The Baddest Man in Westerns was a Martian

Lee Marvin never hid behind hay bales to shoot Roy Rogers in the back. Lee Van Cleef never framed Rocky Lane for murder while attempting to start an Indian war. Jack Palance never put a burr under Slim Pickens' saddle in order to start a fight with Rex Allen and get them both fired so he would have no witnesses to his train robbery scheme. And none of these guys ever played an invading martian crime boss out to steal top secret rocket plans by taking over the body of an earth scientist. But the "King of the Badmen" did all those things and more. When talking about actors who wore the black hat, no one, and I mean no one, did more evil on screen than, Roy Barcroft. With a relish for playing the villain and a massive amount of roles (upwards of 150 films under his 10-year Republic contract alone!) Roy had both motive and opportunity to do a lot of damage to the good guys in his career. Amazingly, he didn't even begin acting until he was in his 30's, but once he got rolling, he became the workhorse villain in B-pictures and serials. And though his Lou Gehrig-like quantity and consistency of roles was impressive from the late 1930's through the 50's, it was the quality of his evilness that really impressed. Here are just a few of the hundreds of examples of his delicious villainy:

In the Red Ryder film, Stagecoach to Denver, Barcroft engineers a coach accident that not only kills two guys, but paralyzes a recently orphaned boy. He later kidnaps the orphan's aunt, who has come to take care of the boy, and substitutes one of his female gang members for her. By the way, all of this is just incidental to his master plan involving a land grab.

In an early Allen Lane vehicle, Trail of Kit Carson, Barcroft plays a kindly town doctor who is in cahoots with the local gunsmith to frame a guy for murder so they can steal his mine. In a scene with chilling undertones, Barcroft treats an injured character that he secretly wants out of the way.

In the Roy Rogers western, Eyes of Texas, Barcroft sicks a pack of wild dogs on a wealthy boy's home benefactor at the behest of his matronly boss so she can bring in a ringer to claim the estate and kick the orphaned boys out on the street. This is only the beginning of Barcroft's badness as he also abuses Trigger early on, ties Rogers to another horse that drags him around, and later, hides behind some hay bales and actually shoots Rogers!

In the Rex Allen singing cowboy opus, South Pacific Trail, Barcroft blows up a mountain while a passenger-laden train is traveling through it presumably killing everyone on board and then files a mining claim on the mountain so he can dig down and loot the buried train. (So far, this is my favorite of his dastardly deeds).

But it's not just his evil actions that makes Barcroft a standout, his varied characters often have other personal traits that distinguish them amongst the slew of western baddies. For example, in Bandits of Dark Canyon, Roy plays a peanut loving rogue who leaves a trail of shells wherever he wreaks havoc. In Oklahoma Badlands, he's a bit of a narcoleptic often napping before a big job. In The Bold Frontiersman, one of the darker Rocky Lane pictures, Barcroft plays saloon owner who guns down his victims while flipping a coin. While most villains in B-westerns were pretty one dimensional and utterly bland, Roy's characters usually had some quality that made them memorable. Additionally, what really elevated Barcroft from his contemporaries, was his absolute gleeful delight in playing the villain. Whether it was a high class criminal mastermind, the right hand henchman or just the town thug, it is very apparent Roy is enjoying twisting his mustache to no end. He truly relished the bad guy role in much the same way as someone like Vincent Price did.

Barcroft's best roles were done while under contract to Republic Pictures. In particular, the films scripted by Robert Creighton Williams and directed by R.G. Springsteen or Philip Ford (nephew of iconic western director John Ford) were standouts. Sheriff of Wichita from 1949 is arguably the best of the Rocky Lane films and a personal favorite that features a key role for Barcroft. An engaging mystery written by Williams and directed by Springsteen, the story begins with a jailbreak but ultimately winds up at an abandoned fort where a group of seemingly disparate people have come to meet an army Major who disappeared and was presumed dead at the same time a big payroll went missing. The group consists of the convict escapee, played by the future Lone Ranger himself, Clayton Moore, as well as some former soldiers who were in the Major's outfit including a haughty businessman played by the great, ever cranky, Gene Roth. Of course, Allan "Rocky" Lane is there as a lawman on the trail of the escaped convict and Eddy Waller co-stars again as Nugget Clark who is anything but the goofy sidekick in this installment of the series. Barcroft's role is an unusual one as well in that he is an outsider who is unrelated to the group, a notorious outlaw who has brought his gang to claim the missing payroll for himself. Once all the players show up at the fort, Barcroft has his gang surround it with orders to shoot anyone who comes out while he enters to discover the whereabouts of the payroll. The movie then becomes an atmospheric combination of siege, mystery and ghost story with a scene reveal that none other than Howard Hawks later boosted for El Dorado. As for Barcroft, he delivers one of his best lines ever when witnessing a fight between the Allan Lane and Gene Roth characters when he states "There's nothing I like better than a good, dirty fight."

