The Suckers

Last updated
The Suckers
The Suckers (1972) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStu Segall (as Arthur Byrd)
Written by Ted Paramore (as Edward Everett)
StarringRichard Smedley
Lori Rose
Vincent Stevens
Sandy Dempsey
Barbara Mills
Norman Fields
CinematographyHal Guthu
Edited byLawrence Avery
Production
company
Cromwell Pictures
Distributed byEntertainment Ventures
Release date
  • 1972 (1972)
Running time
79 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30,000

The Suckers is a 1972 American sexploitation film directed by Stu Segall under the pseudonym Arthur Byrd, and written by Ted Paramore (credited as Edward Everett). [1] It is an adaptation of the 1924 short story "The Most Dangerous Game", written by Richard Connell, with a plot that follows a big-game hunter who invites employees from a modeling agency to his estate, where he hunts them. [2] [3] The film stars Richard Smedley, Lori Rose, Vincent Stevens, Sandy Dempsey, Barbara Mills, and Norman Fields.

Contents

The Suckers was filmed in the Bronson Canyon area of California over the course of three days, and was released in the United States in 1972. The only surviving print of the film, from a 1976 re-release, appears to contain at least two instances of missing footage. This print was used for a DVD release of the film by Vinegar Syndrome in 2013.

Cast

Production

"We were all really into making the movie. The T&A part was no big deal to us—we were all 24, 25-year-old kids doin' this (except for the guys like Dave Friedman, Ted [Paramore] and the cameraman). We were a bunch of young ne'er-do-wells just makin' movies however we could make 'em."

– Director Stu Segall recalling the production of The Suckers. [5]

The Suckers was filmed in 35 mm over the course of three days, in the Bronson Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills in California. [6] The film's budget is estimated to have been around $30,000, and the crew was reportedly made up of "less than ten" people. [7] According to director Stu Segall, the film was "very cheaply made", with the crew making around $50 a day and the cast members making around $150. [7]

During filming one day, actor Norman Fields swallowed a bee before he was able to finish his scenes. [8] He was taken to a hospital and returned to the set several hours later. [8]

Home media

In April 2013, The Suckers was released on DVD by Vinegar Syndrome as a double feature with the 1971 film The Love Garden. [9] This release made use of the lone surviving print of The Suckers, from a 1976 re-release of the film by Lee Ming Film Company. [7] This print appears to feature at least two instances of missing footage, which take place during Vandemeer's hunt for other characters. [7]

Critical reception

Bryan Senn, in his book The Most Dangerous Cinema: People Hunting People on Film, wrote that certain directorial decisions, "and/or intuitive happy accidents", that he observed in The Suckers causes him to "wish that Segall had slipped his sexploitation bonds and received more opportunities to make 'straight' films". [10] He concluded: "while not always 'fun' watching, The Suckers offers just enough, both sexploitation- and Most Dangerous Game-wise, to keep viewers from feeling one." [11]

A retrospective review criticizes the structure of the film: "Even though The Suckers is a sexploitation movie, we expected the ratio of skin to action to be roughly equivalent, but the hunting scenes take up only about twenty minutes, while sex consumes about thirty minutes, a couple of sexual assaults take about ten, and bad dialogue fills out the rest of the running time. (...) The Suckers is just gratuitous and haphazard. Its failure is probably why it was later released as The Woman Hunt—because a certain segment of the male population would see it based on that title alone." [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Orgy of the Dead</i> 1965 American film

Orgy of the Dead is a 1965 erotic horror film directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. The screenplay was written by cult film director Ed Wood, who adapted the screenplay into a novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big five game</span> African game-hunting species

In Africa, the Big Five game animals are the lion, leopard, black rhinoceros, African bush elephant, and African buffalo. They are examples of charismatic megafauna, featuring prominently in popular culture, and are among the most famous of Africa's large animals. The term was coined by big-game hunters, and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot but is now more widely used by game viewing tourists and safari tour operators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Most Dangerous Game</span> 1924 short story by Richard Connell

"The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell, first published in Collier's on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter from New York City who falls from a yacht and swims to what seems to be an abandoned and isolated island in the Caribbean, where he is hunted by a Russian aristocrat. The story is inspired by the big-game hunting safaris in Africa and South America that were particularly fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medieval hunting</span>

Throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages, humans hunted wild animals. While game was at times an important source of food, it was rarely the principal source of nutrition. All classes engaged in hunting, but by the High Middle Ages, the necessity of hunting was transformed into a stylized pastime of the aristocracy. More than a pastime, it was an important arena for social interaction, essential training for war, and a privilege and measurement of nobility.

"Homecoming" is the fifth episode of the third season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was written and directed by David Greenwalt, and first broadcast on The WB on November 3, 1998.

<i>Death Hunt</i> 1980 film by Peter R. Hunt

Death Hunt is a 1981 Western action film directed by Peter Hunt. The film stars Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Carl Weathers, Maury Chaykin, Ed Lauter and Andrew Stevens. Death Hunt was a fictionalized account of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) pursuit of a man named Albert Johnson. Earlier films exploring the same topic were The Mad Trapper (1972), a British made-for-television production and Challenge to Be Free (1975).

