Sweet Hostage

One of my all-time favorite movies.

I first saw the movie when it ran on t.v. in 1975. After repeated near-misses, I finally got it on tape almost 20 years later. I was already a Linda Blair fan, and this movie introduced me to Martin Sheen (I still have not seen a bad Martin Sheen movie).

The movie gives a moving portrayal of a hopeless love affair. It's a must-see if you enjoy a good tear-jerker.

This is an amazing movie for its time and you can really see the talent of Linda Blair and Martin Sheen in this film. It's about a man who escapes from an asylum and kidnaps a teenage girl. The two of them fall in love, but sadly their love is doomed. It's a story that really stays with you for years. It's well worth watching.

I watched this movie many moons ago and enjoyed it very much. In todays standards it probably would not rate but even if I saw it today I would still love it, wish I could buy the movie on DVD. This movie is for the romantics at heart! It starts off strange and mean and the whole time your rooting for linda blair character to get away, but towards the middle you find yourself wanting them to get along and be together. Martin sheens character is very strange, but towards the end you love him and understand him. Even though he's supposed to be crazy you want to be like him because he sees the world differently, a kinder world until the end.

Martin Sheen gives a rich, rewarding performance in this memorable, underrated television drama. It's rare to find a film simply and honestly built on the budding relationship between just two main characters. Sheen's escaped mental patient and Linda Blair's kidnapped farm girl talk, fight, come to a mutual understanding, and finally become lovers. Sheen spouts poetry to tomboyish Blair, but he grows on her, and she to him. The scenes where they discuss the meaning of words like "symmetry" and "phosphorescence" is charmingly played, and Blair is right in tune with Sheen's reckless, showy abandon. This ABC-TV production, based on Nathaniel Benchley's book "Welcome to Xanadu", is let down a bit by the low budget (as well as by the romantic theme song which plays at the beginning and nearly gives away the plot!), but it has two terrific lead performances and a loose, brisk direction by Lee Philips. "Sweet Hostage" is mighty sweet indeed.

I saw this movie for the first time as a young teenager and fell "in love" with Martin Sheen. The story was excellent and touching. I loved the "exchanges" between the characters and no matter how many times I saw it, I still cried! This is still probably my all-time favorite movie. It's the one that I will always scan the TV guide for to see if it's playing somewhere! A must see movie for romantics at heart, Martin Sheen or Linda Blair fans.