Barcroft's own favorite roles in the Republic serials Manhunt of Mystery Island and The Purple Monster Strikes seem surprising given all the quality work he did in B-westerns, television and even some big budget pictures but clearly indicate the man had a sense of humor about himself and his work. In Manhunt of Mystery Island, Roy plays some kind of reincarnated pirate with a shapeshifting machine who doesn't seem to realize people in the 20th century don't run around in swashbuckling attire. He's an utterly ridiculous looking character but he plays it completely straight-faced which is part of the fun. He  dominates the very generic hero lead played by Richard Bailey not only in terms of on-screen presence but in the serial's promo poster as well. In another interesting twist, the female lead, played by "the queen of serials" Linda Stirling, has to keep coming to the hero's rescue repeatedly - something very unusual for 40's serials, but by my count, Stirling pulled Bailey's fat from the fire at a nearly three to one margin. It's a shame Stirling couldn't have outright been given the lead hero's role as she clearly has more presence than Bailey and would have made a good foil for Barcroft. As with most Republic serials, Manhunt of Mystery Island's strengths lay in its crazy fight scenes, cliffhanger endings but most of all in it's super villain/pirate Barcroft.
In The Purple Monster Strikes, Roy once again steals the show as a straight-faced, tights-wearing martian who has shapeshifting gas pellets that allow him to pose as the rocket scientist he has disposes of early on. He also imports some help from Mars in the later episodes in the form of Marcia (yes, Marcia the Martian) played by Clayton Moore's wife, Mary Moore. Again, this is played without a hint of humor though Barcroft did refer to himself off-camera as "The Jerk in Tights from Jackson Heights".  As entertainment, both serials are prone to the built-in repetitive weaknesses of the format especially the  shapeshifting scenes which are just the same scene played over and over again in each chapter. The real fun comes from the stuntmen's fight scenes where they throw everything, including themselves, at each other during the chaotic melees. And, of course, seeing Roy in his Martian or pirate outfits is rewarding all by itself.

Scores:

Sheriff of Wichita 7.25/10

Manhunt on Mystery Island 5.5/10

The Purple Monster Strikes 5.75/10

Not much dough in rodeo

Where in the world is this place???

Hints - 

It's not located in Norway, Denmark or Sweden.

It's not Solvang, California.

Monte Clark, former head coach of the 49er's and Lions, was born here.

Well-known, legendary character actor, Louis Burton Lindley Jr., was also born here.

What?... Who is Louis Burton Lindley Jr.? Oh boy, here we go again...

Hints -

He was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame for his work as a rodeo clown.

He was partnered up with singing cowboy, Rex Allen, in several of his earliest movie roles.

He's appeared in every blog post I've ever written.

He's worked with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, Stanley Kubrick, Sam Peckinpah (6 times!), Otto Preminger, Jonathan Kaplan, Mel Brooks, Frank Perry, Irvin Kershner and Charles B. Pierce.

In 1919, 60 years before I would graduate from a small high school in the tiny San Joaquin valley town of Kingsburg, California, Louis Burton Lindley Jr. was born into this same "Swedish Village". Located in an agriculturally rich rural region, the career opportunities for young Louis were limited at the time to basically farming, ranching or other forms of agri-business. Despite being just a couple hundred miles in proximity to Hollywood, there were not too many show business jobs available outside of rodeo in the area. And despite Louis Burton Lindley Jr being told there were slim pickings to be made in rodeo, he joined up anyway at age 12, adopted the name Slim Pickens and a star was born.

