I Saw What You Did

Plot synopsis:
Mr. and Mrs. Mannering are about to leave on an overnight business trip when the babysitter cancels. They reluctantly leave sixteen-year-old Libby and her younger sister Tess home alone. Libby invites her friend Kit Austin to spend the night. Kit's father allows her to come for dinner but not to stay all night, since the parents are not home.The Mannerings live on an isolated property several miles from town. Kit is given a tour, ending in the barn where the door blows shut. The girls are unable to open it and Tess, who has followed them, lets them out. She plays a prank on Kit by telling her that a boy is on the phone wanting to speak to her. When Kit picks up the receiver, no one is there. Libby scolds Tess but admits that they have fun making prank phone calls. Kit is mystified so the Mannering girls show her how it's done. They choose a number at random from the phone directory. In a sultry voice, Libby says "I saw what you did and I know who you are." Kit thinks this is hilarious. They call several people and get various responses, from indignation to amusement.Meanwhile, Mrs. Mannering is repeatedly calling home to check on her daughters but gets a busy signal. Her husband assures her that he'd be worried if they weren't on the phone.When the girls dial Steve Marak's number, his wife Judith answers the phone. Libby asks for Steve and Judith goes to get him. An open suitcase is on the bed and water is running in the bathroom. Judith tells Libby that Steve is taking a bath. Libby purrs that she really needs to speak with him. When Judith goes into the bathroom, she sees that Steve has slashed her clothing with a knife. She begins screaming at him. He yanks her into the shower and stabs her to death, then throws her body through the glass door.Since no one comes to the phone, the girls eventually hang up and decide to take a break.Steve's next-door neighbor Amy lets herself into the house. She sees the suitcase on the bed and knocks on the bathroom door. Wearing a bathrobe, Steve emerges and tells her that Judith has left him. He says they had a terrible fight and she left without bothering to pack her things. Amy is happy to hear this and says Judith was too young and flighty for him. She begins packing Judith's clothing and Steve tells her to leave it alone. When she offers to straighten up the bathroom, he yanks her away and walks her into the living room. He is trying to act normally but all he wants is for her to leave. She agrees to come back later and notices that the phone is off the hook. After she leaves, he replaces the receiver and goes into the bedroom.The girls, giggling hysterically, resume calling people. They wonder if the man is out of the bathtub yet but can't remember his name. Tess finds it because she put her peanut butter and jelly sandwich on top of it. Libby calls and this time Steve answers. He panics when a voice tells him she saw what he did and she knows who he is. Libby plays along when he asks for her name and tells him she is Suzette. He demands to meet with her and she hangs up, suddenly bored with the game.Amy, watching from her window, sees Steve putting a large trunk into his station wagon. When he drives away, she goes over and checks out the bathroom. She puts two and two together when she sees the shattered shower door and a bloody knife in the clothes hamper.Steve drives to a wooded area and digs a deep hole for the trunk. He is startled when a dog appears and begins barking at him. It belongs to a young couple who stopped so the dog could do its business. The woman catches a glimpse of Steve through the trees and quickly takes the dog back to the car. She tells her husband that the next time, he can chase the dog. They drive away but she is uneasy about what she saw.When Steve returns home, Amy comes over. He is beginning to feel stifled by her attention, saying it is late and he is going to bed. As she opens the door, the phone rings. He goes to answer it and Amy slips into the bedroom to listen on the extension. Libby, pretending to be Suzette, plays a cat and mouse game with Steve. He again wants to meet with her but she hangs up, this time intrigued and wondering what he looks like.Amy angrily asks who Suzette is and Steve tells her it is a business deal. He says he may have to go out later. By sweet-talking her and telling her he loves her, he persuades her to go home.
