The Baby (1973)
A social worker who recently lost her husband investigates the strange Wadsworth family. The Wadsworths might not seem too unusual to hear about them at first - consisting of the mother, two grown daughters and the diaper-clad, bottle-sucking baby. The problem is, the baby is twenty-one years old.
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Pretty Good
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Otherwise this piece of 70's outrageousness would be better loved. It does have everything a cult film should.But the baby voice makes no sense. Why would the child grow in every way - into a mature body - but the vocal cords remain in infancy? The sound of a baby coming from him is the worst thing about the movie - makes it much more grating and reduces the film overall.Considering that the story does keep one watching to see what's gonna happen, this flaw is quite unfortunate - makes one want to stop watching for the annoyance of it.Well, that's all I wanted to say - but the "guidelines" tell me I have to add more lines to this comment, so I added this sentence. The guidelines are stupid, aren't they?
The Baby is a hilarious, disturbing, creepy and yet strangely cheerful thriller about a mother and her three kids. When a social worker comes to investigate, she meets Baby, a little boy... who is really a grown man! Naturally she is shocked, and starts trying to find out if something is wrong, much to the Wadsworth family's annoyance as she starts trying to have Baby taken away. As it turns out towards the extremely shocking ending, her motives for being so interested in Baby are stranger than the entire film itself.Why does The Baby have such awful reviews? Granted it's a little weird and freaky, but come on, it's just a low-budget thriller and a very original one at that! There have been complaints in the past few decades on the term "retarded" being used in the movie, but ignore these complaints, the movie was made in the 1970's and it was still a common phrase then, it doesn't make it right but it is no reason to never watch the film. Baby's actor was great, imagine being an adult man and having to throw yourself into the role of an infant! I love the soundtrack, it's nostalgic and eerie, and overall The Baby was a pretty creepy an suspenseful film.
Social worker Anjanette Comer (as Ann Gentry) has a new case. She is to oversee government assistance going to the weird "Wadsworth" family. The client receiving checks is a young adult man called "Baby" (played by David Mooney aka David Manzy). Baby is well-named as he has remained intellectually a baby for 20-some-odd years. Baby's mother is deep-voiced Ruth Roman. She has two sexy grown-up daughters who have aged normally – relatively speaking... Meeting Baby on a "routine" visit isn't enough for Ms. Comer. She becomes unusually attached to Baby and begins visiting him frequently. Her boss worries about the time Comer spends with Baby and thinks about changing his social worker. Comer responds by telling him she has some suspicions about the case and begins investigating. Presumably, Comer suspects the wacky Wadsworth family has kept Baby infantile on purpose...This is a very strange film. The adult Baby wears diapers and speaks in genuine baby gibberish. He is so strange you're wondering what went wrong and where the story is headed. It sure fooled me. The other characters are interesting, too. Filmmakers and director Ted Post give it a naughty Gothic TV Movie atmosphere that works like a charm.******* The Baby (3/73) Ted Post ~ Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, David Mooney, Marianna Hill
This is one of those really bizarre films that those of us who appreciate this kind of thing can really enjoy. I did. With the glee of voyeurism, and the thrill of horror, I can say I recommend it. Also, who could resist the 1970s look, feel, and clothes? What a trip back in time. Whoever remembers Ruth Roman in her glory days will be a little unsettled, but she delivers an appropriately creepy performance. The ending was totally unexpected, as others have noted. I will watch this again. The only criticism is that I wish the actor playing "Baby" was incredibly good looking instead of average, and that the baby cries were his, instead of a dubbed baby, which would make it above average and more creepy. I love Anjanette Comer, especially her performance in "The Loved One." Here she is perfect.