Leon Mirell Movies
This genuinely perverse horror film stars John Savage as a young man forced to participate in the beachfront gang rape of Sue Bernard by his nasty friends. After two years in jail, he returns to the boardinghouse run by his mother (Ann Sothern), who does things like kissing him on the mouth and photographing him in the shower. Before long, he freaks out and strangles a cat while peeping at a new tenant (Cindy Williams), then almost drowns the poor girl in the pool before slashing her panties with a razor and choking her in the bathtub. He forces Bernard's car off a cliff, then makes his lawyer (Ruth Roman) drink herself stupid at knifepoint before setting her on fire. Savage and Sothern are fabulous and Luana Anders is creepy as the librarian next door who keeps trying to seduce the disturbed man. Quite a twisted little chiller, with several priceless bizarre moments like a dream sequence featuring a diapered Savage in a crib on the beach surrounded by laughing neighbors. The ubiquitous Gary Graver did 2nd unit photography. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Savage, Ann Sothern, (more)
- 1973
- R
This convoluted mystery centers upon a seductive private investigator who must look into the background of the potential recipient of an enormous inheritance. Unfortunately, she finds herself more deeply involved in the situation than she wanted to be and trouble soon follows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
Draft dodger Darrel Larson sneaks out of Canada to attend his father's funeral. Once back in California, Larson touches base with two old friends. Vietnam vet John Bill can't adjust to civilian life, while fellow evader Dennis Oliveri is consumed by guilt. There are no easy answers in Red, White and Busted, though plenty of potent questions are raised concerning one's obligation to self and country. Executive-produced by novelist Harold Robbins, Red, White and Busted was originally released as Outside In. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In this drama, two middle-aged businessmen decide to chuck it all and get back to the land. Unfortunately, they too soon discover that living a "natural" life isn't all it is cracked up to be; they return to the rat race from whence they came. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
African-American activist and actor Melvin Van Peebles directed this comedy-drama starring Godfrey Cambridge as Jeff Gerber, a white, middle class husband to Althea (Estelle Parson) and father of two who is also a mild bigot. One morning, Jeff wakes up to discover that he has become a black man overnight. After trying in vain to remove his new pigment, Jeff ventures out into the world, only to discover the hostility he once engendered himself. After his neighbors petition to get him out of the neighborhood, his boss (Howard Caine) tries to use his new identity to the company's advantage and his doctor suggests he seek medical care elsewhere, Jeff comes to see the many sides of racism. The only rays of hope in his situation are the friendship of several fellow black people, including a bus driver (D'Urville Martin) and a restaurant counter man (Mantan Moreland). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, (more)
- 1969
- R
A spinster goes to extraordinary lengths to assuage her loneliness in Robert Altman's 1969 drama. Wealthy Frances Austen (Sandy Dennis) conducts herself as if she were older than she actually is, but when she spies a blond youth (Michael Burns) sitting alone in a rain-swept Vancouver park, she takes him to her apartment. Apparently mute, the boy accepts Frances's ministrations, content to have a bed of his own and to listen to her talk, even if he has to come and go through his window after she locks his bedroom door at night. But when he leaves his bed empty on the night that Frances attempts to seduce him, the boy soon learns who is in control of their relationship and how far Frances will go to keep it that way. This film began Altman's 1970s effort to experiment with established movie genres: in this case, the Gothic thriller. Making the most of Frances's creepy apartment, cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs zooms in to symbolic details of Frances's life and zooms out to reveal her unnerving isolation in her own space. Altman maintains an awareness of the world outside Frances and the boy through mobile visuals and snippets of other conversations whenever either is in public, signaling the emphasis on the periphery that marked his future films, while underlining Frances's and the boy's estrangement from "normal" life. Too odd, distant and, well, cold, That Cold Day in the Park flopped. Producer Ingo Preminger claimed that if he had seen That Cold Day in the Park, he never would have hired Altman to direct his next film: the 1970 smash hit MASH. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandy Dennis, Michael Burns, (more)
- 1969
Futz is the tender story of a man and his pig. Seth Allen plays a young farmer whose luck with women ranges from lousy to hopeless. Unable to relate to human females, the poor farmer concentrates all his love and affection upon his prize sow Amanda. The ensuing public uproar is but one of many ingredients to this pure-sixties stew. Director Tom O'Horgan (Hair, Lenny), who managed to turn Futz into a success as a Broadway play, was carried over to the film version - as were many members of the LaMaMa stage troupe responsible for the original play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seth Allen, John Bakos, (more)