The girls speculate about Steve and wonder how old he is. Kit asks Libby if she would actually meet him somewhere and what would she do if he tried to get romantic. Libby admits that she might let him kiss her. She envisions Steve as a handsome man and wishes they had a way to see what he looks like. Since she has recently gotten her driver's license, she suggests they drive to Steve's house in her mother's car to try and catch a glimpse of him. Kit doesn't want to but lets herself be talked into it. Libby changes into a dress and puts on a lot of makeup, trying to make herself look older.On the way to the Marak home, Libby orders that no one is to get out of the car. When they arrive, the house is dark except for a light in the back. Kit wants to leave but Libby exits the car to peer through the windows. Steve sees her and goes into the kitchen for a knife. He is at the door when Amy appears, having seen Libby from her window. She yanks Libby's hair and drags her away. Kit and Tess immediately hide in the back seat. Calling her a tramp, Amy tells her to clear out. Libby tries to explain but Amy won't listen. Rather sadly she tells Libby that she is far too young for Steve. Then she opens the car door and shoves Libby inside. Seeing the car registration pasted on the steering post, Amy tears it off. Libby, shaking with fright, drives away.Amy confronts Steve and tells him there will be no more Suzettes. She points out that Suzette even lied about her name, showing him the registration card. Steve tells her she doesn't own him yet. Then Amy tells him she knows he killed Judith. Unless he agrees to marry her right away, she will go to the police. "Life with me or no life at all," she says. Steve has no choice but to accept. Amy makes them drinks and reminds him of how wealthy she is; that they can go anywhere in the world. Steve goes into the kitchen for ice cubes and retrieves his knife. He kills Amy and takes the registration card, which has Mrs. Mannering's name and address. Climbing into his car, he sets off.Libby is frantic about losing the registration card because her parents will find out that she took the car without permission. She thinks Amy was Mrs. Marak and that maybe if she returns in the morning, she can get the card back. Kit is fed up with Libby and tells her to forget about the card. Tess is supposed to be in bed, but the girls discover her missing. They go outside to find her and this time all three end up shut in the barn.Mrs. Mannering has continued to call home and even had the operator check the line. Now there is no answer. She insists that her husband call the police to check on the girls. They arrive at the same time as Kit's father, who has come to collect his daughter. Together they search the property and find the girls in the barn. Libby calls her mother and assures her that everything is fine. Everyone leaves and the Mannering girls go to bed.On the way home, Kit hears a breaking news story on the radio. The body of a young, attractive woman was discovered buried in a trunk not far away. A couple who were walking their dog reported seeing a middle-aged man, tall and dark-haired, in the vicinity. Kit shudders and turns off the radio. Her father knows something is wrong and says she may as well level with him. Kit says nothing but starts to wonder.Tess is awakened by their dog barking. Realizing he has somehow gotten out she wakes Libby, who tells her to let him in. When she goes outside, Steve is waiting. He asks for Suzette and Tess, too little to realize the danger, invites him in. She wakes Libby and tells her that Steve is downstairs. Libby is startled but goes to meet him, hoping he has come to return the registration card. She apologizes profusely for upsetting "Mrs. Marak" and says they were just making prank phone calls. Steve is relieved when he realizes she knows nothing of the murders. He scolds her and gives her back the card. As she closes the door behind him, the phone rings. Instead of leaving, Steve goes to the window to listen.Kit is calling to tell Libby about the news report. Libby says the man's description sounds a lot like Steve and that he has just left after returning the registration card. Kit abruptly hangs up after her father asks who she is talking to so late. Libby hesitates, then dials the operator and asks for the police. Steve crashes through the window and she runs upstairs, screaming at Tess to lock the door. But Tess is not in her room. Libby realizes she must have gone outside and slips out to look for her. Steve goes after them. Libby finds Tess and they run toward the car. Someone grabs Tess and claps a hand over her mouth. Libby is unable to start the car and then Steve, who was hidden in the back seat, tries to strangle her. A shot rings out and he collapses. Mr. Austin and the police are there. He grabbed Tess to prevent her from crying out. The girls embrace, sobbing. Mr. Austin says it is a good thing his daughter finally told him the truth. Libby tearfully says they will not be using the phone again for a long, long time.

Tags: suspenseful, murder

Review:
Left alone one night while their parents are out of town, teen-aged Libby, her little sister Tess, and Libby's visiting friend Kit amuse themselves by making crank phone calls.
Tense and atmospheric, with delightful performances from Andi Garrett, Sarah Lane and Sharyl Locke as the kids, and strong ones from John Ireland as the psychopath, and the one-and-only Joan Crawford (straight from Castle's "Strait-Jacket") as his blackmail-minded neighbor, who's inexplicably in love with him.
and she knows who you are!This is another strange William Castle concoction that features Joan Crawford in one of the B-horror movies she made near the end of her career, and yet the only way they could fit her into this story was to make her a kooky neighbor lady who wears tacky jewelry that looks like some sort of bizarre Aztec armor.
Everyone knows the plot, which involves two teenage girls who spend an evening making prank phone calls and, through the miracle of plot contrivance, stumble into the path of a psychotic man who has just committed murder.