Recently, I've been revisiting some of my favorite hometown hero's pictures and realized I'd seen very few of them pre-Strangelove. In an effort to remedy, I went on a sort of Slim-bender watching as many of the man's early movies as I could lay my eyes on. His first credited role came in a 1950 western with Errol Flynn called Rocky Mountain. But it was his next eleven movies where he gained fame as Rex Allen's sidekick, a character who by some amazing coincidence was also named Slim Pickens.

In order to talk about Slim, you have to start with Rex Allen aka The Arizona Cowboy. Allen was the last of the singing cowboys to be signed on by Republic Pictures. Like Slim, Allen was an entertainer and ex-rodeo star looking for an easier way to make a living. With matinee looks, a quiet Gary Cooper-ish style and mellifluous singing voice, he was a natural to follow in the footsteps of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and the like. As with any singing cowboy, Allen needed a fun and loyal sidekick but had trouble early on finding one that fit the bill. Gordon Jones was solid in his first film, The Arizona Cowboy (1950), as the dimwitted I.Q. Barton, but was soon pulling duty as Roy Rogers sidekick, Splinters Mcgonagle. After utility man, Fuzzy Knight, and grown-up Our Gang star, Alfalfa Switzer, were tried in the next two films, Buddy Ebsen was drafted in Under Mexicali Stars (1950) and worked in five consecutive films with Allen. But Ebsen's characters never quite jelled and became progressively goofier and clunkier over the course of his run. In 1952, Republic did a little revamping and assigned regular Roy Rogers director William Witney to the Allen films. Witney, best known to modern day exploitation fans for Darktown Strutters (1975) was on the ground floor when Republic Pictures was formed in 1935 and became one of its most reliable directors of serials and programmers. Pickens was brought on board for Witney's first film, Colorado Sundown (1952) and stayed around for the next ten. In addition, Witney and Pickens would later work together in more serious, non-Allen related westerns like Santa Fe Passage (1955) and Stranger at My Door (1956). But it was the Arizona Cowboy movies that ultimately launched Slim.

Although known popularly as a folksy, comedic actor, a lot of Slim's early work was peppered with more serious roles. I was surprised to see he actually played the heavy, and quite effectively, on more than one occasion. Despite his very distinctive look, speech and style, he's quite believable regardless of the tone of character he's playing. Below are some of the best I viewed from his early career.

Fun Pickens

When I offhandedly mentioned to an acquaintance I'd been watching a lot of Slim Pickens' movies recently, a spontaneous smile broke out on his face. It's the same reaction I always have whenever I see Slim's credit show up at the start of a film. What better tribute to a man's memory could there be than a joyful reaction at the mere sight or mention of his name. It's the same feeling as getting an RSVP back from the guy who successfully wore the lampshade at your last party.

Colorado Sundown (1952)

Synopsis: Rancher Rex Allen accompanies his buddy Slim to a newly inherited timberland property. Complications ensue when fellow heirs attempt to con Slim and other land owners out of their property by claiming a bark beetle infestation of the surrounding woodlands.

In only his third film role, Pickens comes out of the gates like an experienced comedy bronc buster immediately establishing his character as a lovable, country-fried oaf who washes his face in a horse trough, bathes in a warsh-tub, eats raw eggs and their shells ("it's the best part"), carries a picture of his ma (who looks a lot like Slim), rides, ropes, fights and even helps out with the singing on occasion. It's a tour de force supporting performance and would have stolen the show if not for the outrageous script featuring the three timber business siblings who'll stop at nothing, including shooting a poodle, a maid and poisoning people, to get their way. Credit director William Witney in keeping this movie coherent while weaving all the seemingly disparate elements together. Imagine a script where someone gets shot and may die in one scene followed by a bouncy country song. But the crazy contrasts in story and character are a big part of the fun. Whereas previous entries in the Arizona Cowboy series were becoming quite predictable and slower in pace, there's no such problem here - this is one quick, crazy, enjoyable ride with Slim and Rex.

Score - 6.5/10

The Last Musketeer (1952)

Synopsis: The wealthy descendant of the town of Taskerville's founder controls all the water in the area and is attempting to force the locals out. Standing in his way is cattleman Rex Allen and water diviner Slim Pickens.

