The Sister in Law

"Robert Strong" (John Savage) is a thoughtful but naive young man who has just finished traveling across the United States in a quest for self-discovery and is now returning home. When he gets there he finds that his brother, "Edward Strong" (Will MacMillan) is in the process of divorcing his wife, "Joanna Strong" (Anne Saxon) in favor of another young woman named "Deborah Holt" (Meridith Baer). While this is going on Joanna is staying at the house and is the first one to greet Robert when he arrives. Later on she also starts a fight with Deborah which both Robert and Edward observe from a distance. Yet another problem is the fact that Edward has gambled away a fortune and now supplements his income as a courier for a mobster by the name of "Benjo" (Frank Scioscia) who needs Edward to take a package across the Canadian border. Unable to accommodate Frank's demands Edward talks Robert into doing it for him and offers Deborah as an incentive. Now, rather than revealing too much I will just say that things take an unexpected turn from here on. I liked the performance of John Savage and I thought that Anne Saxon certainly added some nice scenery. Unfortunately, the movie moved at a very slow pace with some scenes being quite dull. All in all, this wasn't a terribly bad low-budget movie and I rate it as only slightly below average.

As the first movie I have seen out of the 32-pack of "Drive-In Cult Classics" by Mill Creek, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Joseph Ruben would continue directing for the next 30 years after this debut film, and it's no surprise as you can see his talent, especially when compared to a lot of the other trash that was being made at that time. Everything about this movie fits perfectly into the drive-in formula (softcore nudity/sex, etc), but it doesn't use these as a crutch, rather stands well on its own as a story. The script leaves a little something to be desired in terms of character depth, but Ruben tried to layer them, and the audience is treated to a clever twist. Definitely not a great movie, but not a terrible one and by far one of the better in the genre.

The director of this film wasn't an amateur, even as it was his first feature. The Sister-in-Law is made not by some inept slacker looking for a couple of bucks of loose change, but someone who does care a little about his craft. This doesn't exactly make it very good but it does show that there is something going on, that dramatically the film actually makes sense, has some decent acting (or from John Savage very good acting) and even some sexy sex scenes where it's required. It's a fairly simple story of two brothers caught up in hazardous circumstances: one, Savage, is having affairs with the the wife and eventually the mistress of the other brother who is, in fact, in very hot water over a drug deal he was supposed to act as courier for over to Canada.

It follows their trials and tribulations in these matters, and for the typical drive-in crowd (it comes with a pack of eight movies from Crown entertainment) there are some typical pleasures like skinny dipping at night or some (almost) wacky gangster violence. But in reality this is really a low-key drama played out on personal stakes and put to a musical track by Savage himself that isn't half-bad, unlike most exploitation scores that are either bad or just non-existent in the talent sense. There's even a banjo-plucking number done during a chase scene that rings as some fun. Comparatively, indeed, out of the eight movies assembled (others include Best Friends and The Stepmother), this is more than likely the best. It's conventional marital-cum-crime drama at a professional level.

Robert (Savage) comes home from a long trip to find things quite different between his brother Edward (McMillan) and sister-in-law Joanna (Saxon). Edward admits to Robert that he's taken a mistress named Deborah (Baer), but he hasn't totally abandoned his wife either and proves this by bringing Deborah to the house when Joanna is home. At first, both ladies are cordial to one another and actually appear friendly. Later, the two start a cat fight and push each other into the pool - all while Edward and Robert are watching from the window. Eventually, both Joanna and Deborah fall for Robert's boyish charm and humor and he develops relationships with both of them - behind Edward's back. In time, Edward tells Robert he is in a jam and asks if he would go and pick up a package for him in Canada since he can't do it himself. Robert obliges, but unwillingly. As an extra incentive, Edward sends Deborah along for the ride to make the job more "appealing". After Robert gets the package, he opens it and realizes he's now involved in something he never wanted part of. But, this was all part of Edward's plan in the first place and now he has left his little brother to take the fall for him in the surprising ending.

This movie is entertaining, but not really a zinger. The only performance I enjoyed was John Savage's as he was clearly the star of this picture. Matter of fact, of the four lead actors, he is the only one who went on to achieve major fame in the industry. Now I understand why Savage received accolades for his singing and composing of the songs in this picture -- they are really great. I knew he was a singer from his Broadway days and his role in the movie "Hair", but I had to rewind this video at least twice because the final two songs were sung so well that I couldn't believe it was him. If you are a John Savage fan, try to rent this one - at least to hear his great musical compositions.

This has six or seven nude scenes and four or five straight two-minute love-making scenes without cuts or camera movement. Take away those 15 minutes and we have a simple tale of two brothers and their hostile, but ultimately loving relationship.

John Savage is quite good. This was only his second, low budget, starring role. His character is undeveloped, as is much of the plot, but he is likable.

It is director's Joseph Rueben's first film. He went on to make a number of memorable ones, including "Dreamscape," and "Sleeping with the Enemy". He gives a nice sense of realism with scenes that are naturalistic and underacted. This is nice resume reel that shows he knows the basics of movie-making. There's a certain sweetness to the movie that makes it closer to hippie movies of this era like "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring" than the usual exploitation films with bad innuendos, one dimensional characters and quick imitation sex scenes.

It is sad that Anne Saxon who plays the sister-in-law did not make any more movies. She plays her part with charm and fun.

Watch it as an independent, low budget character study and you might enjoy it. Watch it as an sexploitation flick and you'll be disappointed.