer: Malcolm Stewart Producer: Marvin J. Chomsky
Written by	Screenplay: Hesper Anderson Novel: Richard W. Larsen
Starring	Mark Harmon Frederic Forrest George Grizzard Maggie Roswell
Music by	Gil Melle
Cinematography	Michael D. Margulies
Editing by	Lori Jane Coleman Howard Kunin Ronald LaVine
Release date(s)	4 May 1986 (television premiere)
Running time	185 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

The Deliberate Stranger

Directed by

Marvin J. Chomsky

Produced by

Executive Producer:
Malcolm Stewart
Producer:
Marvin J. Chomsky

Written by

Screenplay:
Hesper Anderson
Novel:
Richard W. Larsen

Starring

Mark Harmon
Frederic Forrest
George Grizzard
Maggie Roswell

Music by

Gil Melle

Cinematography

Michael D. Margulies

Editing by

Lori Jane Coleman
Howard Kunin
Ronald LaVine

Release date(s)

4 May 1986 (television premiere)

Running time

185 min.

Country

United States

Language

English

Book

Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger was written by a Seattle Times reporter named Richard W. Larsen and published in 1980. Larsen covered politics for the Times and had interviewed Bundy in 1972, years before he became a murder suspect, when Bundy worked as a volunteer for the re-election campaign of Gov. Daniel J. Evans and had been seen trailing the campaign of Evans' Democratic opponent with a video camera. Larsen would go on to cover the "Ted" murders in 1974 and then cover the Ted Bundy story up until Bundy's execution in 1989. Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger was published in paperback in editions as late as 1990 but has since gone out of print.

Television film

The Deliberate Stranger was adapted into a two-part TV movie originally broadcast on NBC in May 1986. The film, based on Larsen's book, starred Mark Harmon as Bundy. The film omits Bundy's childhood, early life, and first five known murders, picking up the story with the murder of Georgeann Hawkins and following Bundy's further crimes in Washington, Utah, Colorado and Florida. Frederic Forrest starred as Seattle detective Robert D. Keppel, and George Grizzard played reporter Larsen.

Bundy's lawyer Polly Nelson, in her book Defending the Devil, characterized the film as "stunningly accurate" and said it did not portray anything that was not proven fact. She singled out for praise Harmon's portrayal of Bundy, noting how Harmon reproduced Bundy's rigid posture and typically suspicious expression.^[1] According to Nelson, her client, still on death row when the program aired, showed no interest in seeing the film.^[2] Ann Rule, who had known Bundy before the murders when they worked together on a suicide crisis hotline, felt that Harmon's portrayal missed the insecurities that lurked under Bundy's confident facade. ^[3] Harmon was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Bundy.^[4]

While the film is accurate in its portrayal of events, the names of all the victims (as well as Bundy's girlfriend) have been changed, with the sole exceptions of victim Denise Naslund and her mother Eleanor Rose.

References

Specific references

Other sources

Larsen, Richard. Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger. Prentice Hall Trade, 1980, 303 p. ISBN 0-13-089185-1.

Nelson, Polly. Defending the Devil: My Story as Ted Bundy's Last Lawyer. 1994, hardback.

Rule, Ann. The Stranger Beside Me. 2000, paperback.

The Deliberate Stranger