The first scene of Slim using his divining rod while being followed by his buckboard immediately elicits a smile. Whatever happened to divining rod comedy? It seems to have disappeared about the same time as getting-into and falling-out-of-the-hammock jokes. Anyway, Slim really gets to show off his rodeo clown skills and physical humor in addition to getting whizzed on by a lizard. Arthur Orloff wrote the strongest entries of the Rex Allen movies and he blends the humor, action and drama quite nicely here. In addition, the stars seem to have been given a lot of latitude in doing their own stunt work and the flaming buckboard finale may be the best action sequence of the series. The fact that Slim inadvertently saves the day and becomes his own fountain monument is a nice bonus.

Score - 6.75/10

South Pacific Trail (1952)

Synopsis: Rex and his crew get fired due to a dirty trick played on Slim by the ranch foreman who has plans of robbing a local train and wants them out of the way. Meanwhile, the hacienda owner must figure a way to stop his granddaughter from marrying a gold-digging actor.

Another good Arthur Orloff script in a movie that features Slim getting serenaded by Estelita Rodriguez of Rio Bravo fame, bad boy Roy Barcroft killing an entire trainload of people and some surprising pathos brought by Nestor Paiva's ranch owner character who would rather be out on the range with Rex, Slim and the boys than running his business. There's an unlikely coincidence in the story, and I doubt I'd easily forgive the guy who'd just fired me much less help him out, but this is an enjoyable one on every level with a wraparound joke involving Slim.

Score - 6.75/10

Good, Reliable Pickens

As much fun as his lighter roles are, I really enjoy seeing Slim in a non-comedic role. My favorite, as the banner on the blog suggests, is his Sheriff Baker character in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Even though he's a skilled comedic actor, when Pickens plays smart, experienced and capable, he's still completely believable and somehow just as lovable.

Rocky Mountain (1950)

Synopsis: A small group of battle-hardened Confederate soldiers come out to California in an attempt to start a second front during the waning days of the Civil War. They get sidetracked, however, when they come to the aid of a stagecoach besieged by hostile Indians.

A logical assumption to make about Pickens' career arc would be that he learned his chops as the comic relief side kick in the Rex Allen films and then moved on to more serious roles. But Rocky Mountain defies that logic with Slim doing a fine job in an early dramatic role playing a surprisingly tough, competent and serious character. He no doubt benefited from working with very experienced, colorful actors in the ensemble like Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams and Chubby Johnson not to mention the legendary star of the film, Errol Flynn. The supporting ensemble is so strong in fact that they nearly upstage Flynn. The movie feels a bit too John Ford-ish at times with some of the more sentimental aspects, like the young rebel boy and his dog (who has his own music stings), threatening its more serious tone. However, the Confederates-out-west story was unique and the ending was surprisingly satisfying especially given the era it was made in. 

Score 7/10 

Santa Fe Passage (1955)

Synopsis - A disgraced trail scout and his tough sidekick are hired by the owner of a wagon train to escort them through hostile Kiowa country to Santa Fe.

A surprisingly good-looking, Republic picture shot in Trucolor and one of director William Witney's best efforts, Santa Fe Passage features Slim in a tough and serious sidekick role. Slim is just as likely to pull Payne's bacon out the fire as the reverse and his presence is established immediately at the start of the film as he rides down a Kiowa brave, rifle-butts him unconscious and then spits on him. Despite this un-PC opening, it's lead John Payne who becomes the unreasoning, bigoted one of the pair and pre-dates John Wayne's hate-filled character in The Searchers. The writing of the film by Lillie Hayward is superior for a Republic western with some great bits of dialogue as when Rod Cameron's character challenges Payne's with the line, "I was wondering if your nerves are as good as your eyes advertise them to be." Slim also gets a good line early on when he questions Payne's bravado with the Kiowa - "If they's gonna lift your scalp, I want to peek under it to see what you been usin' for brains." The film is surprisingly gritty as well, featuring a scene of a room full of scalping victims whimpering in pain, and later, one of the antagonists getting on the receiving end of a partial scalping delivered by Payne. The theme is laid on somewhat thick as Payne's character overcomes his unreasoning hatred a little too easily with help from Slim and The Domergue, but this is one of the rare Republic pictures that can go toe-to-toe with the big studio releases in terms of story, character, action and look.

