The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie

A traveling salesman (Ken Howard)gives a teenage half-breed hitchhiker (Bonnie Bedelia) a ride to her isolated shack of a home and soon finds himself with two flat tires and a broken leg, and confined to the bed in the shack at the mercy of this strange young girl, as well as a vicious biker (Anthony Zerbe) who comes to the remote shack looking for some hidden gold. . .

The comparison of this movie to Stephen King's "Misery" is obvious but pretty facile I think. First off, it's probably much less 'miserable" to be the love slave of a young Bonnie Bedelia than of Kathy Bates (and the truly grotesque character I personally envisioned from King's book makes even Kathy Bates look like Bonnie Bedelia in comparison). Moreover though, Bedelia's "Rosalie" is clearly intended to be a sympathetic rather than terrifying character here. She is a real naif, and perhaps not too bright, and she has been terribly abused by all the men in her life from her recently deceased father to Zerbe's biker (who had previously raped her). Even her captive here manages to manipulate her terribly and as a result he does not necessarily have the audience's full sympathy.

This movie is very interesting in that it's not really a horror film like "Misery". Nor is it really a sex fantasy (or sex fantasy gone wrong) like the later 70's film "Death Game". But rather it is a serious, two-or-three character drama. The end, unfortunately, which involves "Rosalie's" real "vengeance", is not very believable. It is very well acted though, especially by Bedelia. I too am surprised it hasn't been legitimately released on DVD yet--Bedelia would, of course, go to star in "Die Hard", Zerbe had previously been in "The Omega Man", director Jack Starret would go to do the 70's cult favorite "Race with the Devil", and Howard go on to, uh, the 70's TV series "The White Shadow". I suspect that (unlike a lot of stuff I watch) this WILL be on DVD someday. You might wait until then, but definitely check it out.

The plot, as told by figjam (I'll try not to be too corny):

> A stranded and dirty teenage girl is picked up along a desolate strip of highway by a traveling salesman. Being very straight-lace as defined by the times, he's at a loss as to how to react to (and protect himself from) the primal instincts of a lost, lonely little girl.

> Unable to read or write, unable to understand the concept of hygiene, her closest "companion" being her rapist, all the girl needs is the help of a social worker. How do you get her the help she needs when you're her captive? > She needs companionship, but she doesn't know this and therefore, can't articulate it. She tries to keep the salesman from leaving her at any cost.

> The key words to understanding Rosalie are GROTESQUE INNOCENCE. It's this innocence that makes this movie better than Misery (according to me). I wonder if this is the vision that Stephen King had for Misery but couldn't quite achieve.

Since my fifty years as a movie buff, I had never heard of this Jack Starett's movie. He who is one of my favorite seventies director. This one shows us Bonnie Bedelia sixteen years before she becomes Mrs Holy - Generro - McLane in DIE HARD, and several years after her performance in THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY. This is a strange but not uninteresting film, that can make you think of MISERY in terms of scheme and settings; isolation and more or less disturbed characters. I am very happy to have discovered this little gem. I still don't uderstand how this film could remain under my radars.....

Childish and slightly unhinged Rosalie imprisons hapless jewelry salesman Virgil in her dusty farm.Poor guy is strapped to an iron bed after Rosalie has broken his leg with the back end of an axe.Suddenly a demented biker appears and they both find themselves dominated and tormented by him...I am fairly sure that after watching "The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie" Stephen King took the main idea to write his bestselling novel "Misery".Bonnie Bedelia is excellent as the uneducated,naive and aggressive captor.The final twist is rather silly,but I liked dry and utterly remote desert setting.The film was cut by the studio to achieve the desired PG rating.Thankfully I managed to see all the nude scenes censored from American release.8 out of 10.Very rare 70's film from director Jack Starrett of "Race with the Devil" fame.

Richard (Ken Howard) is very clean and white in comparison to a brown and dusty landscape filled with brown, dusty people. He stands out like a cultivated plant in a wild desert garden. Rosalie is the girl you, at times, feel sorry for and, at times, are just simply disgusted with. Bonnie Bedelia does a wonderful job of playing her with a very hard stubborn edge that can drive you crazy. You will leave this movie feeling bewildered and frustrated to all hell.