The Visitors | |
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Directed by | Elia Kazan |
Written by | Chris Kazan |
Produced by | Chris Kazan Nicholas T. Proferes |
Starring |
Patrick McVey James Woods |
Cinematography | Nicholas T. Proferes |
Edited by | Nicholas T. Proferes |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $160,000 [1] |
The Visitors is a 1972 American drama film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Patrick McVey. It was entered into the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. [2] Kazan used an article written by Daniel Lang for The New Yorker in 1969, and Lang's subsequent book Casualties of War, as a jumping-off point for this film. [3]
Bill Schmidt and his long-term girlfriend Martha Wayne and their young son Hal live in a small Connecticut farmhouse owned by Martha's overbearing father. One snowy winter Saturday, two of Bill's ex-army buddies, Mike and Tony, arrive. A few years before, they had all served together in Vietnam in the same platoon but later ended up on opposite sides of a court-martial. Bill has never told his girlfriend what happened in Vietnam or at the court-martial. The story slowly unfolds. Under orders in Vietnam not to take any prisoners, and faced with potentially hostile civilians who might attack them if left behind, Mike kills a civilian after raping her. Bill testifies against him and Mike is sent to the stockade ( military prison) for two years. He is angry. There is sexual tension between Mike and Martha. The tension builds and culminates in a fight and a rape.