7.25/10

Escort West (1958)

Synopsis: A former confederate officer traveling west with his young daughter runs afoul of both former yankee soldiers, hostile Indians and stranded civilians.

Slim has only a small supporting role in this one but he's in good company with Noah Beery Jr., Ken Curtis, Roy Barcroft and Harry Carey Jr. to name just a few of the guys in his calvary contingent. Like Rocky Mountain, the film features a rebel out west who comes to the aid of a lady. Like Sante Fe Passage, there is an escort mission involved. The film is not quite up to the standards of those two, however, due to some flat characters like Domergue's one-note harpy and some standard story-telling. The relationship between Mature's character and his daughter, played by Reba Waters, is good enough to carry the early part of the film and Slim gets to play one of the heroes again near the end. The CinemaScope is always a treat even though the film is shot in black and white.

6.5/10

Bad, Bad Pickens

When most people think of Slim, it's either as the lovable, Rooskie-hating, warhead-ridin' Major 'King' Kong in Dr. Strangelove or as Hedley Lamarr's hilariously evil henchman Taggart in Blazing Saddles. But Slim's bad guy characters were not always comical - not at all.

One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

Synopsis: After being cornered by Federales, an outlaw is abandoned by his partner but seeks revenge after his subsequent escape from prison.

With both Peckinpah and Kubrick attached to this film at various stages as writer and director respectively, it's no surprise to see Slim in it. He worked with Peckinpah more than Oates, Kristofferson or any other actor, and his role in Kubrick's film would become iconic. Ultimately though, this would turn into Brando's movie and despite the very questionable dismissal of both Peckinpah and Kubrick from the project, at least someone was smart enough to keep Slim on board. It didn't hurt to have Karl Malden or Ben Johnson around either. The strength of the film is, without a doubt, the acting by all involved with Slim playing a despicable deputy, Lon Dedrick, who winds up taunting Brando's character at one point (probably not a good idea). Dedrick is a selfish manipulator who has eyes for Brando's girl and takes the opportunity to pour gas on the smoldering fire that exists between the former outlaw friends played by Malden and Brando. It's a nice little turn in a dirtbag role that Slim plays without a hint of humor or irony and he sells it completely.
As for the film overall, it's a strong, excellently-acted western in an unusual Monterey seaside setting with a serviceable story and decent, if perfunctory, direction. It falls short of greatness due to the pat, studio ending and Brando's inability to keep it tight - the original first cut was reportedly five hours long. At well over two and forty minutes, the film is still surprisingly well-paced, but clearly, there's not enough story to fill out its bloated running time.

7.5/10

An Eye for an Eye (1966)

Synopsis: Two bounty hunters go after a bad, bad man.

Slim's evil character, Ike Slant, is immediately established post-credits as he rapes a woman, tells her to "shut up your damn cryin'", sets fire to the place, then shoots her and her baby! Clearly Slim has parted ways with Rex Allen. Unfortunately, Ike Slant doesn't get developed much further than that and is limited to a couple of showdowns with the protagonists and a scene with Strother Martin's patented weaselly guy. Robert Lansing and Patrick Wayne play the two bounty hunters that go after Ike and the story takes an interesting turn after their initial confrontation. Michael D. Moore, who spent most of his career as an A.D., directed the film and does a pretty good job with a limited budget. I particularly liked  the tone set by the opening credit sequence which features a slow pan of the Sierras with an acoustic guitar playing on the soundtrack accompanied by Muzzy Marcellino's whistling. My main problem with the film is the Shane-like family the two bounty hunters encounter who come complete with a precocious kid (played by Clint Howard of course). It really gives the story an unwanted syrupy quality and a predictability that belies that lonely-feeling credit sequence and harsh gritty opening with Slim. Overall, the movie felt much more like a pilot for a TV show, albeit one I would've watched, than something more cinematic.

