Wait Until Dark

"I cannot negotiate in an atmosphere of mistrust."

At the airport, a young woman (Jones) gives a small doll to another passenger, Sam (Zimbalist Jr.).  Sam is a photographer, who is married to Susy (Hepburn) who is trying to be learning to be self-sufficient after losing her sight in a fire.  Sam wants her to be "the world champion blind lady" who doesn't need to rely on others to find her way.  When Sam is called away for a last minute photo shoot, Susy is left alone in the apartment.

After Sam's departure three men descend on the apartment to retrieve the doll, which contains heroin. The doll's owner, Roat (Arkin), is a psychotic drug dealer, willing to use any means necessary to collect his merchandise.  He blackmails two ex cons, Mike (Crenna) and Carlino (Weston), to retrieve the doll from Susy.  Mike pretends to be an old friend of Sam's, while Carlino pretends to be a police sergeant looking for the doll, which he claims is related to a woman's death, and Roat plays double duty as the grieving husband and crazy father who ransacks Susy's home and scares her into helping Mike locate the doll.  With one woman already dead for her involvement, can Susy survive the weekend?


An adaptation of Frederick Knott's play "Wait Until Dark," which debuted on Broadway in 1966.  While the show did not last long on Broadway, it garnered a Tony nomination for lead Lee Remick.  A year later, the story was adapted to film.

The story starts slow, setting up each character, beginning with the ill-fated Lisa... it takes 21 minutes for Audrey Hepburn to appear on screen.  Despite it's slow start, the tension builds over time ... with a heart-stopping climax that is still terrifying today.  Watch in the dark, if you can handle it, especially the conclusion.  When it was a play, the theaters were as dark as possible during this scene, and the movie theaters had the lights as low as legally possible during the scene to heighten the tension.  Trust me, you'll be on the edge of your seat.

While Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, the truly memorable performance is Arkin.  His Roat is unbalanced and menacing, setting the stage for subsequent slasher movie villains.  Parts of the film fall flat, but the final sequences are worth sitting through the slow / boring portions.

Voted # 55 on AFI's "100 Years, 100 Thrills," this film is intense.  The action is confined to the Hendrix apartment, escalating the tension as you realize there are only so many places to escape... especially when the villains can see and the heroine cannot.  Check it out!!

Wait Until Dark (1967) 108 minutes
Director: Terence Young
Starring: Audrey Hepburn as Susy Hendrix
Alan Arkin as Roat
Richard Crenna as Mike Talman
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Sam Hendrix
Jack Weston as Carlino
Samantha Jones as Lisa
Julie Herrod as Gloria