Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)

Director:

John Hough

Writers:

Robert M. Young (screenplay)
Alexander Key (based on the book by)

Release Date:

21 March 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Family | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Escape To The Unknown!

Plot:

Two mysterious orphan children have extraordinary powers and are chased by a scheming millionaire. But where do these kids really call home?

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Millionaire | Orphan | Widower | Coast

Cast

Eddie Albert	...	Jason O'Day
Ray Milland	...	Aristotle Bolt
Donald Pleasence	...	Lucas Deranian
Kim Richards	...	Tia Malone
Ike Eisenmann	...	Tony Malone
Walter Barnes	...	Sheriff Purdy
Reta Shaw	...	Mrs. Grindley
Denver Pyle	...	Uncle Bene
Alfred Ryder	...	Astrologer
Lawrence Montaigne	...	Ubermann
Terry Wilson	...	Biff Jenkins
George Chandler	...	Grocer
Dermott Downs	...	Truck
Shepherd Sanders	...	Guru
Don Brodie	...	Gasoline Attendant

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Germany:o.Al. | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:G | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Big Sur, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Tia in the flashbacks was played by Kim Richards' younger sister, Kyle Richards.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the start of the dancing puppets scene, Tia tells Tony to try using his powers without using his harmonica and Tony responds that he can't. However at the start of the movie, he used his powers to manipulate a baseball mitt and a baseball bat without his harmonica.

Quotes:

Tia Malone: Please, Mr. Bolt, you're too excited. You're going to make yourself sick.
Tony Malone: You should go right to bed, Sir.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Miss March/Race to Witch Mountain/Sunshine Cleaning (#1.3)" (2009)

Pretty good then, and still good now

A long time ago, I was into books. This isn't a light phrase, I took out multitudes of them from the library. Alexander Key wrote a neat novel called "Escape to Witch Mountain" about a priest named Father O'Day who helps two siblings return to their people. It was a very good book, and I knew when I bought the book from the Book Fair that it was a reprint to endorse the movie. However, at that time, my movie-experiences were minimal. It took several years for me to actually be able to see the movie (when Disney first brought out the Disney Channel, iirc) and I was a bit surprised at the liberties that were taken with Key's book. The priest became the widower, and the beat up car became the RV. Bolt was not in the book, but he was an interesting main-villian, and I enjoyed the movie. My son, who is now 6 (Tues this week) enjoys watching it on VHS as much as I do!

Return was not as good--it was a "let's make money by doing a sequel" but it was cool too. As that 5th grader, I knew what it was to be outside the norm, and I wanted to have the same powers that Tia did, so I guess that's saying something!

I too place this movie with Parent Trap, Candleshoe, and Freaky Friday. Good movies that I don't have to worry about my child "catching" wrong words from! **** out of 5.