Although it
was barely released to
theaters and never made
it to DVD at all, thus
indicating that the
studio which filmed it
had just about abandoned
it, The Stranger is an
interesting little
low-budget thriller.
Bonnie Bedelia plays an
amnesia victim who can
remember only that she
witnessed a triple
homicide, and that she
had an auto accident
while trying to escape
from the men who
committed the murders.
The head trauma from
that very auto accident
is the source of her
amnesia. The police
don't believe her story
because there simply are
no homicide victims
anywhere nearby. A
sympathetic psychiatrist
is determined to get to
the bottom of the
mystery by coaxing the
victim's memories back
to the surface.
I know that amnesia is a
movie cliche which you
probably hate. I
probably hate it more
than you do because I've
seen so many tens of
thousands of movies, all
too many of which rely
on high-concept gimmicks
like this. But I have
learned one thing about
movies in all these
years - just about any
premise, however thin
and contrived, can
result in a watchable
movie if the execution
is up to the challenge.
Some of the best movies
in our lifetimes have
started with
preposterous and/or
high-concept ideas:
Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind,
Inception, Pulp Fiction,
The Usual Suspects,
Leon: the Professional,
Memento (the ultimate
amnesia movie), and so
forth. What about great
classics like It's a
Wonderful Life and The
Seventh Seal? Even the
worst ideas can turn
into great films. The
Stranger is not a great
film, by any means, but
it's a surprisingly good
one considering that
nobody believed in it
and history has
forgotten it.
On the other hand, it's
a film that requires a
great deal of patience.
The beginning of the
film seems to feature
some continuity
problems, some sloppy
mistakes (a woman
running away from the
baddies in high heels -
in the middle of a muddy
farm!), and some
unforgivable cliches
(black-and-white
flashbacks in a color
film). After the first
ten minutes or so, I was
cursing the bad luck
that led me to yet
another sloppy grade-B
movie, but then the
logic of the film
started to kick in.
Bedelia is, after all,
an amnesia victim, and
all of the irritating,
illogical elements of
the film occur within
her hazy memories. By
the end of the film,
there is a satisfactory
explanation for all of
the elements of the film
which annoyed me - even
the black-and-white
flashbacks!
The film is supposed to
take place in a
fictional American town
named Plainville and is
entirely in English, but
was filmed entirely in
Buenos Aires. Alfonso
Aristarian of Argentina,
the director of this
film, never made a mark
in the USA and you
probably never heard of
him, but he is quite
well respected in the
world of
Spanish-language cinema.
This particular film,
while rated a
respectable 6.0 at IMDb,
is actually his
lowest-rated effort.
- (7.75)
- A Place in
the World (1992)
- (7.65)
- Common
Ground (2002)
- (7.54)
- Time for
Revenge (1981)
- (7.47)
- Martin
(Hache) (1997)
- (7.25)
- Roma (2004)
- (6.74)
- Últimos
días de la víctima (1982)
- (6.59)
- The Lion's
Share (1978)
- (6.59)
- La ley de
la frontera (1995)
- (6.02)
- The
Stranger (1987)
His best film, A Place
in the World, was
nominated for the Oscar
for Best Foreign
Language Film, and
several of the above
films have earned him
a long list of
international awards.
Bonnie Bedelia, the
film's star, is one of
those women who always
seemed to deserve a
better career. You know
who she is - Bruce
Willis's wife in those
Die Hard movies. She was
a good enough actress
(Golden Globe and Emmy
nominations) with
classical dance
credentials, a beautiful
face and a great chest.
And she seemed to stay
young forever (she was
41 in The Stranger, but
looked young and fresh).
Of course, she did have
a solid career spanning
more than four decades,
and she's still working
steadily, but it seems
in retrospect that her
talent and beauty could
have moved her up to the
A-list, and it once
seemed that she was
headed in that
direction. Bonnie is
about the same age as
Meryl Streep, but nobody
knew who the hell Streep
was in 1970, while
Bedelia had already
appeared in two
acclaimed films: They
Shoot Horses and Lovers
and Other
Strangers.
What happened? Bonnie
got married in 1969,
started a family soon
afterwards, and
virtually dropped out of
the industry in 1973.
Because she concentrated
on raising her kids, she
made only one film
between 1973 and 1983,
thus essentially missing
the critical years
between age 25 and 35.
Meanwhile, at the end of
that period, between
1978 and 1982, Streep
emerged from obscurity
to become the most
acclaimed actress in
Hollywood. Should that
have been Bonnie? Maybe.
Maybe not. Streep is,
after all, a giant
talent. What we do know
for certain is that the
ruling principle in
Bedelia's career was
"out of sight, out of
mind." That long hiatus
served to derail Bonnie
from her track to
stardom, and it proved
impossible for her to
get back on the express
rails when she returned
at age 35, despite a
great comeback
performance in Heart
Like a Wheel.
(By the way, she was
born Bonnie Culkin, and
is Macaulay's aunt.)
======================================================
Nudity.
I like this. I guess you
can tell that I'm a
Bedelia fan, and this
film has never been
available before in
decent quality, so I'm
just thrilled to get a
decent look at these
scenes!
Here's
the film clip.
Stills below.