5.75/10

Recommended Pickens

There's still a lot of Slim's movies I've yet to see, but below are the highest recommends.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Rancho Deluxe
Pat Garret & Billy the Kid
Blazing Saddles
Stagecoach (1966)
White Line Fever
Poor Pretty Eddie
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Will Penny
Rough Night in Jericho

  

Dementia's Daughter

"The first foreign film ever made in Hollywood."
- Downbeat magazine

"An original work, stinging and icy. To what degree this film is a work of art, we are not certain but, in any case, it is strong stuff."
- Cahiers du cinéma

Too much genre knowledge isn't necessarily a good thing especially when making a horror film. The all-time greats in this milieu were often one-shot deals made by already well established directors just visiting the genre like Kubrick, Friedkin and Franju. Or sometimes they were the sole efforts of unknown directors who had no previous experience in horror. Herk Harvey made industrial training films before his lone foray into the genre with Carnival of Souls. William Huyck and Gloria Katz were novice screenwriters and film school grads with a love of Italian art house cinema when they made the cult classic, Messiah of Evil. New Zealand commercial producer and documentarian Tony Williams' lone horror effort, Next of Kin, was one of the best horror movies to come out of the Ozsploitation era. But both these groups of directors, whether novice or pro, share one thing - they aren't really fans of horror movies and don't claim to know a lot, if anything about them. However, that ignorance may be the reason why the films are so exceptional. Because these filmmakers don't know the formula or orthodoxies, they bring a freshness to the genre that make the films not only unique and timeless but off-kilter with an unusual artistic sensibility that stems from interests or experience in other genres. If they are derivative, it's certainly not from other horror movie influences.

***

One of the most iconic American horror films of all time is The Blob from 1958. If you look at the marquee over the movie's titular star in the above screenshot, you'll notice Daughter of Horror as one of the features playing at the small town Pennsylvania theater. Ironically, Dementia, (as the altered Daughter of Horror was originally titled) is one of the least iconic American horror films of all time, and one that would definitely not be shown in America's heartland in the 50's. An accessible drive-in monster movie, it's not. Viewing The Blob for virtually five decades, I've seen the small bits of Daughter of Horror in the film's theater scenes countless times, but it was only recently I caught up with Dementia. Ironic indeed that a horror movie like The Blob goes on to become a huge hit, but the better film within a film is lost. To say I was surprised by Dementia would be a bit of an understatement, to say I've become obsessed by it would not.

A silent, psychological horror noir with heavy German expressionist and beat generation influences, Dementia, is a film like no other. The story is about a young woman's one night, dreamlike sojourn through the bowels of an anonymous city. Produced in 1953, but held up by the New York Censor Board (who rejected it no less than eleven times), the film didn't see any kind of distribution stateside until 1955. The British Board of Film Classification withheld a classification in the U.K. until 1970. To a modern day audience raised on David Lynch, Philip Ridley, and Lars von Trier, it will seem pretty tame - well, most of it anyway. But I can just imagine some 1950 theater goer's stunned reaction who, expecting a monster movie, gets this bucketful of weirdness to go along with their popcorn.

The offensive stuff cited by the censors is pretty tame for a mid-50's horror movie and there's certainly a random hypocrisy to the censorship - a male character's hand on a women's knee and a cop taking a bribe are pointed out as objectionable but female characters taking beatings or getting shot is not. It's mostly trivial stuff, especially since other films in the noir and horror genres were getting away with similar content at the time. What I suspect really put the censors off was the tone and foreign-influenced feel of the film. The European, or even South American, art house sensibilities of the piece were very unusual especially for something made in 1953. There are several facets to the film that are responsible for this international flavor:

1. Location - Years before Orson Welles would use the California city of Venice, as a substitute for a Mexican border town in Touch of Evil, director, John Parker would employ it as the skid row section of an unnamed city in Dementia. The streets and architecture feel distinctly foreign at times and the black and white photography only serves to embellish this.

2. Absence of dialogue - Because Dementia is dialogue free, it relies almost completely on its simple but effective visuals to tell the story. The unlikely blending of Murnau expressionism and Pabst realism with a modern 50's, noir-ish urban environment creates distinctive imagery that feels at once classic but also outside of any specific era. Silent horror of this sort hadn't been seen in a quarter of a century and certainly not on North American soil.

