Mental patient Leonard Hatch (Martin Sheen) escapes from an asylum in Boston and flees to New Mexico. While traveling through a small town, he abducts Doris Mae Withers (Linda Blair), an undereducated teenage farm girl, and takes her to his secret cabin in the mountains. Stockholm Syndrome sets in as he introduces her to poetry. Meanwhile, the local law enforcement search for her.
Sweet Hostage contains examples of:
- Awful Wedded Life: Doris Mae's parents deeply resent each other. Her dad accuses her mom of teaching her to be a disobedient tramp, while her mom laments that if she'd married someone else she could still be living in St. Louis instead of stuck on a farm. After she's kidnapped, her parents both blame each other.
- Because I Said So: This is Leonard's explanation for why he ties up Doris Mae before he goes into town to buy supplies.
- Camera Abuse: As Leonard drives Doris Mae to his cabin, he delivers a Roadside Wave to the camera.
- Comforting Comforter: On Doris Mae's first night in the cabin, Leonard sleeps on a thin mattress on the floor, while she sleeps curled uncomfortably in an armchair. She closes her eyes and opens them to find Leonard standing over her. He drapes his jacket over her and goes back to his mattress.
- Food Slap: Before her kidnapping, Doris Mae's parents get in a shouting match, during which her mom throws the contents of a pot of beans onto her dad.
- Harmful to Hitchhikers: Doris Mae flags down Leonard after her car breaks down. He offers to give her a ride into town. She doesn't realize he's up to no good until she tells him to slow down because her turn's coming up, and he floors the gas pedal instead.
- Hiccup Hijinks: When Leonard gets the hiccups, Doris Mae tells him to wear a paper bag on his head and breathe deeply. Leonard goes along with it reluctantly, thinking he might suffocate. While his head is covered, Doris Mae taps his back and yells "BANG YOUR HICCUPS ARE DEAD!" It works.
- Hollywood Darkness: Doris Mae makes her escape attempt under cover of an extremely obvious day-for-night shot.
- Pit Trap: Leonard warns Doris Mae that the woods around his cabin are full of traps. She doesn't believe him until her first escape attempt, when she falls through some brush into a pit and injures her ankle.
- Run for the Border: Doris Mae tells Leonard that they should travel through the mountains on foot to Mexico under cover of darkness. The police show up before they can leave the cabin.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: When Doris Mae is first abducted, she's wearing a men's shirt and jeans due to spending most of her time helping out on the farm. Doris Mae persuades him to buy a blue dress on one of his trips into town. He's amazed by how beautiful she looks in it, and she is delighted to look like a lady for once.
- Toplessness from the Back: Twice Leonard walks in on Doris Mae while she's bathing in the creek and sees her from behind.
