The Failing of Raymond

Plot

Raymond (Stockwell) is a deranged young man who escapes from a psychiatric hospital with a plot to exact revenge on his former teacher, whom he believes unjustly failed him on a high school exam ten years earlier. From the moment he failed the exam, Raymond's life began a downward spiral for which he blames the teacher, Mrs. Mary Bloomquist (Wyman).

As Raymond stalks Mary on the eve of her retirement, the authorities are trying to find him, but they have no idea where he is going. In spite of the voices is his head and a maladjusted personality, Raymond does not seem especially threatening. Nonetheless, Raymond's instability becomes clear when he traps Mary at her school while she is packing her belongings. He then forces Mary to give him the same test he took ten years earlier and as he is about to tighten a garotte around her neck, she apologizes for failing him, not on the exam, but as a teacher. With that, she offers to teach him the material he missed on the exam, and he drops the garotte to sit at one of the school desks. Mary tells Raymond she will teach him at the psychiatric hospital and she also decides she will not retire from teaching.

Cast

Filming location