Post by Adam H. KermanPost by Ian J. BallPost by Adam H. KermanI've never seen this movie, I don't think. Directed by Richard Vadim and
written and produced by Gene Roddenberry, it's a sadomasochistic sex
thriller: Rock Hudson murders lots of teenage girls at a high school.
Overnight Sunday, 1:45 am ET on TCM
My cable guide describes it as a "black comedy". (That is *racist* now,
right?...)
Good point
Maybe that's how Roddenberry wrote it, but Vadim likes sexual sadism.
Skip the sadism, just show the tits.
Post by Ian J. BallWow, Angie Dickenson co-stars, along with Telly Savalas and Roddy McDowall!
I'll write a review tomorrow.
My gawd Angie Dickinson really got to me in this movie. The English
lessons she gave Ponce were wonderful. I wish I had a teacher like her.
In that nightgown, she's all leg. Roger Vadim had an eye.
I know, I know, she'd play Pepper Anderson a couple of years later, but
I can't believe she was born in 1931 and had been acting since the early
'50s.
Rock Hudson is Tiger, the school guidance counselor, football coach, and
genuine American hero. He's married to much younger Barbara Leigh and
has a adorable daughter. Somehow, his wife doesn't notice how many
evening and a few nights he's not home, helping the girls of his high
school pass his personality tests. They just throw themselves at him. He
can't help having sex with them, he's just a man.
Tiger is trying to help Ponce be less shy around women. Ponce has
typical teenage boy hormone problems but Tiger tells Miss Dickenson that
he's impotent. She fixes Ponce right up. It's amazing.
Tiger tests Hilda (Aimee Eccles) while her mother is demanding the
school be closed.
Brenda Sykes is not tested. That would have been too controversial?
Sonny (June Fairchild) breaks into is office and invents the nude selfie
with Polaroid film, well, not the cheesecake shot we actually saw. She
unintentionally records their tryst on a dictating machine. She doesn't
get murdered.
Roddy McDowall is amusing as the put-upon principal, with Bible-thumping
Miss Craymire as the school secretary.
Keenan Wynn is hysterical as the incompetent racist police chief; first
thing he does to investigate the first murder is stop a black student.
Telly Savalas, almost doing Kojak's mannered performance, is the state
police detective assigned to take over. He's really not much help. No
one mentioned James Doohan assisting him, who isn't doing the comic
Scots accent he famously does on Star Trek.
There's a moment at the football game in which two majorettes are
sitting behind Telly Savalas. For a moment, I thought they were going to
draw something on the back of his head.
I found the end abrupt. Ponce finds the evidence Sonny unintentially
created and figures out Tiger killed the girls. Tiger finds him,
confesses as he drives him home and tells him Jill (I think the first
victim) had tried to extort him into leaving his wife. He then takes
a long drive off a short pier... his body isn't found. At the memorial
service, Telly Savalas spots that his widow has airline tickets to
Brazil and decides to follow them. I guess despite all the murders, she
loves him.
After Tiger's "death", Ponce consoles all the girls mourning for Tiger.
Angie Dickenson robs the cradle yet again with a better looking boy.
The Osmonds sing the inappropriate theme song "Chilly Winds".
The "pretty maids" were all gorgeous; the extras too. They were wearing
miniskirts but mostly short dresses. Not a single girl didn't have her
panties exposed at one point. Few wore bras. One extra walked around in
a tiny top with her entire abdomen exposed.
I really should have transferred to this high school when I was a yout'.
Post by Adam H. KermanPost by Ian J. Ball[sigh...] I wish I was retired so I could just spend my time tracking
stuff like this down.
Oh just record it.
Post by Ian J. BallPost by Adam H. KermanA true fan could wank this into the Star Trek universe.
James Doohan was appropriate for the joke Arthur made.