User reviews

The course traversed by The Night Runner careens from the mildly impressive to the disappointing. On the one hand, there are a few strikingly shot night scenes, a tight story line, and an able performance by its handsome but less than mesmerizing star, Ray Danton (later to star as the `Aspirin Kid' in The Beat Generation and in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond). On the other, there's a budget of about $699, a forgettable supporting cast, and a self-sabotaging way of not following through on its strengths but settling for narrative clichés instead.

Owing to economic pressures, Danton gains release, against the better judgement of his doctor, from the mental institution where he's been confined - there was a vague, violent incident in his past. But he's unequipped for the outside world. In Los Angeles, he bolts from a job interview when asked to fill in the holes in his resumé and starts to assault a man in the street he bumps into. Trying a geographic cure, he gets aboard a Greyhound, takes a liking to a little coastal town during a rest stop, and decides to stay.

He books a room in an off-season motel where he raises suspicions in the owner (Willis Bouchey) but falls for his daughter (Colleen Miller). The salt air, a new job in the aerospace industry and the prospect of romance do wonders until Bouchey, having ferreted out the dark secret, locks Danton out of his room and bids him hit the road. Whereupon Danton kills him, making it look like a robbery, and carries on his courtship with the bereaved Miller as if nothing had happened. But when evidence that he played a part in the slaying starts surfacing (even though one character observes that `A lot of people spill nail polish on money'), his false façade of stability starts to topple....

The man behind The Night Runner, Abner Biberman, was a minor actor (often playing Asian roles!) from the mid-1930s until he turned to directing in the mid-1950s. Frustratingly, he shows glimmers of talent, even sensitivity, but ultimately chooses a facile, melodramatic path (though Universal International Pictures may have forced his hand). The script is prescient about the too-early release from institutions of psychiatric patients not yet ready to cope with the stresses and responsibilities of daily living, an enlightened view underscored by Danton's largely restrained performance. But then the inexorable machinery of the suspense plot demands that he erupt as a psycho-killer. Still, the movie's end unmasks Danton as not quite a monster but rather a misfit with some sad insight into why the `normal' life he craves can never be his.

Ray Danton is in a psychiatric asylum; under pressure, he had cracked and tried to kill some one. His psychiatrist thinks he is getting better, but not yet ready to be released. The supervisors point out the overcrowding, the fact he is carrying more than three times his recommended patient load, and asks how much good he can do Danton or his other patients. And so Danton is released. He tries to get a job as a draftsman, but when asked about the two-year gap since his last employment, he runs. At a bus stop near the ocean, he finds the people friendly, so he moves into a motel run by Willis Bouchey and his daughter, Colleen Miller. He starts to feel better, and falls in love with Miss Miller, and perhaps she with him. But how long can this return to normalcy last?

Abner Biberman's last movie as director -- he continued to work on episodic television until the early 1970s -- is a well-meaning study with a plea for better psychiatric funding. It's directed in a dry fashion, and Danton is pretty good in the lead role, aided by George Robinson's subtle lighting changes and a score that well reflects the moods of the lead.

I can't say I am too familiar with Ray Danton, but his dashing good looks and considered performance go some way to keeping this sad and complicated melodrama out of the doldrums. We know from the start that he has been released from a psychiatric hospital (initially against the advice of his doctor who was rather brow-beaten into changing his mind by his board colleagues). It is fairly clear that this man, "Roy", is prone to less lucid moments and his past does limit his opportunities in his new, bustling, environment. "Roy" takes a bus up the coast and along the way alights at a garage where he quite quickly befriends "Hank" (Harry Jackson) and "Amy" (Merry Anders) and decides to take a chalet at a local motel. This is where he encounters "Susan" (Colleen Miller) who's the daughter of the owner "Loren" (Willis Bouchey). There are definite sparks between the young couple, and soon they are all but courting with their friends from the garage. A letter arrives and is read by the father that could change all this - it details the nature of the illness and causes him to lose his temper with his visitor and a rather calculated red mist descends... This is quite a savage indictment of the treatment of mentally ill people who are released, ill-equipped and with no ongoing treatment plan, into a society that is equally ill-equipped to deal with people requiring understanding, tolerance and compassion. At times "Roy" is like a young child exposed to an adult environment where emotions are running high (even when they are not) and Danton plays that character quite effectively. Miller provides for quite a decent foil too and the writing and direction leave much of the man's increasingly overwhelming predicament to our imagination. It is terribly over-scored, far too much heavy and loud music to create a tension that is doing fine by itself, and the pace isn't always the best but otherwise this is a surprisingly thought-provoking low-budget drama that is certainly worth a watch.

