Pretty Maids All in a Row | |
---|---|
Directed by | Roger Vadim |
Screenplay by | Gene Roddenberry |
Based on | Pretty Maids All in a Row by Francis Pollini |
Produced by | Gene Roddenberry |
Starring | Rock Hudson Angie Dickinson Telly Savalas |
Cinematography | Charles Rosher, Jr. |
Edited by | Bill Brame |
Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
week of May 10, 1971 (LA) [1] |
Running time | 91-92 or 95 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | 282,810 admissions (France) [2] |
Pretty Maids All in a Row is a 1971 American sexploitation film with elements of black comedy, sex comedy and murder mystery. Starring Rock Hudson, Angie Dickinson and Telly Savalas, it was released on April 28, 1971. Roger Vadim directed the film, and Gene Roddenberry produced and wrote the screenplay based on a 1968 novel by Francis Pollini.
The film was Roddenberry's only feature-film writing credit.
At Oceanfront High School, female students are being targeted by an unknown serial killer. Meanwhile, Ponce, a male student is experiencing sexual frustration, surrounded by a seemingly unending stream of beautiful and sexually provocative classmates. Michael "Tiger" McDrew is the high school's football coach and guidance counselor who has frequent sexual encounters with a number of female students.
In class, Ponce develops a crush on substitute teacher Miss Smith as he presents his report on John Milton's Paradise Lost . Tiger tries to befriend Ponce and help him deal with his sexual needs by encouraging him to seek the affections of Miss Smith. Ponce tells him he constantly has an erection when talking to an attractive woman. Later, Tiger talks to Miss Smith and recommends that she teach Ponce to build confidence, telling her he's impotent.
After school, Miss Smith takes Ponce to her home, where she arouses him reading poems by Milton. Ponce flees into the closet, but Miss Smith convinces him to emerge and then tells him that she knows about his sexual problem and would like to help him with it. When she notices his erection through his trousers, she believes progress has been made.
The next day in school, Miss Smith informs Tiger of her progress with Ponce and of the boy's attraction to her. Tiger tells Miss Smith that at their next meeting, she must perform a more informative assessment of Ponce.
Following Tiger's suggestion, Ponce visits Miss Smith again and gives her a liquor-filled chocolate duck as a gift. He becomes nervous and leaves, but then soon returns to retrieve his keys which he accidentally left behind. Clad only in a sexy nightgown, Miss Smith behaves provocatively and kisses him passionately. The next morning, Ponce and Miss Smith are seen lying on the bed and have sex before heading to school.
Meanwhile, young girls continue to be murdered. Detective Sam Surcher of the State Police has been investigating the case. Eventually, Surcher suspects Tiger is the killer. Ponce learns that Tiger is guilty when he discovers evidence in his office. Tiger drives Ponce to a pier and confesses, and then apparently commits suicide by driving his car into the ocean, but his body is never recovered. Surcher suspects that Tiger has faked his death.
After Tiger's memorial service, a much more confident Ponce flirts with several female students, taking one for a ride on his moped.
| The Pretty Maids
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Cast notes
The novel was published in 1968. [3] Producer Jay Weston and director James B. Harris originally optioned the novel and assigned William Hanley to write the script. [4] [5] [6] Joe Namath was originally envisioned in the role of the football coach. [7] Gene Roddenberry rewrote the script and became the film's producer. Roger Vadim was named director for the film, his first in two years and his first American film. Although Vadim had previously signed contracts with Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), he ended the contracts because he was not provided creative control. Vadim claimed that he was persuaded to return to MGM:
It seemed this time they (MGM) were more interested to give more credit to the director. 'We have changed' they said. But from the moment I get here I fight like hell. They want names but they don't want to pay for them. For the first time I will be at a studio for a major company in Hollywood. In a way I like a challenge. I really think it's necessary to get involved with something new. It's so good to break all your habits. In France I can do anything, here I have to fight. That's a good thing. They respect you if you fight and it keeps you alert. [8]
Vadim also said, "I am not trying to make a statement on America. I tell a story and the story happens to be located in America." [9] Rock Hudson was signed to star, and filming began in August 1970. [10] Brigitte Bardot was offered the female lead but was busy with a prior commitment, and Angie Dickinson played the role. [8] The cast included eight young female newcomers, the "pretty maids": Brenda Sykes, Joy Bang, Gretchen Burrell, Joanna Cameron, Aimée Eccles, June Fairchild, Margaret Markov and Diane Sherry. [11] The film was in production from August 10 to October 25, 1970. [1] Much of the film was shot at University High School in West Los Angeles. [12] Years later, a University High School administrator told the Los Angeles Times that the high degree of sexual and violent content of the film should have precluded it from being approved for filming at the school. [13] Other scenes were shot at Santa Monica Pier and Venice Marina, while the football sequence was filmed at Rancho La Cienega Park using a local football team and school band. [1]
The April 1971 issue of Playboy magazine published an article about the movie written by Vadim. This article included a nine-page pictorial of actresses Angie Dickinson, Gretchen Burrell, Aimee Eccles, Margaret Markov, Playboy bunny Joyce Williams and others.
