Where Are the Children?

Where Are the Children?
Directed by	Bruce Malmuth
Written by	Jack Sholder
Based on	Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark
Produced by	Zev Braun Bryant Christ
Starring	Jill Clayburgh Max Gail Harley Cross Elizabeth Wilson Barnard Hughes
Cinematography	Larry Pizer
Edited by	Roy Watts
Music by	Sylvester Levay
Production companies	Braun Entertainment Group Delphi V Productions Rastar
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	December 12, 1986
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Where Are the Children? is a 1986 American mystery thriller film directed by Bruce Malmuth, starring Jill Clayburgh, Max Gail, Harley Cross, Elizabeth Wilson, and Barnard Hughes. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Mary Higgins Clark.

Plot

On her birthday, San Francisco resident Nancy Harmon's two kids Peter and Lisa disappear, later to be found dead. The police wrongly accuse a devastated Nancy of being the killer. Nancy is found guilty and sentenced to the gas chamber, but her attorney manages to get her conviction overturned. Much to the District Attorney's dismay, Nancy can't be put back on trial because key witness Rob Legler has left the country. And Nancy's husband, college professor Carl Holder, commits suicide.

Seven years later, Nancy has relocated to a town in Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Nancy has changed her identity, re-colored her hair, and has married a realtor named Ray Eldridge, with whom she has two kids named Michael and Missy, and the terrible pain from what happened to Peter and Lisa has begun to heal. But today is Nancy's birthday. She has allowed Michael and Missy to go out to play in the back yard. Nancy opens the newspaper and is stunned to find, in the local section of the paper, her picture and all of the details of the murders of Peter and Lisa. Nancy rushes out to the back yard to get Michael and Missy and bring them back into the house, but Nancy finds only one of Missy's red mittens...and Nancy knows that the nightmare is beginning again.

Because of the disappearance and murder of Peter and Lisa, Nancy is understandably concerned about finding Mike and Missy before they are hurt the way Peter and Lisa were. Local police chief Jed Coffin, who has read the newspaper, wrongfully sees Nancy as a suspect in the disappearance of Michael and Missy. When people in the town read about Nancy in the newspaper, virtually everyone suspects her of murdering Mike and Missy. But Mike and Missy have been kidnapped by a man named Courtney Parrish. In the desperate search for Mike and Missy, everyone will discover the devastating truth as to who Courtney Parrish really is. And there is also another question—was it Parrish who killed Peter and Lisa years ago?

Cast

• Jill Clayburgh as Nancy Holder Eldridge
• Max Gail as Ray Eldridge
• Harley Cross as Michael Eldridge
• Elisabeth Harnois as Missy Eldridge
• Elizabeth Wilson as Dorothy Prentiss
• Barnard Hughes as Jonathan Knowles
• Frederic Forrest as Courtney Parrish
• Eriq La Salle as Deputy Bernie

External links

• Where Are the Children? at IMDb
• Where Are the Children? at Rotten Tomatoes
• Where Are the Children? at Box Office Mojo