The Runaway (1972) User Reviews

Nostalgia for a lost era

[lazarillo · 4 November 2007]

I really like these kind of movies from the lost period early 70's era. They don't have the annoying, rose-colored Baby Boomer nostalgia of some of the earlier 60's films (in fact, they all kind of have the dark pall the Manson family hanging over them), but neither are they the typical reactionary crap we've been spoon-fed by corporate Hollywood since the Reagan era. Biker movie-vet William Smith plays a detective who is looking for a runaway teenage girl who is trying to "find herself" in a Southern California commune. He plays kind of parental/authority figure to the girl (which doesn't stop him from sleeping with her, of course, this being the early 70's and all). There is a lot of groovy music, an extended acid freak-out scene, and the general lack of a coherent plot that tended to characterize these kind of films.

This is the kind of film that makes me strangely nostalgic for an era I barely remember. I would have liked to have dropped acid and grooved on the beach to hippy-dippy music with a bunch bra-less chicks from "The Brady Bunch" era, but being only two years old at the time I never really got the chance. Oh well. They seem to be resurrecting a lot of these type of movies recently ("The Van", "The Pick-Up", "Girls on the Road"). Maybe they'll get around to this one soon. Check it out if you get a chance.

spoiler possible, same sex experimentalism, broken homes

[seadave · 10/10 · 26 July 2008]

I give this movie an excellent rating because I was able to watch the whole thing and it kept my attention. This is pretty explicit subject matter for a 1971 release with the overt lesbianism in the movie.

The main actress did a good job of looking like a 17 year old when she was actually 24 when this was made. Her demeanor of not being assertive or in control makes her seem like a traditional young girl for the time.

She said she was a "freak" to her neighbors where she lived before she ran away but doesn't explain if this is due to her mother's conduct or because of her inability to "be loved" or maybe shame because of where she lived.

Most of the background music is pretty good too. I agree with other reviewers who say these early 1970s flicks pertaining to "serious" subject matters were good even if some parts of the film are outdated since at least they can hold my attention unlike all the movies made since the late 1980s with their loud or exaggerated dialogue and nasty music.