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

Darren McGavin enjoyed a lengthy career as one of Hollywood's most likable and dependable performers, best remembered as intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak in the film and TV series of THE NIGHT STALKER. It may be a surprise to learn that he, like Larry Hagman, directed a single horror film in his heyday, and never did a second (in Hagman's case it was "Son of Blob"). 1973's "Happy Mother's Day, Love George" was of course a torturous title, soon reissued as "Run Stranger Run," under which it was seen far more often. McGavin proves to have a fine visual sense, and allows his powerhouse cast to bring their characters to vivid life, from a script by Robert Clouse, who had previously written McGavin's 1972 Steven Spielberg telefeature "Something Evil," soon to graduate to director himself with Bruce Lee's final film "Enter the Dragon." Fifth billed Ron Howard, after "American Graffiti" but before HAPPY DAYS (his name now shortened from 'Ronny'), actually stars as drifter Johnny Hanson, journeying from Los Angeles to the New England town of Malone Bay (location filming in Nova Scotia in October 1972) to discover the truth about his parents, who gave him up for adoption right after he was born. Cloris Leachman's café owner, Ronda Carlson, recognizes the young man as her son the moment he walks in, driving her cook, Eddie Malone (Bobby Darin), into fits of jealousy. From there, Johnny locates the home of Ronda's estranged sister, Cara Perry (Patricia Neal), and especially Cara's nubile teenage daughter Celia (played by Neal's real life daughter Tessa Dahl), who admits to her cousin her instant attraction and unbearable loneliness. The film moves at a leisurely pace, McGavin happy to indulge his cast in maintaining intrigue despite the more familiar elements. As things escalate into full on horror during the final half hour, only the final encounter between Johnny and the killer rings false, the director seemingly losing interest in a clear denouement. Still, the atmosphere, the banjo-led folksy music score, and the believable performances make up for any shortcomings in the script. Simon Oakland, soon to join McGavin in the KOLCHAK series, makes his final screen appearance as the sheriff, who seems to know everything about everyone, even the identity of Johnny's father, while Bobby Darin would pass away only months after the picture's sparse release. The director's comely wife, Kathie Browne, shows up briefly to become a murder victim, while Gale Garnett, nearly 10 years after her big hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," also comes to a bad end by pushing the desperate culprit into a corner (she had another horror film still ahead, 1980's "The Children"). The greatest impression is left by the lovely Tessa Dahl, only 16 at the time, making it a shame that she forsook her mother's profession of acting to follow that of her father, author Roald Dahl (her daughter is gorgeous model Sophie Dahl). After 30 years of performing in Hollywood, Darren McGavin had what it took to be a director of great promise, but like so many before him left audiences wondering what kind of impact he might have had behind the camera had this initial film found proper distribution, admittedly a tough film to market. Lastly, he does make an uncredited appearance on screen, unrecognizable wearing a mustache in photographs depicting the title character of George Perry, Cara's long dead husband.

Typically strong performances from Cloris Leachman and Patricia Neal are the spotlight attraction in this mostly-forgettable (and, approppriately mostly-forgotten) protoslasher/mystery about adolescent Ron Howard shaking a rural American town full of well kept secrets to its roots when he arrives to search for his biological parents. Meanwhile, resident country-bumpkins are turning up dead. Coincidence? Probably not.

No big surprises to be had here, as the plot takes many highly predictable twists and turns. Regardless, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, LOVE GEORGE is a passable time-waster with a mildly effective low-key atmosphere, and creditable performances by a cast of well-established players offer this project much needed validation.

Neither here nor there...you can certainly live without it.

5.5/10

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."