3. Adrienne Barrett - She plays the lead role of "The Gamin" and reportedly was John Parker's real life secretary. I'm guessing she was cast for budgetary or other expeditious reasons, but it was most serendipitous, as her non-specific ethnic looks help her fit right into the gritty city environment. At a time when a lot of unmistakably white folks were being (mis)cast in ethnic or interracial roles, it's great to see someone who can believably pass for an inner city denizen in the lead role. I don't actually know Barrett's ethnic or racial origin, but she's a far cry from Doris Day, and this indeterminate ethnicity helps sell the racially-neutral, urban vibe.

4. Abstract settings. Specifically, the furnished, fog-shrouded cemetery, the rich man's spacious building and the interracial hipster bar, all have a surreal feel that initially convinced me I was watching a film made in Mexico by a Buñuel acolyte. Being certain that I'd stumbled onto some little known, avant garde Latin director, I was stunned to see the "Made in Hollywood" credit at the end of the the last reel.

Little is known about the actual production of the film including how much the director John J. Parker was involved in helming the feature. Legendary B-movie character actor and Corman regular, Bruno VeSota (Attack of the Giant Leeches, A Bucket of Blood, The Undead), who played the "Rich Man", claimed to have participated in the directing. Local southern California film students were also rumored to have done a substantial amount of work on Dementia. Veteran DoP, William C. Thompson, a frequent Ed Wood collaborator who shot Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster and many other low budget opuses, was the cinematographer and certainly must have had an influence on the direction. Regardless of who should be credited, the competency with which the film was made would suggest a unified vision. The wraparound zoom-in/out of The Gamin's hotel room, the establishment of the skid row characters and setting, the psychological background of the lead exposited in the cemetery and numerous other touches speak to the talent and intelligence of the filmmakers. My favorite example involves a bit with a newspaper. Early on in the story, after The Gamin has left her hotel room, she comes upon a newsboy dwarf (Angelo Rossitto of Freaks and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome) selling papers. After the two have an inappropriate chuckle over the lurid headline, The Gamin carelessly drops the paper and the wind blows it around for several scenes until it eventually tumbles under the Rich Man's car tire just as The Gamin is being brought to him to be sold by the "Evil One". Although the movie is pretty straightforward in its plot and delivery, it's little touches like this that elevate it.

Dementia vs Daughter of Horror

New York censors effectively killed Dementia, but in 1955, distributor Jack H. Harris slightly modified it by making two minor cuts and added an expository narration voiced by Ed McMahon. Though McMahon does a credible, and almost unrecognizable, job with the voiceover, it really adds a layer of unneeded obviousness to the film. The ambiguity driven strangeness of Dementia is one of its most appealing facets and the v/o in Daughter of Horror diminishes that greatly. Also, the spoken narration breaks the spell of virtual silence, which in Dementia is only interrupted by the rare, barely noticeable sound effect until the scream at the end.

Intelligent, quality filmmaking like this does not come by accident, and whether it was Parker alone, or a fine-tuned collaboration, someone deserves a lot of credit. It is sad that this was his only film, but like a lot of the great, horror one-shots, it has an originality that only comes with inexperience and ignorance of the genre.

Score 8.75/10

A Black Veil for Lindsay

"We're quite normal people, just with different passions. Our drives and needs aren't understood by many people, so we have to keep them secret."

-Mortician Fred McSweeney (Timothy Scott) in Love Me Deadly

In exploitation cinema where sexual perverseness is often exploited, necrophilia is surprisingly not a subject that has been touched on very much. Sex and death are two topics humanity has never been comfortable talking about, much less dealing with, and when combined, they become a potent peanut butter cup of taboo that most would rather avoid. Jörg Buttgereit's groundbreaking 1987 cult film, Nekromantik, which dealt with the topic in a graphic, over-the-top manner, was banned in numerous countries including Australia, Norway and parts of Canada despite having some critical praise and artistic merit behind it. 

Traditional network television has also been reticent to broach this subject matter. In the 1995 X-Files episode, Irresistible, the Fox Broadcasting Company refused to let Chris Carter use the word necrophiliac in describing the supremely creepy, liberty-taking funeral worker, Donnie Pfaster, played by Nick Chinlund. Consequently, Carter cleverly substituted the term "death fetishist" and changed Pfaster into someone who collects samples of hair and fingernails from his lifeless customers in lieu of overtly sexually molesting them. This subtle change made Donnie Pfaster even more disturbing (thank you, Standards and Practices, for freaking me out even more) while still implying a fundamental violation of the deceased. 

