| The Visitors | |
| Director: | Elia Kazan |
| Producer: | Chris Kazan Nicholas T. Proferes |
| Starring: | Patrick McVey James Woods |
| Cinematography: | Nicholas T. Proferes |
| Editing: | Nicholas T. Proferes |
| Distributor: | United Artists |
| Runtime: | 88 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $160,000[1] |
The Visitors is a 1972 American drama film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Patrick McVey. It was entered into the 1972 Cannes Film Festival.[2] Kazan used an article written by Daniel Lang for The New Yorker in 1969, and Lang's subsequent book Casualties of War, as a jumping-off point for this film.[3]
Bill Schmidt and his long-term girlfriend Martha Wayne and their young son Hal live in a small Connecticut farmhouse owned by Martha's overbearing father. One snowy winter Saturday, two of Bill's ex-army buddies, Mike and Tony, arrive. A few years before, they had all served together in Vietnam in the same platoon but later ended up on opposite sides of a court-martial. Bill has never told his girlfriend what happened in Vietnam or at the court-martial. The story slowly unfolds. Under orders in Vietnam not to take any prisoners, and faced with potentially hostile civilians who might attack them if left behind, Mike kills a civilian after raping her. Bill testifies against him and Mike is sent to the stockade (military prison) for two years. He is angry. There is sexual tension between Mike and Martha. The tension builds and culminates in a fight and a rape.