MOVIE REVIEW : A Troubled Youth ‘Caught’ in World of Drugs

“Caught” (at theaters throughout Southern California), the latest release from evangelist Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures, is another sensitive portrait of a troubled youth from writer-director James F. Collier. As usual, Collier, a skillful craftsman, delivers Graham’s message of Christian salvation with admirable indirectness and shining sincerity.

John Shepherd stars as Tim, a typical California youth, whose life is shattered when he learns his mother (Jill Ireland, in a brisk, welcome return to the screen), a single parent, bore him out of wedlock. She became pregnant while in college, choosing not to let his father, a Dutch premed student, know that she had borne his son.

While Tim’s reaction to this news seems extreme in the utmost, it does send him off to Amsterdam in search of his father. Tim drifts deeper and deeper into a life of drugs and crime--until he crosses paths with Raj (Amerjit Deu), an indomitably cheery young man from New Delhi who has come to Amsterdam to the International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists.

At first, Raj’s determined friendliness and good will seems as tiresome to us as it does to Tim. Raj, however, practices what he believes rather than preaching it and sets out not only to rescue Tim from his increasingly destructive and dangerous existence but also to track down his father as well.

Collier brings a considerable expressiveness to Tim’s story, which gains much from its photogenic Amsterdam locales. The film’s young stars, Shepherd especially, are most impressive. Tim Curry’s songs also show off Shepherd’s pleasant voice.

With “Caught” (rated PG-13 because of adult themes), Collier continues to breathe life and spirit into the World Wide formula--even though the film is about 20 minutes too long.