Apprentice to Murder

Apprentice to Murder
Directed by Ralph L. Thomas
Screenplay by
Produced by Howard K Grossman
Starring
Cinematography Kelvin Pike
Edited by Patrick McMahon
Music by Charles Gross
Production
company
Hot International A.S
Distributed by New World Pictures
Release date
  • 1988
Running time
94 minutes
Countries
  • Norway
  • United States

Apprentice to Murder is a 1988 thriller film directed by Ralph L. Thomas and starring Donald Sutherland, Chad Lowe and Mia Sara.

Premise

A teenager (Chad Lowe) is torn between his lover (Mia Sara) and a doctor (Donald Sutherland) of "powwow medicine" in 1920s Pennsylvania.

Cast

Production

The film was developed under the working title of The Long Lost Friend (the name of a famous pow-wow book) and had its principal photography begin early September, 1986, in Bergen, Norway. According to the September 19, 1986 issue of Variety, the film had a budget of 10 million dollars and was entirely funded by Norwegian money. Apprentice to Murder was entirely shot in Norway. Production was scheduled to finish early November , 1986, but according to Screen International on November 29, 1986, the film was still filming in Norway. By 1987, Grossman who had been developing another project with his long time friend and Oscar winning screenwriter John Briley (who came to Norway to meet with Grossman's company HOT) convinced Grossman and his director to change the film's title to Apprentice to Murder.

Release

The film was originally set for a November 6, 1987 release. The Daily Variety on December 31, 1987, that the film would have its premiere on January 2, 1988, in York, PA. The New York Daily News stated that Apprentice to Murder was opening on February 27, 1988, in New York while the American Film Institute stated that the film opened in New York and Los Angeles on February 26.