A troubled arsonist spins a tale of espionage to a captivating girl, who becomes enthralled and entangled in his dangerous fantasies, leading to unexpected murder and chaos that change their lives forever.
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Wuchak
6
By Wuchak
**_A psychopath is loose in western Massachusetts_**
When a young man is released from a mental institution for a crime committed when he was 15 (Anthony Perkins), he gets a mundane job at a chemical factory while drawn to a fetching high school cheerleader (Tuesday Weld).
"Pretty Poison" (1968) is a psychological drama with a couple crime-oriented thrills that some consider a subtle black comedy. It comes in the tradition of “Gun Crazy” from eighteen years prior. Debuting eight years after Perkin’s breakout success with “Psycho,” he’s still relatively young at 35, but looks ten years younger. It came out between Weld’s “Lord Love a Duck” and “I Walk the Line” (1970) and is sort of a meshing of those two films.
While it failed to acquire an audience at the box office, it went on to cult status and thus was remade in 1996 with Grant Show and Wendy Benson-Landes, albeit shot in Montreal. It was also the inspiration for Bart Simpson’s girlfriend in an episode of The Simpsons, as well as influenced future flicks, like “Joyride” (1977).
There are some interesting psychological gems to mine and I liked the locations (listed below), but I found the drama relatively boring. Those enamored with Perkins and Weld should find it more rewarding.
It runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot in southwestern Massachusetts in the area of Great Barrington and Egremont, as well as North Adams, which is an hour’s drive north of there.
GRADE: B-
