Blimey, thanks YouTube for this weird little gem. All the Kind Strangers is a treat on so many levels. For one thing I’ve never heard of it, so it was a really nice surprise to randomly happen upon such a good film.
It tells the story of a family of children with no parents, and the man who comes to stay. The man is Jimmy Wheeler (Stacy Keach), a no-nonsense, straight up man’s man. He offers a lift to a little kid named Gilbert as who’s carrying a bag of shopping home, along a deserted road Upon dropping Gilbert home he’s greeted by the family and soon realises that leaving won’t be easy. You see, the children want a dad, and Jimmy fits the bill. Whether he likes it or not.
To say much more about the plot would be to spoil it, and to be honest, not an awful lot happens. Stacy Keach is brilliant as the man who can’t, or won’t believe what’s happening. Samantha Eggar (from The Brood) is wonderfully cautious and understated as the woman the children have chosen to be their mother. The children are good too – there’s seven of them so I won’t go through them individually.
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- All the kids
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- Eggar and Keach wondering what in the name of arse is going on
All the Kind Strangers is an atmospheric, slow burner that feels like it might kick right off any minute. And that might be the best thing about this film… that feeling that anything might happen.
Score: 8/10
If you have a spare 73 minutes you can watch it here:
filmnerdblog 
Sounds good. Hopefully I will see it at some point. And hopefully I like it as much as you do. 🙂
I hope I haven’t ruined it by proclaiming its merits, raised expectations and all that!
I’m always up for an ‘atmospheric, slow burner’. Great review, thanks for sending this one our way.
No problem, it was a pleasant surprise to me so hopefully you’ll like it too.
Interesting! Never heard of this one. And… It’s not too long! (Is it terrible that I just want all movies to be short now??) : )
Ha, not at all! When I booked tickets for Gravity I absolutely rejoiced at the prospect of a trip to the cinema without getting a numb bum. It seems all films these days have to be 2 hours plus.
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