James A. Watson

Andy Griffith plays a philandering apartment house manager who picks up a pretty young girl (Suzanne Hildur) in a bar. He takes her home, whereupon the girl’s male cronies show up armed with guns. Griffith and his wife (Ida Lupino) are held hostage by the crooks, who plan to use the apartment as headquarters while they pull off a big robbery. Director Paul Wendkos stages the action essentially from the victim’s point of view; we see only what they see, and are kept guessing as to the full details of the crime and the ultimate fate of the hostages. Based on a novel by Fielden Farrington, The Strangers in 7A was first telecast on November 14th, 1972 as a CBS Movie of the Week.