Yes, good old William Castle is on the loose again, with a low budget and a creepy plot...and Joan Crawford, whose salary probably used up most of Castle's available cash.You know you're in trouble from the first few scenes, with corny eyeball-shaped framing devices, then the intrusion of Van Alexander's completely out-of-place bouncy score, with its recurring principal theme of "Ninny nanny noo-noo." (Most of his credits are for 60s sitcoms, and it shows.) Then we're treated to exteriors of the Mannering house which are nothing more than Thomas Kincade- style paintings.
(Virtually the whole film was shot on a sound stage, except for some rear projections.)The plot itself is clichéd, but decently "executed." The casting is a problem, with Joan Crawford at age 60 trying to be the hypotenuse in a love triangle between 50-year-old John Ireland and some young bimbo (or we should say, ex-bimbo).
...which is a no-budget thriller.Two teenage girls (Sara Lane, Andi Garrett) make prank phone calls saying the title line.
There are also quite a few good moments calculated to make you jump.On the debit side--there's not enough story even for 83 minutes; Joan Crawford (dressed to the 9s for no reason) is wasted as a next-door neighbor; Ireland is stone-faced throughout; Lane and Garrett are horrible actresses (and, tellingly, never made another movie) and the script has lines that no teenager would utter.Still, there are worse ways to kill 90 minutes and the jolts in this film do work.
To amuse themselves, the decide to make prank phone calls(this was in 1965, long before caller ID or tracing existed) one phrase they use quite often to the people they call is "I saw what you did...and I know who you are." What they don't know is that one of the people they call, Steve Marek (John Ireland) takes them seriously, having just stabbed his wife to death!This film was really scary or at least very suspenseful, considering the time period.
But Libby and Kit's idea of innocent fun turns dangerous when they ring a psychopath who has just murdered his wife.I admittedly am not a fan of William Castle's earliest work (as much as I don't want to say it, I find his earlier ghost films "House on Haunted Hill" and "13 Ghosts" remarkably dull), but here Castle seems to have struck my fancy.
As lightweight as the film feels for much of its duration, the first murder is there to remind us that it's really not.The two leading young girls are remarkably likable in their roles, and Joan Crawford infamously pulls off the role of the psychopath's sultry mistress next-door.
While Crawford is often credited for hamming things up in her later career, I found her performance here to be actually quite incredible and terrifying; her interrogation of Libby when the girls arrive at the madman's house was absolutely hair-raising— in fact, I'd go so far as to say she's scarier in that moment than John Ireland is throughout the entire film.Overall, "I Saw What You Did" is noteworthy as a thriller, but also as a cultural relic of a bygone era of rotary dials, and a world where prank calls could lead to murderous madmen peeking in your windows.
It is enjoyable on its own terms, as are most of William Castle's movies.What makes it stand out, historically, is that children who saw this film in the theater or on TV became EXTREMELY unlikely to make prank phone calls!
In this film she's a bad one of a different sort--bad as in "not good."Kit and Libby are the two silly acting teenagers that decide prank phone calls are a lovely way to spend an evening.
True, she has a minor role in it (playing Ireland's neighbor, hoping to blackmail him into marriage), however it's one of the better movies she was involved in after "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" William Castle did a good job as producer/director of this story, and the two teenage girls are very appealing and natural.
You all know the story, 2 teenage girls spending the night without parental supervision decide to make prank phone calls, and damn the luck, they accidentally prank a murderer.
William Castle throws you a little off at the start with playful music and young girls as the leads, but then he recreates the shower murder scene of "Psycho" - and outdoes it in viciousness!
William Castle made a career out of monster and ghost stories, so even though the synopsis on my TV said this was a departure about teenage girls involved with murder I still expected the same kind of B-movie action.
Really Bad. A trio of teenage girls spend the night alone in a big old house making prank calls to people from the phonebook.
They have the incredibly bad luck of calling a man who has just murdered his wife and telling him, "I saw what you did, and I know who you are!" Thinking they are serious, the killer decides to find them and do them in.
Only a forgotten term for murder...and Joan Crawford.ISWYD is a movie trapped in it's own time bubble, a look at the hijinks of teenage girls left alone with a telephone for fun and games.
Amy was a supporting character, and although Crawford put in a good performance, 'I Saw What You Did' is more about the teenagers and the psychotic murderer out to keep them quiet.'I Saw What you Did' was likely the first horror movie to introduce the "helpless babysitter versus killer" storyline, which of course 'Halloween' used brilliantly in '78.
After he kills his wife, the next door neighbor (Joan Crawford) is ready to replace her in his affections.Across town, two kids left on their own for the evening (Sara Lane and Andi Garrett) are making prank calls.
