All the Kind Strangers

This is just a made-for-TV movie, but it is creepy fun. It is also the rare scary movie that you can safely watch with your kids, without traumatizing them. In fact the movie carries quite a strong family values message. There is no explicit gory violence, so those who watch movies looking for that would be disappointed. The thrills here are mostly of the anticipatory kind. I think kids from about 8 to 14 will find much in this movie that they can identify with and that will make them uneasy about how they would react in the situation. There is very good work from Stacy Keach and John Savage and a young Robbie Benson is as good as he ever gets.

The story here is about backwoods children who lure unsuspecting adults to their house in the deep forest where they imprison them and force them to be their parents. Those who do not shape up are killed. It's an interesting idea and its played out pretty well. It has an effective off-kilter atmosphere, even if it never really gets very tense. The acting was decent enough with some good players like Stacey 'The Long Riders' Keach, Samantha 'The Brood' Eggar and a young John 'Salvador' Savage.

I do have a fondness for 70's TV movies to be fair and I did see this one when I was very young on UK daytime television sometime around 1980. I couldn't actually remember it though so it was interesting to see it again all these years later. I might be in the minority possibly but I also liked the title song. It was a very early 70's idea to include these types of breezy folk-pop songs in movies and I am always a bit of a sucker for this kind of thing and it does add a certain cozy charm here.

A couple traveling through a backwoods area are held by a a group of orphans who want them to become their parents.

Unfortunately, the kids have a habit of killing adults who refuse that particular honor.

TV movie from the 70s when harder, more adult film work was possible.

Stacy Keach at the height of his coke habit.

It's a pretty good movie.

TV doesn't make good anything any more so cherish this.

It's very well made and directed. The 70s were a good time for TV movies

This movie is kind of like "Lord of the Flies". A family of children (no mother or father present) desire to have guardians (Mom and Dad), so they kidnap a man and woman to be just that. What happens next is (of course) the movie. One thing to note is that not every one of the children (in fact most of them are not) aware of the secret!

I really love TV-horror/thriller movies from the 1970s. They are short, straightforward and usually compensate in atmosphere and plot- ingenuity for what they lack in action footage or make-up effects. "All the Kind Strangers" is a decent example of such a 70s tale with a very murky and unsettling premise and a thoroughly unpredictable atmosphere of tension. Macho freelance photographer Jimmy Wheeler is driving through rural roads in his fancy and brand new convertible when he stops to give a lift to a 7-year-old kid carrying large bags of groceries. He quickly regrets this, however, as he ends up at the backwoods equivalent of the Von Trapp family with seven parentless children living in the middle of a swamp. Unfortunately, they don't sing of Do-Re-Mi and – under the eerie leadership of the oldest brother Peter – they have the nasty habit of forcing random helpful strangers to become their reluctant ma's and pa's. They already reverse-adopted the terrified Samantha Eggar as their mommy, and now they see the ideal role-model father in Mr. Wheeler even though he doesn't share their enthusiasm. "All the Kind Strangers" is very compelling and ominous throughout the first hour, with notably uncanny scenes at the dinner table or during the boat trip on the creek. The hopelessness in Stacy Keach's eyes, the fear in Samantha Eggar's eyes and the madness in John Savage's eyes are extremely realistic and make even the most hardened viewer feel uncomfortable. In fact, "All the Kind Strangers" easily would have ranked in the top 10 of greatest TV-thrillers of the 70s if only it weren't for the daft and utterly disappointing anti-climax. The bad ending alone costs this otherwise fine TV-thriller a mere 2 or 3 points in the rating.