Top of the Heap (1972)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Top of the Heap (1972) – C. St. John

It isn’t clear how Blaxploitation audiences felt about this weird low-budget film from one-shot director Christopher St. John but it certainly contains enough thought-provoking content (alongside the incidental car chases and nudity) for this viewer. St. John plays George Lattimer, a Black Washington DC cop who is fed up with taking crap from perps, public, colleagues, and the captain.  His relationships with his wife and 13-year-old daughter are frayed and distant. He fantasises about joining NASA and heading to the Moon. In fact, his thoughts and fantasies are intercut into the action, even if it is just a brief blip passing through his mind in reference to what’s actually happening.  It wasn’t too hard to keep fantasy and reality straight for most of the film but I confess that I might have misjudged this by the end!  The loose plot (which sees George wrestling with whether to quit his job after the jolt of his mother’s death) is only an excuse for St. John to offer his thoughts on a variety of topics, including racism particularly but also aging and, uh, space travel (the ultimate escape?). Richard Brody of the New Yorker referenced Fellini in relation to this film and that might be apt if the Maestro was transposed in space and time to this genre. Worth a look (on Tubi).

Vampire Circus (1972)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

Vampire Circus (1972) – R. Young

Late Hammer entry with more graphic violence and nudity than earlier allowed by the censors. The opening is unnervingly creepy, featuring a young girl being kidnapped and offered to the local vampire count (for snacking) by a woman clearly under his influence. The woman’s husband gathers a posse and they drive a stake through the count’s heart and burn down his castle. His last words are a curse that he places on the village and all of the descendants of his attackers.  Fast forward 15 years and the village has been quarantined because of the plague – no one can get in or out because of a roadblock.  However, a mysterious circus does arrive and soon people are disappearing. We know that the circus contains vampires who can shapeshift into wild animals but it takes the villagers a while to figure this out. Somehow the blood of the villagers is also able to be used to resurrect the long dead count who seeks a final showdown. The production feels slightly looser and shaggier than your usual Hammer outing and things do get pretty weird. The absence of any recognizable actors also tilts this away from the Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee era – perhaps they would have seemed out of place although stronger acting would have helped here. An early 70s curio but not without interest.

 

Sleuth (1972)

 

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Sleuth (1972) – J. L. Mankiewicz

Impressive two-hander (from Anthony Shaffer’s play) starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in a twisty game of cat-and-mouse.  Olivier pulls out all the stops as a wealthy game-loving mystery writer who has hatched a plot to ensnare Caine, the hairdresser son of immigrants who is sleeping with Olivier’s wife (seeking a divorce).  Although the fun is in watching Olivier and Caine spar across the three acts, the subtext about class differences is never far from the surface.  Olivier can’t stand the idea of Caine showing him up.  The whole thing is staged in a single location, Olivier’s country estate filled with games, theatrical props, and mechanical toys (well directed by veteran Joseph L. Mankiewicz).  It’s hard to write about the film without giving too much away – however, my feeling is that the ending is just a little bit too pat (although I’ll admit that there was really no other possibility). If you are up for a theatrical game of gotcha full of clever sadistic twists, then this may be your cup of tea.

 

Un Flic (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Un Flic (1972) – J.-P. Melville

Melville’s final film is a restatement (or rehashing) of his earlier themes about male bonding, grace under pressure, the commonalities between cop and criminal (themes later borrowed by John Woo among others).  It also is another example of his stylized technique, with the art direction and set design featuring multiple shades of grey, blue, and brown (including the suits, trench coats, and fedoras), shot in the rain or on cloudy days.  Melville famously claimed that his films weren’t “Bressonian” but instead that Robert Bresson’s films were “Melvillian” – by which he means to say that his films were intensely focused on instrumental actions (including shots of hands and feet) more than on establishing the psychology of his characters. Un Flic displays this fetish rather extravagantly with two major heist scenes, the gang (led by dubbed Richard Crenna) robs a bank on a rainy day and a drug courier on a train.  The latter scene takes place in “real time” as the train travels twenty minutes between two stops and Crenna descends from a helicopter onto the roof and then back up again.  (The fact that the train and helicopter are so clearly models detracts from the film and speaks to Melville’s tight budget; unlike Hitchcock’s back projection, the effect here isn’t particularly Brechtian). The two heist set pieces don’t really contribute to the themes or to character development in Un Flic.  Instead, Alain Delon’s police inspector is more richly presented, as we see him in a variety of contexts, at different crime scenes, at the office, with police informants, and alone with his tryst partner Catherine Deneuve – but also at the typical Melvillian nightclub (with synchronised dancing girls) which is run by Crenna whose girlfriend is actually Deneuve as well (a link between cop and crook again).  Of course, everything and everyone is cool, particularly Delon, Crenna, and Deneuve, but Melville’s handling of the conclusion feels abrupt – he’s set the mood expertly, but he has less patience for the resolution and its (typical) fatalism.  Still, there’s a nice effect when Delon’s final move in this chess match sinks in.  Start elsewhere but this is still worth it for fans.