Anyway, the girls take turns calling numbers, sometimes intimating they're a husband's girlfriend, or saying "I saw what you did...and I know who you are..." Unfortunately for them, Steve Marak just did something, and the idea that someone saw it and knows who he is makes him desperate to meet her.This is a real camp classic with some good suspense that brings back fond teen memories in the way that "The World of Henry Orient" did, but with some scary aspects.John Ireland is an effective killer, and Joan Crawford is scary as all get-out as the neighbor.
Entertaining, but campy B-horror flick from William Castle of two teenage girls randomly crank calling people and saying "I Saw What You Did & I Know Who You Are."  They accidentally call a man who just murdered his wife.
I Saw What You Did (1965) *** (out of 4)Libby (Andi Garrett), Kit (Sara Lane) and Libby's younger sister Tess (Sharyl Locke) are home alone when they decide to have some fun by prank calling people.
They start telling people "I saw what you did and I know who you are" but unfortunately for them they say this to Steve Marak (John Ireland) who has just murdered his wife.William Castle's I SAW WHAT YOU DID is an extremely entertaining and satisfying thriller that manages to be the director's best film next to HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL.
Well, it's fun, completely uncompromising, the kids Andi Garrett, Sarah Lane and Sharyl Locke are quite adorable, and they know to make you interested in the story, responding for the several well humored moments of the movie, and also the great presence of Joan Crawford as the psycho's lover.
The real stars of the film are teenage girls Sara Lane and Andi Garrett who had brief careers and John Ireland a man they prank and live to regret it.You couldn't make this film today.
"I Saw What You Did  And I Know Who You Are" may not be the first title that springs to mind when people mention the name and reputation of the legendary filmmaker William Castle (that honor is preserved for "House on Haunted Hill" and "13 Ghosts"), but it's definitely a highly entertaining and massively ingenious slice of 60's horror with a fantastic basic plot outline and a wondrous duo of lead stars; namely Joan Crawford and John Ireland.
The premise is surprisingly simple: two teenagers spending the night together at one of their parents' homes (far too isolated for their own good) pass the time making what they think are harmless crank calls--dialing random numbers from the phone book purring to the person on the other end of the line:  "I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are." Trouble is, the recipient of one of their calls (John Ireland) has just brutally murdered his wife.
While Marak spends his time covering up his crime, fending off the advances of his oversexed neighbour Amy Nelson (Joan Crawford), and desperately trying to get back in touch with the so-called "witnesses", the girls buy themselves more trouble by casing Steve's joint.This isn't as enjoyable overall as this viewer would have liked.
When two teenagers on babysitting duties decide to have fun making prank phone calls, their evening turns sinister when they call up a man who has just murdered his wife William Castle was of course better known for his gimmicks than for his ability as a film maker, I Saw What You Did shows the best and worst of the great entertainer.
The girls play the same prank phone call over and over again to different people telling them that they know who they are and saw what they did, until coincidently they call a man who has murdered a woman that same day.
William Castle seems likely to be remembered more for his showmanship and ability to make very modest movies into "gotta see" events by devising advertising campaigns that while bizarre bordered on a kind of genius--like wiring up seats to give electric shocks ( The Tingler )or the "emergo" process that saw skeletons dangling over the heads of the audience in The House on Haunted Hill .I Saw What You Did eschews such gimmickry and is a perfectly acceptable and eminently enjoyable B movie that passes the time in an agreeable and satisfying mannerTwo teenage girls take advantage of parental absence to indulge in a series of telephone pranks including ringing people chosen at random from the Directory and saying "I SAW WHAT YOU DID AND I KNOW WHO YOU ARE " This backfires when one man they contact -Steve Marek (John Ireland )turns out to have a genuine secret -he has just murdered his wife and disposed of her remains in the nearby woods.He sets out to locate and silence the women ;this is not his only problem as his neighbour the wealthy and possessive Amy Nelson (Joan Crawford )is also clued in to the murder and seeks to blackmail him into marriage.
The script by veteran pulp author William P McGivern is solid and Castle directs efficiently-although the shower scene murder cannot help but pale into hack work when set alongside the similar scene in Psycho.Crawford is over the top and was reportedly drunk for much of her performance ,and the weak performances of the teenage leads are a drag on proceedings ,leaving John Ireland to take the acting honours.Its proficient and well made and thriller fans should try it--I suspect they will enjoy this crisp little tale..
One of their funnier stunts is calling random names from the phone book and telling the answering party, "I saw what you did, and I know who you are!" When they tell this to John Ireland (as Steve Marak), he thinks they know he has just killed his wife...William Castle's "I Saw What You Did" probably provided most theater and drive-in audiences with medium-sided thrills in 1965 - but, today, it's very tame stuff.
