Upon reflection, there’s a clue about the nature of The Babysitter (1980) in its opening moments. Young Tara Benedict (Quinn Cummings), whom we’re told is 12-years old, watches Scotty (David Wysocki), whose age we’re not told, but who is noticeably older, on the water in his sailboat. She says, “He doesn’t even know I’m alive.”
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I laughed and dismissed it. As far as I know, it’s still true that teenage girls swoon over older boys all the time. However, when Joanna (Stephanie Zimbalist), whom we’re told is 18-years old, but may be younger, kisses Dr. Jeff Benedict (William Shatner) while wearing his wife’s negligee, I cringed. There’s no season during which this May-December romance is acceptable.
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This potential relationship is not directly the problem I had with The Babysitter. Neither is the fact that a stunned Jeff let Joanna kiss him. It’s that one minute he rightly insists she leave his house, then the next, tells his wife, Liz (Patty Duke), that she should stay. This is not because he’s interested in her in “that way,” but because of either sloppy writing or editing.
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Otherwise, it’s a pretty good slow burn thriller that passes on the sensational aspects that so many other movies with similar plots embrace. Even more than a thriller, though, it’s just an uncomfortable drama for most of its brisk 96-minute running time. My fascination came from watching Joanna slowly drive Liz back to the bottle.
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You see, that’s why the family moved from Chicago to Seattle. Liz went on a massive binge while living there and they wanted/needed to start over. She’s doing well; we don’t even realize she’s an alcoholic. I liked the way that information was delivered. At first, you don’t realize how awful it is that she’s drinking again. Then we realize she’s more likely to destroy the family than Joanna.
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Joanna is clearly the villain, though, insinuating herself into the family soon after Jeff casually and conveniently tells Liz that she should hire a housekeeper. Liz isn’t interested, but then she meets Joanna, who seems perfect and can perhaps keep an eye on her precocious daughter, Tara, so she doesn’t have to. Have you watched Quinn Cummings? She can be annoying.
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I wouldn’t call Joanna a “babysitter,” exactly, but with that title, you just know in this movie she’s going to be trouble. Luckily, the elderly neighbor and father of sailboat Scotty, Dr. Lindquist (John Houseman), can see looking from outside what the Benedicts cannot see from the inside. However, no one will believe him, so he plays the role of junior detective.
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The Babysitter is sandwiched between two films from director Peter Medak: The Changeling (1980) and Zorro: The Gay Blade (1980.) I’d say he had some good juju left over from the former but ran clean out of it for the latter. It was written by Jennifer Miller, who helped “develop” The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978.) They did a decent job with this one, but not great.
Visit the TV Terror Guide: 70's TV Movies playlist at ClassicHorrors.Club TV on YouTube to watch The Babysitter and other great movies from this series.
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