Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Stephanie Zimbalist & Patty Duke in The Babysitter (1980)

My friend Carol introduced me to this made for TV thriller. It's creepy and has a slow build, but a great pay-off. Joanna Redwine is hired by the dysfunctional Benedicts as a housekeeper. As she settles in to the home she begins to manipulate the family members, encouraging Liz's (Patty Duke) drinking, trying to seduce Jeff (William Shatner) and while daughter Tara (Quinn Cummings) initially loves her, she begins to hate her as she sees how Joanna is using them. All along, next door neighbor Dr. Lindquist (John Housman) is observing Joanna and starts investigating her past. What will he discover, and will it endanger him and the Benedicts?

Though not available on DVD, this HBO production was released on VHS and is still available on Amazon. It can also be seen on YouTube in its entirety. The whole film is above, uploaded by TVTERRORLAND.

Obscurity factor: 9 (on YouTube and VHS, not on DVD, largely forgotten)

7 comments:

  1. What gets me most excited about this is Quinn Cummings. I remember liking her so much when I was young; I'm almost scared to watch in case the magic is gone.

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  2. It's interesting to see her in a drama/thriller. She's usually the smart-aleck kid.

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  3. I taped this off the air in the middle of the night at least 25 years ago. The VHS is so old there's a Words From Unity commercial halfway through. :)

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  4. Is it Nanette Fabray saying "The word is Scarlet"?

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  5. This film first aired on ABC - produced by Filmways. HBO had (has?) the video rights. The TV rights has (have?) switched hands numerous times.

    Being that this concept has been done a million times since 1980 - and I'm sure many times prior - it really comes across as tame, today.

    This was originally aired the day after Thanksgiving in 1980 - interesting choice. I distinctly remember that night, visiting home from college, and having my first ever drink in a bar.....so, I missed this....

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  6. MGM currently has the rights to this film. Hopefully it will see the light of DVD sometime soon.

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  7. Yes, a DVD release would be fortunate...

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