''The Runaways'' is a 1975 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Harry Harris. Starring

Dorothy McGuire Dorothy Hackett McGuire (June 14, 1916 – September 13, 2001) was an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for '' Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947) and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actre ...

Van Williams Van Zandt Jarvis Williams (February 27, 1934 – November 28, 2016) was an American actor best known for his leading role as Kenny Madison in both Warner Bros. television detective series ''Bourbon Street Beat'' (1959–1960) and its sequel ...

, and

Josh Albee Josh Albee (born September 19, 1959) is an American television actor, known for his work as a child actor during the 1970s, and for the role as the young, mute boy Caleb in the feature film, '' Jeremiah Johnson''. Albee remained active in acting ...

, it follows a teenage boy and an escaped leopard.(1 April 1975)
Boy, Leopard Share Spotlight
''Corpus Christi Caller-Times'' It first aired on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

network on April 1, 1975. It was the most viewed primetime program in the United States for the week when it debuted in April 1975.(11 April 1975
Ratings
''Long Beach Independent'', p. 47 (" "The Runaways," about a boy and a leopard, topped the national Nielsen ratings for the week ending April 6. It a i r e d on Tuesday- night on CBS, with Josh Albee, Dorothy McGuire and Van Williams heading the cast.") The movie was adapted from a 1972 novel of the same name by British author

Victor Canning Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific British writer of novels and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews. ...

.(1 April 1975)
'The Runaways' is More Family Fare
''Florida Today''(13 February 1972)

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' It was adapted for television by

John McGreevey John McGreevey (December 21, 1922 – November 24, 2010) was an American writer and screenwriter. He is the father of former Disney star and Emmy-nominated television writer Michael McGreevey. Filmography ;Films *1969: '' Hello Down There'' *1 ...

, one of the writers for ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

''.Whitbeck, Charles (30 March 1975)
Josh Albee and Leopard Spotted
''Willoughby News Herald'' The film was originally intended to be two hours in length, but was trimmed down to 90 minutes, which created some gaps in the storytelling. The leopard used in the film was named Spot, and a jaguar named Clyde used for the running scenes. The film was released on VHS in 1986.(15 November 1986)
New Releases - Home Video
''Billboard'', p. 46

References

External links

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Film on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Runaways, The 1975 television films 1975 films 1975 drama films American drama films Films about cats Teen adventure films Films based on British novels CBS network films 1970s American films