Human hunting refers to humans being hunted and killed for other persons' revenge, pleasure, entertainment, sports, or sustenance. Historically, incidents of the practice have occurred during times of social upheaval.

<i>The Most Dangerous Game</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

The Most Dangerous Game is a 1932 American pre-Code horror film, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel, starring Joel McCrea, Fay Wray and Leslie Banks.

<i>Death Wish</i> (1974 film) 1974 American vigilante action thriller film

Death Wish is a 1974 American neo-noir vigilante action thriller film loosely based on the 1972 novel of the same title by Brian Garfield. Directed by Michael Winner, the film stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, an architect who becomes a vigilante after his wife and daughter are attacked during a home invasion with his wife dying from her wounds. This was the first film in the Death Wish film series; it was followed eight years later with Death Wish II and other similar films.

<i>Frightmare</i> (1981 film) 1981 American film

Frightmare is a 1981 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Norman Thaddeus Vane. It stars Ferdy Mayne, Luca Bercovici, Jennifer Starrett, Nita Talbot and Barbara Pilavin, along with Jeffrey Combs in his horror film acting debut. The film's plot follows a group of drama students who decide to kidnap the corpse of a recently deceased horror movie star. By disrupting his tomb, they unwittingly release an ancient black magic that begins consuming them one by one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Meldal-Johnsen</span> American musician and producer (born 1970)

Justin Meldal-Johnsen is an American musician, record producer, songwriter and musical director. He is best known for his work with artists such as Beck, Paramore, Nine Inch Nails, M83, Air, and St. Vincent.

<i>AVH: Alien vs. Hunter</i> 2007 American film

AVH: Alien vs. Hunter is a 2007 science fiction horror film directed by Scott Harper and starring William Katt and Dedee Pfeiffer. It was distributed by The Asylum, and much like The Asylum's other films, AVH is a "mockbuster", or a low-budget film made to capitalize on the popularity of a more widely released film using a derivative of the plot and title of the latter; in this case, it closely resembles Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (AVPR), a crossover between the Alien and Predator film franchises. Like that film, it deals with a suburban community being threatened by a fight between two warring extraterrestrial beings. It was released straight to DVD on December 18, 2007, one week before AVPR's theatrical release, and was met with a large negative response from critics.

<i>Prey</i> (1977 film) 1977 British film

Prey is a 1977 British independent science fiction horror film produced by Terry Marcel and directed by Norman J. Warren. The plot concerns a carnivorous alien landing on Earth and befriending a lesbian couple as part of his mission to evaluate humans as a source of food. It was filmed in under two weeks on a budget of less than £60,000 using locations near Shepperton Studios in Surrey. It had a limited distribution on release.

<i>The Woman Hunt</i> 1972 film by Eddie Romero

The Woman Hunt is a 1972 film directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley, Pat Woodell, and Sid Haig.

Navajo Run is a 1964 Western film released by American International Pictures, produced and directed by as well as starring Johnny Seven.

Michel Lemoine (1922–2013) was a French actor and film director.

<i>Piranha</i> (2006 film) 2006 Russian film

Piranha is a 2006 Russian action film directed by Andrey Kavun.

<i>The Telephone Book</i> 1971 film

The Telephone Book is a 1971 American independent sexploitation comedy film written and directed by Nelson Lyon and starring Sarah Kennedy, along with Norman Rose, James Harder, and Jill Clayburgh. The film follows a solitary but lustful woman named Alice, who falls in love with a stranger who makes obscene phone calls to her. The film is satirical in nature, and often breaks the fourth wall.

Adaptations of <i>The Most Dangerous Game</i>

"The Most Dangerous Game" is a highly influential 1924 short story by Richard Connell. It tells the story of big-game hunter Sanger Rainsford becoming the hunted when trapped on a jungle island owned by General Zaroff, a Russian aristocrat who has turned to hunting man after growing bored of hunting animals. This story has been adapted into many works across many forms of media, including film, radio, television, and others.

<i>Confessions of a Psycho Cat</i> A 1968 black and white sexploitation film directed by Herb Stanley, released by Chancellor Films

Confessions of a Psycho Cat is a 1968 American black and white sexploitation film directed by Herb Stanley and released by Chancellor Films.

References

  1. ↑ Senn 2013, p. 53–54.
  2. ↑ Hunter, Rob (August 22, 2019). "The Best Adaptations of 'The Most Dangerous Game' You've Never Seen". /Film . Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Senn 2013, p. 50.
  4. ↑ Senn 2013, p. 50, 55.
  5. ↑ Senn 2013, p. 55.
  6. ↑ Senn 2013, p. 56–57.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Senn 2013, p. 57.
  8. 1 2 Senn 2013, p. 58.
  9. ↑ "The Suckers/The Love Garden". Amazon.com . Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  10. ↑ Senn 2013, p. 56.
  11. ↑ Senn 2013, p. 59.
  12. ↑ "Pulp International - The+Most+Dangerous+Game". www.pulpinternational.com. Retrieved 2023-04-25.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.