The film was poorly received by most critics, with Roger Ebert calling it "embarrassing" [14] and Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress remarking: "In 1971 this was pretty daring and trendy. Unfortunately, it's no longer 1971." [15]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 8% of 12 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.4/10. [16]
Quentin Tarantino selected this film as one of his choices for Sight & Sound magazine's 2012 edition of Top 10 Greatest Films of All Time. [17] [18]
Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. was an American television screenwriter and producer who created the science fiction series and fictional universe Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. Later, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department and began to write for television.
Roger Vadim Plemiannikov was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, such as And God Created Woman (1956), Blood and Roses (1960), The Game Is Over (1966), Barbarella (1968), and Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971).
Fabian Anthony Forte, professionally known as Fabian, is an American singer and actor.
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Ernest Ralph Tidyman was an American author and screenwriter, best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft. His screenplay for The French Connection garnered him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as a Golden Globe Award, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award. In 1971, he also co-wrote the screenplay for the film version of Shaft with John D. F. Black.
John Saxon was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing police officers and detectives.
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Catlow is a 1971 American Western film, based on a 1963 novel of the same name by Louis L'Amour. It stars Yul Brynner as a renegade outlaw determined to pull off a Confederate gold heist. It co-stars Richard Crenna and Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy mentioned this film in both of his autobiographies because it gave him a chance to break away from his role as Spock on Star Trek. He mentioned that the time he made the film was one of the happiest of his life, even though his part was rather brief. The film contains a lot of tongue-in-cheek and sardonic humor, especially between Brynner and Crenna's characters.
Yvette Carmen Mimieux was an American film and television actress who was a major star of the 1960s and 1970s. Her breakout role was in The Time Machine (1960). She was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards during her acting career.
Michael Parks was an American singer and actor who made numerous film and television appearances, notably starring in the 1969–1970 series Then Came Bronson. He was widely known for his work in his later years with filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kevin Smith.
The Christine Jorgensen Story is a 1970 American drama film and a fictionalized biographical film about trans woman Christine Jorgensen. While the overall premise of the film is accurate, many of the details are fictionalized for the continuity of the film. It was directed by Irving Rapper and based on Christine Jorgensen's autobiography.
Margaret Mary Markov is an American retired actress. She had a supporting role in the romantic drama The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) with Liza Minnelli and co-starred in There Is No 13 (1974), as well as appearing in other films.
The Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, or QT-Fest, was a semi-annual film and multimedia event held by the Austin Film Society in Austin, Texas and attended by film director Quentin Tarantino, where he screened a selection of his favorite films using prints he owns.
John David Carson was an American actor. He was born in Los Angeles, California.
The Boy Friend is a 1971 British musical comedy film written and directed by Ken Russell, based on the 1953 musical of the same name by Sandy Wilson. The film stars Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Tommy Tune, and Max Adrian, with an uncredited appearance by Glenda Jackson.
Joy House is a 1964 French mystery–thriller film starring Jane Fonda, Alain Delon and Lola Albright. It is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Day Keene.
James Thomas Aubrey Jr. was an American television and film executive. As president of the CBS television network from 1959 to 1965, with his "smell for the blue-collar," he produced some of television's most enduring series on the air, including Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies.
June Edna Fairchild was an American dancer and actress. Fairchild starred or co-starred in more than a dozen film roles before her addictions to drugs and alcohol effectively ended her professional acting career.
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American screenwriter and producer of several television series, best known for his work in creating the Star Trek franchise. He began a writing career while he was a Sergeant in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and his first work to be bought by a network was The Secret Defense of 117, although it took four years to be broadcast. During that time, he wrote four episodes of the police procedural Highway Patrol under the pseudonym "Robert Wesley", as the LAPD required employees to seek formal permission to work a second job. After leaving the force, he wrote for several series, such as Have Gun – Will Travel but wanted to become a producer.
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist best remembered for creating the original Star Trek television series. While at Los Angeles City College, he entered into a relationship with Eileen-Anita Rexroat, whom he went on to marry on June 20, 1942, before his deployment in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. The couple had two daughters together, Darleen Anita and Dawn Allison. He joined the Los Angeles Police Department, and during this time he was known to have had affairs with secretarial staff, thus endangering his marriage.