Pretty Poison (1968)

The Pitt and the Poison.

Pretty Poison is directed by Noel Black and adapted to screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Junior from the novel “She Let Him Continue” written by Stephen Geller. It stars Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph and Dick O’Neill. Music is by Johnny Mandel and cinematography by David Quaid.

Pure definition of a culter movie? Probably Pretty Poison. A wonderfully odd neo-noir that’s as cunning as a fox, Noel Black’s movie flummoxed many upon release but the underground swell of the cult enthusiasts has ensured this particular poison is still around to be swallowed.

Plot finds Perkins as troubled Dennis Pitt, an arsonist as a youth and fantasist as an adult, he’s just been released from a mental health facility, in spite of his parole officer’s reservations. Beginning his employment at a chemical factory, Dennis comes into contact with young high school drum majorette, Sue Anne Stepanek (Weld), and lets her believe he is a secret agent. Little does he know, but Sue is only too happy to indulge his fantasies, since she herself is harbouring some unhealthy desires.

Much like the brilliant film noir movie Gun Crazy (1950), Pretty Poison upturns the standard boy and girl crime spree formula by having the girl be the one doing the damage. Dennis Pitt has absolutely no idea how not in control of the relationship he is, he’s beguiled by Sue, thinking he has finally found a soul mate to share in his fantasies, but she’s pulling all the strings, luring him into a web of chaos from which he is completely incapable of escaping from.

With the characterisations firmly in place, where both Weld and Perkins are on top form, Black and his tech team pump discoloured blood through the picture’s veins. Pic actually breathes as a black comedy, for the first third the makers are toying with us the audience, making us unsure as to if we should be laughing? Or feeling edgy? Maybe even daring us to walk out? Yes! The film “is” that off-kilter with its tonal flows. Then the light dawns on us, but not the hapless Dennis of course, that we are in a deceptively menacing Americana, one that’s even strangely sexy, and cynical into the bargain.

Subversive, intelligent and utterly compelling, Pretty Poison deserves to be better known. 8/10

**_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-