A patient released prematurely from a mental hospital tries to find a new life at a roadside stopover.

I can't imagine more than ten people saw this little oddity in a theatre. I expect the movie's risky downer material got made because it was so cheap to produce. Reviewer bmacy's right —the budget is rock bottom, a few shots of the Malibu coastline, an office interior, and that's pretty much it, along with a minimal cast. So why has the movie stayed with me over the years, instead of being just another forgotten cheapo.

The film's not a minor gem—that would be too much of a stretch. Instead, I think Danton's performance manages a level that truly disturbs, especially with the tight script and noirish background. Catch the occasional little motion or grimace betraying Roy's (Danton) inner turmoil as he struggles with a society full of minor pressures. It's a carefully calibrated performance that shows how an emotive "more" can be expressed by a judicious "less". And since Roy is basically a likable guy, his plight becomes doubly affecting as he tries to blend into a normal life. That last lonely shot of him is, I think, one of the more disturbing to come out of the generally cheerful 1950's.

On a different note—I suspect Hitchcock, also at Universal at the time, caught this minor production since the project bears certain key similarities to Psycho (1960). Consider, for example, the roadside motel, the disturbed personality, the brutal murder, along with the symbolic use of birds, in this case sea gulls. Nothing really hangs on the comparison, except maybe the notion that a widely acclaimed classic managed to grow out of an obscure seedbed. Anyway, this little oddity has its own peculiar virtues, so catch up with it if you can.

Tell me what comes to your mind when you hear these several circumstances: 1. A remote motel, 2. A serious head case 3. A clever cover for murder and 4. A tall, good-looking young man who is in the middle of all these situations. That's right; you will almost certainly recall that Psycho and Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins) fits those situations to a tee.

Was the Night Runner the inspiration for the creation of Psycho? Only the writer of that screenplay, Joseph Stefano would be able to tell you if there were any connection. Whether or not there was, you will easily see the parallels for yourself during the film. Although not as polished as Psycho, or as well-directed, or with an A cast, the film still holds its own with an interesting story. It could have easily have been the model for that later film; or maybe it was just a wild coincidence. You be the judge.

This is an excellent film noir B picture from Universal, whose standards for such pictures were high. It is based on a story by Owen Cameron, who published eight novels between 1946 and 1961, but only two of his stories were ever filmed. This one involves a young man, played by Ray Danton, who is prematurely released from a mental hospital, having been diagnoses with schizophrenia. He can suddenly erupt into violence, and there is a dispute at the hospital about whether he is cured or not. They finally let him go because they are over-crowded and they think two years' treatment has been enough. In his normal personality he is mild, well-mannered, pleasant and agreeable. He has a past record of employment as a skilled draftsman. But he cannot stand stress. He is played with incredible sensitivity and skill by Ray Danton, an under-rated actor who in his career got stuck with a lot of bad-guy parts and rarely got to show his more pleasant side. He shows the confusion and disbelief he experiences when he 'comes round' after a 'spell'. The story is tragic. He thinks at first he will go to L. A. and find a job but he cannot stand the crowds and the noise, so he takes a Greyhound bus tour of the California coast and when he finds a quiet little town with an even quieter motel comprised of little cabins, he decides to stay there. He falls for the charming daughter of the owner. She is played by Colleen Miller as a sweet 'girl next door'. She falls for him. He gets a job and they agree to get married. Colleen's father, played by Willis Bouchey, who as usual acts a lot with his eyes, is suspicious of Danton, and opens a confidential letter from Danton's doctor. Well, things get too tense for Danton when the father calls him a lunatic. I shall tell no more of the story. The film shows some interesting footage of California in the fifties. The film was very well directed by Abner Biberman, and he introduces into the film a particularly brilliant device of the television being turned on far too loud at a crucial moment, which vastly increases the tension. The title THE NIGHT RUNNER, by the way, has nothing whatever to do with the story, and must have been dreamt up by the studio.

