Taglines: What did they want with her?
Wait Until Dark movie synopsis. While trying to smuggle a cache of heroin hidden in a doll into the United States through JFK from a flight originating in Montreal, Lisa spots an adversary at JFK, so she hands off the doll to an unsuspecting man she just met, a New York photographer named Sam Hendrix, from who she plans on retrieving the doll later.
However, Sam misplaces the doll once he gets home. That adversary, a sadistic criminal named Harry Roat, using an argument they can’t refuse, convinces two of Lisa’s just released from prison associates, Mike Talman and Carlino, to assist him in retrieving the doll from Sam’s Greenwich Village apartment, them without even knowing what’s inside, or without any of the three knowing that Hendrix has no idea where the doll is anymore.
Roat, Talman and Carlino believe their task is all the more easy when they learn that Sam’s wife, Susy Hendrix, is blind. As Susy is still adjusting to her recent blindness, Sam does whatever he can to make her as self-sufficient as possible, which she often still resents. They concoct a seemingly innocuous plan to infiltrate Susy’s life while Sam is conveniently sent out of town on business.
If the plan goes awry at any point, Susy would have no idea that her life would be in danger. What Roat, Talman and Carlino may be unaware of is that Susy does have eyes in the form of the Hendrix’s precocious adolescent neighbor, Gloria, who knows more about the missing doll than she initially lets on, and that Susy may have certain advantages in life due to her blindness.
Wait Until Dark is a 1967 American psychological thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer, from a screenplay by Robert Carrington and Jane-Howard Carrington, based on the 1966 play of the same name by Frederick Knott. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for some drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Audrey Hepburn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1967, while Zimbalist Jr. was nominated for a Golden Globe in the supporting category. The film is ranked #55 on AFI’s 2001 100 Years…100 Thrills list, and its climax is ranked tenth on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
About the Story
A woman named Lisa (Samantha Jones) takes a flight from Montreal to New York City, smuggling bags of heroin sewn inside an old-fashioned doll. When she disembarks, Lisa becomes worried upon seeing a man watching her at the John F. Kennedy International Airport and gives the doll to a fellow passenger, professional photographer Sam Hendrix (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), for safekeeping. She is roughly escorted away by the man. Later, when she calls Sam about the doll, he and his wife Susy (Audrey Hepburn), who is blind from an auto accident, are unable to find it.
A few days later, con artists Mike Talman (Richard Crenna) and Carlino (Jack Weston) arrive at Sam and Susy’s apartment, believing it to be Lisa’s. Harry Roat, Jr. (Alan Arkin), the man who met Lisa at the airport, arrives to persuade Talman and Carlino to help him find the doll. After the con men discover Lisa’s body, Roat blackmails them into helping him dispose of it and convinces them to help him find the doll.
The next day, Roat sends Sam on a photography assignment. Once Susy is alone, the criminals begin an elaborate con game, posing as different people to win Susy’s trust. Implying that Lisa has been murdered and Sam will be suspected, the men persuade Susy to help them find the doll. Mike gives her the number for the phone booth across the street as his own after falsely warning her of a police car outside.
Susy grows suspicious of Carlino and Roat. Gloria (Julie Herrod), a girl who lives upstairs and who had borrowed the doll earlier, sneaks in to return it and tells Susy that there is no police car outside. Susy finally realizes that the three are criminals and hides the doll. She tells them that the doll is at Sam’s studio and the three leave after Roat cuts the telephone cord. Carlino stays behind to stand guard outside the building.
Susy sends Gloria to the bus station to wait for Sam. When she discovers that the telephone cord has been cut, she prepares to defend herself by putting the criminals in the dark along with her, breaking all the bulbs in the apartment except for the safelight. When Mike returns, he realizes that she knows the truth and demands the doll, but she refuses to cooperate.
Mike has come to admire Susy for her quiet strength and ability to stand up to them, despite her disability. He admits to her that he and his confederates are part of a criminal plot, while Roat is the particular danger. He assures her that he has sent Carlino to kill Roat. However, having anticipated their plan, Roat has killed Carlino instead, and he then kills Mike on the doorstep of Susy’s apartment.
Wait Until Dark (1967)
Directed by: Terence Young
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Samantha Jones, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, Jean Del Val, Robby Benson, Gary Morgan, Mel Ferrer, Bill Walters
Screenplay by: Robert Carrington, Jane-Howard Carrington
Production Design by: Russell Llewellyn
Cinematography by: Charles Lang
Film Editing by: Gene Milford
Set Decoration by: George James Hopkins
Art Direction by: George Jenkins
Makeup Department: Gordon Bau, Jean Burt Reilly
Music by: Henry Mancini
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Seven Arts
Release Date: October 26, 1967 (United States)
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