The Road Builder

Original title: The Night Digger

1971
X
1h 50m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

1.3K

YOUR RATING

Pamela Brown, Nicholas Clay, and Patricia Neal in The Road Builder (1971)

Play trailer2:41

1 Video

33 Photos

Psychological Drama Drama Horror Thriller

The dreary existence of middle-aged spinster Maura Prince takes an unexpected turn with the arrival of young handyman Billy Jarvis, but there is more to Billy than meets the eye.The dreary existence of middle-aged spinster Maura Prince takes an unexpected turn with the arrival of young handyman Billy Jarvis, but there is more to Billy than meets the eye.The dreary existence of middle-aged spinster Maura Prince takes an unexpected turn with the arrival of young handyman Billy Jarvis, but there is more to Billy than meets the eye.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

1.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:41

The Night Digger

Photos33

+ 27

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Storyline

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Trivia
The film's original length was 110 minutes. Bernard Herrmann composed his score for a 110-minute version; however, about 13 minutes was cut right before the film's official release. So some of Herrmann's cues didn't end up in the film. In the released version (97-98 minutes), small portions of Herrmann's cue close to the end accidentally were edited out. Some of the cues Herrmann composed for the released version didn't end up in the released cut. One of those was a cue for when the nurse walks back and enters her car.

Alternate versions
The original UK X rated version is 110 minutes long, while the 97-minute version was released in most other countries including in the US, where the 97-minute cut version received an R rating. TCM has now shown the entire UK 110-minute version in North America; however, they also screen the 97-min. version.

User reviews30

Review

Featured review

8/10

Creepy and unsettling

Another one of those great forgotten movies of the 1970s. I caught this on late night TV about 20 years ago and have never forgotten it.

It was about a young man named Billy (Nicholas Clay) helping out Maura Prince (Patricia Neal) and her elderly mother (Pamela Brown) in their crumbling old house in England. Neal starts to fall for him (despite their age difference)...but she's not aware of what he does when he goes out alone every night...

Spooky little horror film. When I first saw it it was edited for TV so there were some unexplained pieces (like a bit about something that happened to him as a child which explains what he does as an adult) and, I assumed the violence was gone. I was finally able to see the entire uncut film and loved it! It wasn't a blood and guts horror movie--it's an excellent psychological horror. In fact the two violent acts in it aren't even shown! It concentrates on Billy and Maura and their feelings and thoughts. Clay and Neal are such great actors that just their expressions tell you what they're feeling. The growing romance between them was touching and believable. Also there's an excellent score and the ending was a stunner! This film has an R rating for some dialogue and a lengthy nude sequence with Clay. Well worth catching just for Clay and Neal.

This movie is available on DVD through the made to order system with the Warner Brothers Archive Collection. It's complete and the transfer is pristine. Well worth getting. It might disturb you but you'll never forget it. Avoid the cut version on TCM.