Sisters (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Sisters (1972) – B. De Palma

Brian De Palma’s films often end up unsatisfying.  Especially in his 1970s work, he cribs liberally from Alfred Hitchcock, borrowing his themes (voyeurism), his flaws (misogyny perhaps), and here even his composer (Bernard Herrmann) – but the result is not on the same level as Hitch’s best work.  De Palma seems more grubby, although the 70s fashion, cars, and decor may contribute to that sense, perhaps a conscious choice, in Sisters.  De Palma also pushes the sex and violence further than Hitchcock did, losing something when actions and images become explicit rather than implicit.  This said, there is just enough weird morbidity in Sisters (a hint of Cronenberg perhaps) that makes it interesting.  We begin with Danielle (Margot Kidder), a French Canadian living on Staten Island who has a one-night stand that ends in murder. Reporter Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt) sees it from her apartment window but the police don’t believe her.  Danielle and her weird ex-husband Emil (William Finley) clearly cover it up (as shown in split screen, while the police are on their way), but we come to believe that the murderer is Danielle’s (evil) twin.  A private detective (Charles Durning) is hired by the newspaper to investigate.  Herrmann’s score really keeps things moving, evoking the classic Hitchcocks.  But weirder things happen and what’s with the ending?  Ultimately, the sum may be more than equal to its parts – but the parts have been repurposed from elsewhere!  This might reward another viewing.

Tales from the Crypt (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Tales from the Crypt (1972) – F. Francis

With its title drawn from the EC Comics series of the 1950s and its five stories also taken from the pages of that comic or one of its siblings, this Amicus Productions portmanteau film is actually pretty good.  When touring an ancient burial crypt, five people get side-tracked into a secret cave where they are confronted by the Crypt Keeper (played by Sir Ralph Richardson) who then details to them their future deaths, based on his knowledge of their secret (evil) intentions.  So, we are treated to five episodes where the protagonists (including Joan Collins, Nigel Patrick, Ian Hendry, Robin Phillips, and Richard Greene) commit some evil act and then meet with a horrible doom.  Peter Cushing guest stars in a rather atypical role in one of the tales.  And, although some of the acting seems middling at times, the horror is actually pretty memorable and the scenarios stayed with me after the film ended (some of them are quite gruesome in fact).  I’ve seen a couple of other portmanteau films from Amicus that were not as good as this.  I won’t spoil them for you but each one is short and sweet, packs a punch, and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Dracula A. D. 1972 (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆

Dracula A. D. 1972 (1972) – A. Gibson

A good premise from Hammer Horror that finds Christopher Lee (Dracula) and Peter Cushing (Van Helsing) transposed to then modern day (but now very dated) London.  Of course, Dracula has been resurrected once again, this time by Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame) who somehow has remained young for 100 years.  Or alternately, it is Alucard’s descendant who has inherited Dracula’s ashes and now uses them for the horrible ritual which brings his master back to life, just as it is the descendant of the original Van Helsing who must fight Dracula again in the 20^th century.  As you would expect, there is the usual teensploitation element here, with our 70s kids experimenting with drugs and sex and tight clothes.  The movie plods for a while as they get around to raising Dracula and then being killed by him.  Fortunately, Cushing is soon to the rescue, running across London to the sound of a Shaft-like score (to save his grand-daughter who has been kidnapped by the Count).  And, as usual, things do not end well for Dracula.   

