Getting set to watch Rene Clement's 1954 title Lovers, Happy Lovers! On YouTube,I was sad to find that it had recently been taken off the site.Looking round the site for Clips from Lovers,I was pleased to stumble upon his last ever movie,which led to me getting ready to witness Clement's final sitting.The plot:Getting nothing but bad parts in low budget movies, Ann has to rely on babysitter Michelle to cover the costs. Mixed up in the underworld of the movie business,Ann learns that Michelle is to babysit 'Boots' Peter Franklin,the son of a wealthy businessman.Hatching a plan with the mob,Ann sets out a plan to kidnap Boots once Michelle has finished her shift.Unknown to Ann,Michelle has to stay over longer than originally planned,which leads to the plan becoming a kidnapping of 2 pairs of boots.View on the film:For his curtain call,co-writer/(along with Nicola Badalucco/Mark Peploe & Luciano Vincenzoni) directing auteur Rene Clement offers shavings of his distinctive,Film Noir style with the forced drinking of Boots,and water running down narrow corridors spreading an icy chill over Boots and Michelle's home invasion. Sadly,Clement limits these moments to showing what could have been,by going for a glossy style,which whilst smoothly handles pulls the rug out of all the tension getting locked in the house.Finding themselves caught in the middle of a kidnapping plot,the screenplay by Clément/ Peploe/Vincenzoni & Badalucco builds a sturdy Home Invasion Thriller within the walls,where the the sounds of threats from the outside are matched by the uneasy level of trust that Boots and Michelle have for each other. Knocking down the wall,the writers try to flip the situation into a grubby,double-dealing Film Noir,which ends up destroying all the good work that was done in the house,due to the writers pilling all the excuses in for the kidnapping,which leads to extremely abrupt character changes.Whilst the film has a dazzling cast, Nadja Tiller/Robert Vaughn and Vic Morrow are held back from fully sinking into the brittle atmosphere,with the elegant Maria Schneider being the only one to match Francis Lai's great synch score in her performance as Michelle,thanks to Schneider giving Michelle great rough edges,as the baby sitter pays tribute to Rene Clement.

I was not disappointed by this last René Clément's film. It's an international cast, as he did for LA COURSE DU LIEVRE A TRAVERS LES CHAMPS, a couple of years earlier. Not a bad movie which the topic reminded me Yves Boisset's FOLLE A TUER. The nanny and the wealthy kid about to be abducted. Not a masterpiece but certainly not a garbage movie. You would not find such features now. Yes, it's a typical downbeat scheme, as we often saw forty years ago, especially from France. And not only. Good performances too, despite the fact that there was no great actors in the cast. It's also a rather rare film, hard to find and no often released even on French channels. I love watching such movies from time to time, gloomy and so sad.

This is a great little thriller with some fine performances but I understand Leonard Maltin dumped on it upon its release and it seems to me a lot of folks have followed his lead. There is nothing wrong with this film at all. Granted it is confusing at the start (intentionally) but most exhilarating when we catch up with the events and discover just what a tangled plot we have here. I guess some are surprised and disappointed that the super Maria Schneider keeps her clothes on in this but we catch a glimpse of the equally beautiful Sydne Rome, so all is not lost. John Whittington is especially effective as the little boy and can only imagine how terrible this might have been had this been an American picture. No sentimentality then and possibly another cause for upset in that the interaction between he and Schneider is so adult. Robert Vaughn also appears and is very effective in aggressive mode. Compelling, amusing and thrilling. Sadly, Rene Clement's last film and perhaps we can thank Mr. Maltin for that.

From reading other reviews here it doesn't seem like this film has too good of a reputation. This surprises me. I found Wanted: Babysitter to be a very good crime-thriller. Having said that, I am not familiar at all with its director René Clément's other work. It appears from what I read that he was a renowned film-maker whose career was latterly panned by the critics. This film was his last offering and it seems to have suffered especially badly in this way.I just cannot get behind the dislike though as overall I found the film to be very involving. I thought Maria Schneider was fine in the lead role and was ably supported by the likes of Robert Vaughn, Vic Morrow and Sydne Rome. The storyline is compelling enough and there is a fair amount of tension generated. The overall tone is gloomy and downbeat which is certainly in keeping with the film's French origins, seeing as 70's thrillers from that country seem to often be like this. Furthermore, the version of the film I watched was a public domain copy that was for some reason in black and white. I have no idea why this should be seeing as the film is clearly a colour production. It sounds like it may have been released this way for some obscure TV market perhaps. But whatever the reason, the funny thing is that the black and white presentation actually adds to the overall feel of the film. It only adds to the downbeat ambiance and very probably makes it a better film.All I can say finally is that Wanted: Babysitter is nowhere near as bad as its reputation suggests. I would even go as far as to say that it is a good 70's thriller and is well worth checking out.