Deadly Strangers

Deadly Strangers
British theatrical poster
Directed by	Sidney Hayers
Produced by	Peter Miller
Written by	Philip Levene (original Story and Screenplay)
Starring	Hayley Mills Simon Ward Sterling Hayden
Music by	Ron Goodwin
Cinematography	Graham Edgar
Edited by	Barry Peters
Production company	Rank Organisation
Distributed by	Fox-Rank (UK)
Release date	April 1975 (UK)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Deadly Strangers is a 1975 British psychological thriller film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Hayley Mills, Simon Ward and Sterling Hayden.

A lunatic is on the loose as a salesman, Steven Slade (Simon Ward) picks up a young lady, Belle Adams (Hayley Mills) in a blue Austin Maxi car after she is nearly raped by a lorry driver.

Adams wishes to catch a train at a nearby station and Slade in wishing to take her there (really wishing to exploit her) lies about delays in her train as a way of keeping her with him.

With roadblocks in the area and Slade not being too forthcoming on his own background, the trip sharply descends into a case of what are they both hiding. This is never fully revealed.

On waking the next morning Slade loses Adams and hurries off to find her, where she misses him and catches a lift from aging Malcolm Roberts (Sterling Hayden). Later Roberts discovers Adams' past and the truth of the film has yet to be uncovered.

Time Out noted "old-fashioned psychopathic goings-on in the West Country" and its "sole redeeming feature is Hayley Mills, who suggests an actress capable of much better things than she has been offered recently. Hayers, to his credit, does exploit her best quality - an insolent, slightly offhand sex appeal" ; while TV Guide found it an "occasionally intriguing tale," concluding that it was "well done, but it seems to bog down in its own cleverness"; whereas The Terror Trap found it "a satisfying and well made British psycho thriller."