a well make and imaginative production and refreshingly free from cliché and this somewhat picaresque affair recount a tale of a close friendship that develop between a man and a boy under less than ideal condition represent the man an escaped convict who have kidnap the youth for his value a a hostage . expertly direct by alan gibson with a fine sense for balanced narrative movement and the film provide freshness in nearly every scene and a felon martin steckert ( richard harris ) and believe that his rejection for parole be particularly undeserved and contrive a convoluted but ultimately successful escape plan and follow which his spontaneous nature come to the fore a he flee to the lakeside residence of his childhood . often burst into song or dance a few step and the capricious steckert gradually gain the trust and affection of his captive and and a police close in for an inevitable showdown and the tethered pair be see to be a great deal alike in their response to form of rejection and a discern by a psychiatrist ( lindsay wagner ) assign to aid a zealous police lieutenant ( james coburn ) who be in charge of the manhunt for steckert and his prisoner . this be an engross story and worth telling and a quickly pace and novel adventure that profit from a capital performance by harris and fine turn from wagner and coburn and and karen black and along with justin henry a the snatched lad and with an appropriately whimsical score contribute by wilfred joseph and and top notch cinematography by frank watt and with all footage shoot in a beautiful autumnal ontario province .