  

Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)

☆ ☆

Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972) – A. de Ossorio

I was looking for creepy and this story about the accursed Templar Knights who were executed and had their eyes pecked out by birds but then came back from the dead to haunt their abandoned medieval Portuguese town seemed just the ticket.  Reviews suggested that the gore was on the lighter side for this kind of Euro-Horror and that’s true enough – however, a nasty rape scene was not what I wanted.  Although the human rapist does meet his doom at the bony hands/teeth of the Satanic knights, this does not justify sexual violence against women.  Considering the film without that scene – and, apparently, it was edited out in some prints – the film does have a spooky quality.  These lumbering blind zombies and their slow-motion horses are rather relentless.  Of course, as could be expected, the acting is not strong and the actions of the characters are implausible at best.  Moreover, the Foley artists were really working overtime (I’m reminded of the recent and recommended Berberian Sound Studio, 2012).  But I can’t recommend this film given its content -- not unusual for horror during this time period and in Europe, but still unwelcome.  I just wanted creepy.    

The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Heartbreak Kid (1972) – E. May

Charles Grodin plays a character to which an intensely ambivalent reaction is the only correct response.  On the one hand, he’s funny (increasingly so, as the movie progresses).  On the other hand, he’s ready to end his marriage after 5 days because he meets Cybill Shepherd and she seems better.  Of course, Jeannie Berlin (the director Elaine May’s daughter) does do a great (funny) “annoying” and you can see Grodin’s pall as he really gets to know his bride.  But he’s a lying cad; Berlin doesn’t deserve to be dumped (and we feel sympathy for her).  So, we’re almost expecting Grodin to get his comeuppance and Eddie Albert (as Shepherd’s dad) very nearly offers it (“I’m a rich brick wall”).  But somehow Grodin defies the odds, following Shepherd back to Minneapolis (with several scenes shot on Northrop Mall at the U of M – it looks the same!).  And once he succeeds, surprisingly, we’re left with an exquisite moment (scored with “Close to You”, a repeated motif) where we aren’t quite sure if Grodin is happy or not.  Neil Simon wrote the screenplay from a story by Bruce Jay Friedman.  Funny and “real-seeming” but so very wrong.   

Asylum (1972)

☆ ☆ ½

Asylum (1972) – R. W. Baker

One of many portmanteau films from Amicus (an also-ran competitor for Hammer in England back in the 1960s and 1970s) but not a patch on the great original horror anthology, Dead of Night (1945) from Britain’s Ealing Studios.  These films always have a framing device to hold their separate stories together and Asylum’s conceit is that a young psychiatrist visiting the titular institution needs to decide which of the patients is actually the head clinician, now an inmate.  The missing doctor could be male or female, young or old.  The four stories are told in flashback by the various patients and suggest why they went insane.  A couple of the stories are quite spooky.  The first, in which a husband kills his wife and cuts her up into pieces that then come back to attack him and his mistress/the patient, is eerie enough.  So, too, is the third where young Charlotte Rampling is “assisted” by Britt Ekland in dealing with her domineering brother and her addiction to pills.  There are other stars here too (Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom) but their stories are less spooky if not without a creepy moment or two.  Of course, there is a “trick” ending to bring things together again.  Amicus made six or seven of these anthologies and really they aren’t a bad way to spend your Halloween, which was always going to be a mixed bag of tricks and treats anyway.  

Virgin Witch (1972)

☆ ☆

Virgin Witch (1972) – R. Austin

I should have known better.  But in my never-ending quest to find spooky supernatural films (without gore, if possible), I descended into the realm of sub-Hammer sexploitation.  Apparently filmed just as Britain was opening itself up to T&A, that’s about all that is on offer here.  The acting is rather somnambulant and the plot (which sees two young girls runaway to London to become models but get mixed up in a witches coven) is far inferior to The Devil Rides Out (1968) or even The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), two of its peers (the latter if you add sexuality to the mix, although that is more of a spoof of The Old Dark House, 1932).  (If anything good can be said for the plot here, it's that the women have all the power, including the supposed victim.)  At any rate, all I can say is “look elsewhere”.  I’ll tell you if I find something good in this genre (Suspiria, 1977, and Rosemary’s Baby, 1968, are still at the top of the heap).