Juventud irresponsable

I remember seeing this movie on BBC2 absolutely years ago. It was released on video but is a pure bugger to track down. I feel it never really got the credit it deserves as both Perkins and Weld probably turn in the best perfomances of their careers. Perkins is great in the role of a deluded arsonist who while on probabtion arrives in a sleepy little town. Once there he enlists the help of juvenile cheerleader Weld to help him in his schemes after filling her head full of his delusions about him being in the CIA. She of course is thrilled to escape her rather dull life and agrees to help him. It's interesting to note that Weld thought this was one of her worst performances when it's bloody obvious it is anything but. She is quite simply superb turning from an innocent cheerleader to an amoral killer. The range of emotions she displays is amazing. Perkins character of Dennis Pitt hasn't got a chance as behind her sweet innocence lurks someone far more deadly than he who ultimately goads him into matricide. If you can, see it!!!

This forgotten 1968 sleeper "Pretty Poison" is an underrated classic. Directed by Noel Black (who hasn't really made a decent film since), this film is the story of a recently released Dennis Pitt (from a mental hospital), who's trying to begin a new life in the real world (while still stuck in his childhood fantasy world of his mind). Anthony Perkins plays Dennis Pitt, the nervously energized, accident prone, sapp that will be the victim to high school "femme fatale" Sue Ann Stepanek (brilliantly portrayed by Tuesday Weld). Dennis after being released, pretends to be a secret agent that's recruiting Sue Ann to assist in the sabotage of the factory he is currently working at. Sue Ann goes along with Dennis in playing out his fantasies, only to ensure that she adds more havok to his already goofy plans. What starts off as a childish prank (and most of his schemes are childish) turns into complete collapse of the factory structure and the death of one of the security gaurds, due mostly through Sue Ann's intervention. The search to find and question Dennis, leads to his hiding out with Sue Ann's help. Between dodging his old doctor (who's responsible for him since his release) Morton Azenauer (reliable actor John Randolf), and being manipulated by Sue Ann to kill her mother (a wicked Beverly Garland), Dennis has turned into a nervous twitching idiot. He really hasn't the bottle to kill anyone, and Sue Ann begins to use him as the patsy. What's interesting about this film is that the whole story of Dennis being set up as the sapp for a murder he didn't commit, can be connected with the time of the John F. Kennedy assasination and the country's suspicion to foul play. It's the losers like Dennis that the country won't believe, while honor role students like Sue Ann are looked at as nice girls. Sue Ann Stepanek is one of the few trully "bad seeds" of cinema. She has absolutely no morals or concience. She can commit murder, and resume living as if nothing has happened. But she's also terribly exciting. She's sexually active, she'll live out your childish fantasies and games, and she's very clever. But she's poison. Incidentally, the factory that Dennis works at dumps hazardous chemicals in the lake everyday. This innocent looking chemical (which has a pretty glow) is a toxic compound that is being dumped into the cities water supply. Not only is this just a metaphore symbolic to Sue Ann's character, but I can't help feeling that maybe Sue Ann's Mother was digesting some of these toxins while pregnant with Sue Ann. Because Sue Ann is trully a "bad seed" from birth. An intelligent sleeper, that never received it's fair dues. Highly recommended.

I just finished watching Pretty Poison, and it is a great movie worthy of recognition. I don't know why or how this movie has been somewhat obscured, I guess it wasn't so popular back in those days and it ruined it for other generations.

I'm glad I found this on the movie channel, great performances by Anthony Perkins, really impressive and not exaggerated, which is what a lot of times makes people see as good acting, but this is not the case here, a deep performance is what Mr. Perkins gives us, really laid back and neutral, Kind of the characters he played through his career (Josef K on Welles adaptation of Kafka's "The Process", and his Classic Norman Bates on Psycho) and a great Tuesday Weld as the strange and evolving character Sue Ann Stepanek.

It is so sad that movies like this get lost. A great Screenplay (Best Screenplay Award given by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards) and great acting should make a successful movie, I don't know what happened here.

[8.5/10]

Legendary critic Pauline Kael staunchly championed "Pretty Poison" which she clearly loved but her accolades did little in preventing this small, funny but decidedly evil movie from vanishing into obscurity.

The pairing of Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins was inspired. Being actors who Hollywood never quite understood how to use, they are perfectly cast as social renegades. Both are in their prime; young, attractive, funny and fiercely intelligent. They are a joy to watch. Four years later they would be brought together for the wonderful "Play It As It Lays", but by then both tapped into a world weary disillusionment far from the playfulness of "Pretty Poison". They were an odd team, playing off each other to dazzling effect.

How those two movies have been relegated to almost total obscurity remains a sad testament to the industry. Should the rare opportunity to watch "Pretty Poison" arises, don't miss it.

Eight years after "Psycho", Anthony Perkins, who seemed to quickly lose his way in ill-suited romantic dramas of the mid-'60s, finally gets a role here well-tailored to his wild-eyed personality, that of an introvert with simmering disorders forced by circumstance into playing "normal". A former teen arsonist in Massachusettes is released from the institution as a young man and is given a job at the lumber mill; he's perpetually wrapped up in CIA fantasies and conspiracy theories, and is thrilled when he meets up with a 17-year-old beauty from the local high school who is happy to play along with his games. Adapted from Stephen Geller's book "She Let Him Continue", this is a peculiar, well-made and written cult movie which works itself under your skin. Perkins lets himself relax a bit on-camera and gives one of his most notable performances, and Tuesday Weld (despite being a few years too old for her role) rarely strikes a false note as his new girlfriend with a somewhat sordid past herself (one that mirrors her mother's, whom she hates). The concluding events aren't really satisfying (with echoes of "Psycho" besides), and the circular plot-device posed at the tag doesn't work at all, but the performances really drive this thing, making it an engrossing and memorable sleeper. **1/2 from ****