David and Lisa

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David and Lisa

1962

1h 34m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

85%

Tomatometer

13 Reviews

79%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Teenager David Clemens (Keir Dullea) develops a hysterical fear that he will die if he comes into physical contact with another person. Perturbed, David's overbearing mother places him in a home for mentally disturbed young people, but David remains withdrawn from the other patients and his psychiatrist. Over time, however, David grows interested in 15-year-old Lisa (Janet Margolin), who suffers from multiple personalities -- one who can only speak in rhyme, and the other, a mute.

TIME Staff

TIME Magazine

Oct 30, 2007

Deeply touching.

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Bosley Crowther

New York Times

May 10, 2005

4/5

[Frank Perry] has done a simple, commendable, sympathetic semi-documentary.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Jan 1, 2000

Probably not everything it was cracked up to be in 1963.

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Judith Crist

New York Herald Tribune

Aug 15, 2022

David and Lisa has something to say in its exploration of troubled adolescents, that it recognizes and probes the wounds of the mind and the heart and the power of love to penetrate even the most private of worlds.

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Clyde Gilmour

Maclean's Magazine

Oct 7, 2019

The result is a memorable debut for Eleanor Perry, who wrote the intelligent script, and for her husband Frank, who directed it with discretion and vitality.

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Dwight MacDonald

Esquire Magazine

Aug 9, 2019

David [and Lisa], for all its deficiencies (among which is not casting), is dramatic, it moves.

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Noel L

@RT15930389 Aug 25, 2026

I don't know why, but I kind of got a Benny & Joon vibe

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Steve D

@RT35616104 Jul 19, 2023

A mixed bag but the acting is strong.

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Nov 24, 2019

This movie was boring as heck. Couldn't finish it.

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Blobbo X

@Blobbo Jul 20, 2019

This really bowled over the young Blobbo. Also, fell in love with girl and couldn't stop rhyming for a while.

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Thomas M

@TMProofreader Jan 31, 2019

The best romance movie ever made!

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Mar 12, 2018

A touching and well balanced coming of age tale of two persons who have rather extreme needs. A shame Margolin isn't better known today, I guess she wasn't offered the right parts.

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Frank Perry

Director

Keir Dullea

David Clemens

Janet Margolin

Lisa Brandt

Howard Da Silva

Dr. Swinford

Neva Patterson

Mrs. Clemens

Clifton James

John

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Synopsis

Teenager David Clemens (Keir Dullea) develops a hysterical fear that he will die if he comes into physical contact with another person. Perturbed, David's overbearing mother places him in a home for mentally disturbed young people, but David remains withdrawn from the other patients and his psychiatrist. Over time, however, David grows interested in 15-year-old Lisa (Janet Margolin), who suffers from multiple personalities -- one who can only speak in rhyme, and the other, a mute.

Director: Frank Perry
Producer: Paul M. Heller
Screenwriter: Eleanor Perry
Distributor: Continental Distributing Inc.
Production Co: Vision Associates Productions
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 26, 1962, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 16, 2018
Runtime: 1h 34m

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