There have been rare, classy, art house attempts on necrophilia, like Lynne Stopkewich's superior character study, Kissed, from 1996 starring Molly Parker. Joe D'Amato certainly got his sleazy mitts on the topic in the 1979 gory Italian exploitation horror opus, Buio Omega (Beyond the Darkness) and crafted a surprisingly watchable film. And then there's Jacques Lacerte, who made only one film in his brief career. It was about a female necrophiliac, and it co-starred Lyle Waggoner. 

Falling somewhere in between Kissed and Beyond the Darkness on the art/exploitation meter, 1973's Love Me Deadly is the story of a woman's budding sexual obsession with the dead. The film wastes no time in establishing this in the opening scene as wealthy heiress Lindsay Finch (Mary Charlotte Wilcox) attends a funeral and plants a kiss right on the dearly departed's beard while mortician Fred McSweeney (Timothy Scott) surreptitiously looks on. 

Fred has his own set of issues which are far more advanced and unsettling than Lindsay's as  illustrated in a very effective and disturbing scene with a streetwalker in the first act. His initial offer of entree into this world is initially met with fear by Lindsay who is struggling to resist her dark desires by attempting more conventional relationships, first with handsome bachelor and smooth operator Wade Farrow, played by The Howling's Christopher Stone and later with beefcake gallery owner, Alex Martin, played by The Carol Burnett Show's Lyle Waggoner(!).

Although the film has one foot firmly planted in exploitation horror territory, the main character's fight to resist her necrophiliac impulses could be relevant to any tale of addiction or unhealthy desire and gives this story some unexpected depth. The addiction psychology angle is further illustrated by Timothy Scott's character who can easily be seen as a cold but polite enabler or pusher. Being the 70's, there is also a Freudian father/daughter aspect which may push the pop psychology button a bit too hard, but I still admired the attempt at explaining Lindsay's behavior as overly simplistic and goofy as it becomes at times.

The direction and photography are much better than most 70's exploitation horror and I was shocked that not only was this Jacques Lacerte's sole directorial effort but cinematographer David Aaron's first and last credit as well. There are some noticeably smart choices made in the film that speak to better than average talent and belie the lack of experience. In several scenes, Lacerte successfully juxtaposes Lindsay's idyllic, almost toothpaste-commercial relationship with boyfriend Alex against her dark forbidden relationship with fellow necrophile Fred. 

Another scene displays the ideal couple clearly not in sync with each other. As Lindsay and boyfriend Alex dine al fresco, her attention is diverted by a passing hearse while Alex takes no notice. An obvious shot, but efficient and simple in reinforcing the reason behind the trouble in the relationship.

And the scenes of necrophilia, while not graphic like Nekromantik, are still shocking especially when contrasted with Lindsay's idealized love life with Alex and seemingly innocent childhood flashbacks. Lacerte could have easily traveled to Joe D'amato-ville with lots of gore and sleaze but he keeps it subtle for the most part saving the shocks for maximum effect.

Unfortunately,  the film is not problem free and most of the trouble comes in the third act with the Waggoner and Wilcox characters and their performances. To be fair, Wilcox gets hung out to dry in a pig-tailed, graveyard dance scene where she's supposedly reverted to childhood, but her other scenes with Waggoner are very stiff and uninteresting as well. Waggoner, who you can't help but liking as the good looking, flawless 70's hunk he is, is way too perfect as a character, and thus, completely uninteresting. Casting-wise, he makes sense on paper but brings nothing to a character who definitely needs something more to elicit the viewer's empathy. As a consequence, the film loses a lot of the momentum it had built up in the first hour spending too much time with the least interesting couple. Better that Lindsay had returned to the funeral parlor for another get together or the story delve a little more into Fred's cult which is sufficiently creepy but gets little explanation. As is, the pacing is slowed as the two characters get clunky and some avoidable damage is done to a story that was moving right along in the early going. 

But, for a horror exploitation film in a tiny sub-genre made by very inexperienced filmmakers, Love Me Deadly is certainly a decent, well-made watch with some genuinely disturbing moments. What more could it offer?

Score 6.75/10