I don't recall seeing much of Ray Danton before, and certainly not in the lead role but I have to say I kind of enjoyed him. He has a great voice and I'm wondering why he never made more of a name for himself in the movies. The story is kind of basic but I guess this is a circumstantially unique telling of it. There are a few moments of mild suspense but mostly of curiosity. The story does develop and has some momentum but not as much perhaps as everyone involved was hoping for. The pacing is even which is good but it didn't quite build to the degree I was expecting. Despite some reservations with The Night Runner it did provide me with some easy, relaxed entertainment and as such think it's one worth checking out.

"The Night Runner" is a confusing movie. It's not sure if it should be a nice film about mental health with a positive message or if it should be a story inspired by "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"! I personally think it should have taken one path or the other...but unfortunately it tried to be a little of both and the results are only okay at best.

Roy (Ray Danton) has been hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital for a couple years. After all, he is moody and has fits of anger that make him dangerous. However, the hospital is over capacity and needs the beds and Roy is discharged sooner than his therapist wishes.

What follows is Roy's moving to the Los Angeles area and his trying to adjust to life on the outside. He seems like he's trying hard to make it and you want to see him succeed. He has a lovely girlfriend and a job. However, about midway through the film, he goes berserk and murders someone with only moderate provocation...and here's where it seems that the film is no longer about mental illness and rehabilitation but is more a horror-suspense movie.

As I mentioned above, the film tries to work both sides and the overall story is sadly impacted. It could have worked either way, with him being a dangerous menace or him getting his life together...but not as it was. It forgets realism and just goes for thrills and frights...complete with 'looney' sound effects! As a result, the film is just okay when it could have been so much more.

This is psychologically interesting, since it delves into the mind of a recently released mental hospital patient, who was reluctantly released by his psychiatrist who didn't consider him cured well enough, but his colleagues insisted on the release, so our man got his chance. Did he succeed in becoming a normal person again? He probably would have if the jealousy of a blundering father hadn't interfered, when he fell in love with his daughter. A case like this needs some delicacy in handling, which the father was incapable of. He didn't get what he deserved, but our over-sensitive nervous patient of some liability might have cured himself in taking responsibility for his consequences. It is a beautiful low-budget film with a booming sea and exquisite music all along, so it deserves being considered as something more than just a B-melodrama.

For a film about mental illness, this was a real surprise. Hollywood tends to go to extremes: either a violent psychotic killer movie or a preachy story of how people with mental issues are mistreated by society is what one would expect. How refresing that Universal's B unit would make such a serious drama.

I was more than rooting for Ray Danton, since it's was so easy to identify with his predicament - trying to start a new life and readjust to society after a couple of years in a mental institution. The realistic opening of the state hospital's board debating whether he was ready to be released played 100% true.

The setting at cottges off the beach created an idyllic atmosphere for Ray to make progress in the company of sympathetic local folk -like pregnant Merry Anders and her friendly husband. Just when everything finally is going aces for Ray, including a beautiful girlfriend in Colleen Miller, the prejudice and meanness of her dad causes him to explode with fatal consequences. At this point, we know it's only a matter of time before he will meet his fate, but the suspense is well-handled, and the Gothic climax (replete with waves crashing into the rocks on shore) packs a wallop.

The casting against type of pretty boy/suave Ray Danton as our hapless antihero works wonders for the powerful pathos of the ending. Definitely a winner by director Abner Biberman and writer Gene Levitt (who notably produced "Combat!" for TV).

I always thought it was Stephen Mc Nally playing the lead in this film. Maybe because I have always thought that Stephen McNally looked like Ray Danton too. And mc Nally was under Universal contract; so he could have perfectly been in this picture. That said, the Hitchcockian story is really unusual and the Danton's character so ambivalent. For me, the best movie from director Abner Biberman and a movie to watch at all cost. I have arely seen a so ambivalent character, for whom you may hesitate between atraction - empathy - and repulsion. Yes, a true interesting little gem that proves once more that Universal studios was for me the most interesting studio from the fifties. It provided all kinds of good films: westerns, science fiction, crime movies, dramas, comedies, adventure. All kinds. And not juicy, fancy as MGM for instance, or even Twentieth Century Fox.