Synopsis
Are mental patients turned loose too soon?
A mental patient with a violent past is released from the institution, against the advice of his doctors, and sent back to his old neighborhood. Was he released too soon?
The Night Runner
Cast
Ray Danton Colleen Miller Merry Anders Willis Bouchey Harry Jackson Robert Anderson Jean Inness Eddy Waller John Stephenson Alexander Campbell Natalie Masters Richard H. Cutting Steve Pendleton Jack Lomas George Barrows Irwin Jay Berniker Marshall Bradford Diana Darrin Bill Erwin Sam Flint Ethyl May Halls Jane Howard Lola Kendrick John Pickard Alex Sharp Dale Van Sickel Paul Weber
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Alternative Titles
Locura asesina, Loucura Assassina, Yöllinen murha, L'urlo del gabbiano, Ex-patiënt No. 2811, Illdäd i mörker, Bitmiyen sile
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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USANR
Releases by Country
USA
02 Apr 1957
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Popular reviews
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At its heart, The Night Runner is a condemnation of the understaffed, overcrowded reality of public mental health care in the United States. Its once-violent main character, Roy Turner (Ray Danton), is released from care after 18 months of treatment against the wishes of his psychiatrist, who agrees to sign off on the release only when he's reminded that he already cares for more than three times the number of patients he could possibly treat responsibly (he says he should ideally have 50-55 patients in the state hospital; he has 185).
The main argument for Turner's release isn't that his issues have been fully addressed, but rather the fact that, as the hospital administrator puts it, "each patient needs so…
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An overcrowded mental hospital releases Ray Danton early, despite his doctor's protests that Danton's violent schizophrenia makes him a danger to himself and others. And so it does!
This is a bit of a curious thing, toeing the line between sober exploration of the hard road faced by people with mental illness in the '50s and grim exploitation of the same. On the whole it's more of a straightforward drama than the dark thriller suggested by its poster. ("ARE MENTAL PATIENTS TURNED LOOSE TOO SOON?" is a hell of a propaganda tagline.) For a while it even looks like it's going to be a romance about the healing power of love, with Danton and Colleen Miller making for a credibly…
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A haunting precursor to Psycho that often feels more like a hauntingly fragmented short tragedy instead of a crime thriller or a horror film. It's a an exceptionally empathetic, almost minimalist study of a damaged soul never quire given a chance to fully recover, and the taint of psychology that would doom him forever.
Taking place over the span of less than a week, in essentially one location (the beachside property where Ray Danton's released mental patient resides), it has a classical sense of inevitability about it. Nobody exactly WANTS the worst to happen, but human nature almost declares that against everybody's best wishes, yes it will. The movie is similarly in no rush to reach its tragedy, and more…
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Baffled by the title of this Psycho forerunner starring Anthony Perkins lookalike Ray Dalton as an all-too sensitive, all-American soft boy having a mental health collapse in and around a motel.
As with my lockdown discovery of Joseph Pevney, Abner Biberman (Behind the High Wall, Gun for a Coward) is fast becoming a favourite, under appreciated studio journeyman helmer; versatile as a genre hopper and blending multiple genres all at once, potent craft underscoring the emotional journey of characters in scaled back productions too often read only at surface level.
The Night Runner distinguishes itself as more than a throway B-picture right from a cold open boardroom discussion that unsettles for the way in which medical professionals have to prioritise…
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With 35 new patients incoming and only room for 6, the decision is made by Woodvale State Hospital personnel to turn patients loose, including Roy Turner (Ray Danton), a man with a violent past. Hints of instability are shown leading up to his meeting Loren (Willis Bouchey) and Susan Mayes (Colleen Miller), a father and daughter running a seaside motel. Loren is immediately suspicious of Roy, who falls for Susan. Will they find out about his past, and will they be safe?
I thought the scene leading up to Turner's release was interesting, with one doctor strongly protesting, but eventually caving due to pressure from the rest; the kind of peer pressure that can hurt society. The issue of patients…
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Better than I was led to believe. Mental patient Roy is released too soon from a hospital. He tries to start a new life in a beachside community and all is going swimmingly, until...
Ray Danton is very sympathetic as the lead and you root for him not to relapse. The film so easily could have been wildly melodramatic but instead has a relatively low-key approach.
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Here's a Universal Pictures psycho killer picture that definitely fell through the cracks. Ray Danton is actually really good in this.
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Uncontrollable urges, being on the run, trying to redeem, as society backs you into a corner and threatens to shatter any human connection you find. The perfect Hulk movie.
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A promising start, but it fumbles things with a weak ending.
The Night Runner is my second Universal noir. These definitely aren’t of RKO calibre, but they’re perfectly serviceable movies.
The first thing that struck me about Night Runner is how similar it feels to Psycho. That might just be the mentally ill protagonist in a motel setting. It doesn’t help that leading man Ray Danton looks like he could be Anthony Perkins’ stunt double. All that aside, the film manages to tell a much different story than Hitchcock’s alleged opus. Much different in quality, too.
It would seem to me that this particular studio has a penchant for more straightforward noir tales. Granted, I’ve only seen two so far, but neither was particularly…
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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…
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Not a bad film noir, not a great one either. I just don't have much to say about this one.
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"The Night Runner" opens with the release of a lunatic from an institution; mostly because the asylum is overflowing with mental patients. The lunatic thumbs a ride to a beach resort along the Pacific coastline and falls in love with a woman who's father owns the resort hotel. When the owner of the hotel finds out the man in love with his daughter is a lunatic, bodies start turning up on the beach. Not a great noir, but the film is entertaining from beginning to end. I would recommend this to anyone bored with what Netflix has to offer.