The Visitors (1972)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writer:

Chris Kazan (writer)

Release Date:

16 November 1972 (Denmark)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller | Drama

Plot:

Bill, Martha and their little child Hal are spending a quiet winter Sunday in their cosy house when...

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam | Rape | Revenge | Hostage | Veteran

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Patrick McVey	...	Harry Wayne
Patricia Joyce	...	Martha Wayne
James Woods	...	Bill Schmidt
Steve Railsback	...	Mike Nickerson
Chico Martínez	...	Tony Rodrigues

Directed by
Elia Kazan

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Chris Kazan		writer

Produced by
Chris Kazan	....	producer
Nicholas T. Proferes	....	producer

Cinematography by
Nicholas T. Proferes

Film Editing by
Nicholas T. Proferes

Sound Department
Nina Schulman	....	sound editor
Dick Vorisek	....	sound mixer
Dale Whitman	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
William Mamches	....	lighting assistant
Michael L. Mannes	....	lighting designer

Editorial Department
Marilyn Frauenglass	....	assistant editor

Production Companies

• Home Free

Distributors

• United Artists

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Newton, Connecticut, USA

Company:

Home Free

Trivia:

Brian De Palma says on a interview given for the DVD extras of Casualties of War (1989) that the idea from this movie came from the same story that Casualties of War (1989) is based on. The story was published in "The New Yorker" Magazine in 1969, and later became a book. Allegedly Elia Kazan also read the story on The New Yorker and had the idea of a fictional script that showed the after wards of the true history showed in Casualties of War (1989), in which the character played by Sean Penngoes to jail after has been convicted by a martial court of war crimes (he and three outer guys kidnapped, raped and them murdered a Vietnamese girl in the Vietnam war). In the movie, Sean Penn's character, in his trial, promises revenge to Michael J. Foxcharacter, who was the one that reported him.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Casualties of War' (2001) (V)

Soundtrack:

Lute Suite #1

tense and believable

If you look at this in terms of Kazan's career and the way he puts his own experience in every film (even though I'm sure he'd rather not, but he just can't help himself), this is a masterpiece. If you look at it in terms of commercial cinema, you might describe it as an interesting failure. (Leonard Maltin's book describes it as a BOMB.) All I know is that I was on the edge of my seat screaming at the television, it must have had something going for it.

The filming has a "Night of the Living Dead" kind of quality, and is just as harrowing. I wish I didn't relate to Kazan's misanthropic view of humanity, but I do. If you think you're an expert on what makes a good movie, skip this, it's not for you. If you're interested in looking at the dark and fascinating side of people who do evil things, don't miss it. A depressing but great movie. At least someone knows enough about this stuff to put it in a film; the bad part is when we have to live through it.