Her role as the horny, fiftysomething neighbor, who knows how to prepare a stiff drink, is absolutely delicious.****** I Saw What You Did (7/21/65) William Castle ~ John Ireland, Andi Garrett, Joan Crawford, Sarah Lane.
Although I have a blurry memory of Leif Erickson, John Ireland, and a seriously creepy Joan Crawford, I know I thought this 1965 drive-in theatre-grade flick was a cut above.It had a modern look to it, there was a serious level of menace in the story of a couple of teenage girls who call a stranger to inform him he's been caught, not knowing he really did just kill his wife.I know I liked it, and I had it in my Netflix queue for a long while (until they said it wasn't available).
These calls lead to murderous consequences.William Castle made a lot of great films, both horror and comedy.
"I saw what you did...and I know who you are!" This is what teenagers Kit and Libby say to Steve Marak (John Ireland), whom they've randomly dialed as a prank.
Now he thinks his mysterious caller knows too much - and he's out to find her.This is another post-gimmick horror movie from the legendary William Castle, and like The Night Walker and Strait-Jacket, there are plenty more genuine scares than campy laughs.
The best aspects of the film are the excellent realistic performance by John Ireland as a menacing murderer, Joan Crawford's decent performance in which she is murdered before she gets a chance to over-act, and the creepy conclusion where the girls are chased about the property by the madman--all really good stuff.
The little girl, Tess, is a nuisance.Some really good creepy moments throughout, and one can't deny the fun of the subject matter: Two teenagers getting the wits scared out of them, after making prank phone calls.
Libby Mannering (cute brunette Andi Garrett) and Kit Austin (adorable blonde Sarah Lane) are a couple of fun-loving teenage girls who get their kicks calling strangers over the phone and exclaiming "I saw what you did and I know who you are!".
Libby and Kit find themselves in considerable jeopardy when they pull this particular prank on Steve Marak (excellently played with brooding menace by John Ireland), a hot-tempered brute who's just murdered his wife (an effectively startling set piece that clearly imitates the famous shower scene from "Psycho").
That's the case in "I Saw What You Did" about three girls who prank call folks, chosen at random from a phone book, unfortunately hand-picking a middle-aged psychopath who likes to stick a knife in women's bellies.Libby(Andi Garrett), her little sister Tess(Sharyl Locke)and school chum Kit(Sara Lane)spend the evening, while their parents are at a small gathering for the night, prank calling various people, when they select the wrong man, Steve Marak(John Ireland)claiming they saw what he did and knew who he was, shortly after he murdered his wife, burying her not too far from his home.
This card will provide Steve with their whereabouts as a frightened Libby, with Kit and Tess in tow, drives away at the angry demands of Amy. Threatening blackmail if he doesn't marry her, Steve "rids" himself of Amy before taking to the road so he can find Suzette, planning to silence the one he believes might know of his bad conduct.While touching on the repercussions of prank phone-calling to kids, Castle has the perfect set-up for a confrontation between a sadistic killer, with an explosive trigger, and innocent children, alone in their house with parents far from home.
Together with Libby's little sister Tess (Sharyl Locke), whom they find themselves babysitting, they amuse themselves by making prank phone calls teasing whoever answers by saying "I saw what you did, I know who you are." Things take a sinister turn when they accidentally call a psychopath called Steve Marek (John Ireland) who has just brutally murdered his wife in the shower so he can be with his neighbour and lover Amy (Joan Crawford).
Of course, you can't help but think, "Mommie Dearest, I promise I'll be good!"Two teenage girls (Andi Garrett and Sarah Lane) bored on a Saturday night, decide to make prank phone calls (oh, those glory days before caller ID!), and use the interpretive phrase, "I saw what you did - and I know who you are!" Be careful how you dial, girls, because macho psychopath John Ireland has just brutally murdered his young wife (while he was taking a shower, no less - "Psycho" parallels, anyone?), and thinks you saw him do the dastardly deed.
It is funny because the music score transforms scenes that should be suspenseful or scary into something that sounds like a Disney's film.There is a couple of murders in ISWYD, and the first one happens in such an idiotic way that I had to watch it a few time to understand what was going on And, by the ways, Joan Crawford is wasted here.Well, there is nothing much here, unless you are feeling nostalgic..
Two childish teens make prank calls and one of them is to a guy who has killed his wife and he now thinks that the one who made the call saw him do it and knows who he is.