Happy Mother's Day, Love George

Like PEYTON PLACE, this film brings murder, mystery, and scandal to a small New England community. Ron Howard is the new boy in town, an adopted teen who is trying to track down his natural parents. Even after a genuinely touching reunion with his mother(Cloris Leachman), she is still adament about revealing his father's name. As he continues to search for clues to his father's identity, the community is ravaged by a series of bloody knife and cleaver murders which are unfortunately closely connected to Howard's past. Patricia Neal co-stars as Howard's eccentric aunt who has her hands full trying to keep her very disturbed daughter from discovering the bizarre truth about her father's death. Neal's daughter is played by Tessa Dahl, her daughter in real life as well. Former singing idol Bobby Darin also does fine work as Leachman's cook and live-in-lover who wants Howard to leave town and go back to where he came from. The film was the directorial debut of the brilliant character actor Darren McGavin who seems to be just at home behind the camera as he is in front of it. Although there are several scary and suspenseful scenes, the character development, acting, and direction are the three top elements that make this movie click. - CHAD EDWARDS

This is an interesting film in that it's one of the first cinematic efforts of a TV actor who would go on to become one of Hollywood's most famous directors (Ron Howard) and the sole directorial effort by another (at the time even more famous) TV actor, Darren "The Nightstalker" McGavin.

The interesting cast also includes singer Bobby Darin and McGavin's "Nightstalker" co-star Simon Oakland. But perhaps the two real heavyweights here are Patricia Neal and Cloris Leachman as two feuding sisters living in a small New England town. Howard plays the teenage son of Leachman, who she gave up when he was a baby due to a scandal which might have had something to do with the mysterious death of her sister's husband (the "George" of the title). The small town is also plagued more recently by the disappearances of a number of middle-age men (including later in "Jaws 2"). Howard's character quickly becomes a suspect when he returns to the town after many years, but there's also the two sisters, the mother's jealous boyfriend (Darin), and the aunt/sister's sexually precocious teenage daughter (Tessa Dahl), who speaks in an English accent for no real reason and immediately tries to seduce her own first cousin (who may be even MORE than a cousin).

Interestingly, despite its predominantly American cast, this movie very much resembles another early 70's Patricia Neal movie, the British film "The Night Digger". Tessa Dahl,who gets an "introducing" credit here, is Neal's real-life daughter and her father is Brit poet/writer Raould Dahl (which would explain the English accent,I guess). Raould Dahl had written the screenplay for "The Night Digger"; according to the credits he had nothing to do with this film, but the two films are strangely similar nevertheless. This film is brilliantly acted, suitably atmospheric, and well-scripted until the very end, which is very abrupt and pretty much non-sensical. The ending is definitely flawed, but this is still an interesting movie. I'd like to know more of the story behind it.

This effectively staged shocker was the directorial debut of veteran character actor Darren McGavin who gained some familiarity with the genre having starred in the brilliant horror teleseries KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER, which he occasionally directed episodes of. McGavin's film is definitely not your typical slasher flick. This chilling little number concentrates more on plot and character instead of piling on old-fashioned buckets of blood and is all the better for it. Walter Lassally's striking photography of the Nova Scotia locations is another one of the film's chief assets. But what separates the film most of all from others of its day is the superb all-star cast. Ron Howard(THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, HAPPY DAYS) plays the desperate teen searching for his parents, Cloris Leachman(THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW) plays his estranged mother, and the great Patricia Neal(HUD, THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES) plays his eccentric aunt. Also featured in the star-studded cast is director McGavin's former KOLCHAK co-star Simon Oakland as a nosy sheriff, and Bobby Darin(CAPTAIN NEWMAN M.D.) as Leachman's live-in lover. Everyone is excellent, but the most memorable performance is given by Neal's daughter, Tessa Dahl, who plays her daughter in the film as well. Those who wish to seek out this sadly overlooked gem should note that it's available on video under a completely different title: RUN, STRANGER, RUN. It's a little hard to find these days, but should you be fortunate enough to come across it, don't miss it!

Three Oscar winners-Patricia Neal, Cloris Leachman and Ron Howard are stuck in this strange mishmash of a movie.

What starts out as a drama about a young man searching for his roots takes an extreme wrong turn about 3/4 of the way through and becomes a slasher flick for no discernible reason. Up until then it's not a bad little film but that severe shift in tone scuttles the movie completely. How did this ever attach a cast like this to such a messy enterprise? Perhaps old trouper Darren McGavin in the director chair was able to convince his actor friends to join the project but it does none of them any favors.

Following the previous year's "You'll Like My Mother," starring the equally All-American Richard Thomas, this film plays off the boyishness of the lead for added effect. The location filming is great, if only a bit tedious, and we are entertained by Patricia Neal's scenery-chewing. Cloris Leachman actually underplays her role. Bobby Darin is wasted as a throw-away supporting character.

The plot is a bit interesting, although the killer's identity is telegraphed within the first fifteen minutes.

Ron Howard is directed well by Darren McGavin, revealing that the former could have been a much more serious actor, but was instead saddled with the horrendous "Happy Days" series the next year. McGavin sandwiched this between the "The Night Stalker" TV movie in 72, and the subsequent series (as an actor, of course).

Tessa Dahl is tolerable as the disturbed young woman.

Worth a watch, but don't expect, well, "You'll Like My Mother."