A Woman for All Men

The fact a sexpot from Roger Corman women-in-prison flicks (directed by Jack Hill) could hold more power and importance over Andy Robinson and Keenan Wynn is proof that the seventies were far from over... In fact, racy drive-in vehicles from the infamously dirty decade were going through an awkward and contrived mid-life crisis...

That same summer, 1975, a giant shark named JAWS was devouring audiences in record-breaking numbers. Because of this "bigger boat," it was up to smaller theaters to suit those embarrassed to frequent porno houses: Sitting on the fence were a pileup of R-Rated wannabe X's, and most were pretty bad: Enter Judith Brown, star of THE BIG DOLL HOUSE and WOMEN IN CAGES when she was billed as Judy (whose name seemed to change with a haircut), playing the title character with a title that's exploitation enough: A WOMAN FOR ALL MEN...

The basic though tangled plot has the usual grouchy millionaire marrying a young beauty. In this case the rich dick is Kennan Wynn, who owns a construction company where his two sons, played by "The Scorpio Killer" Robinson and blue-eyed oddball Peter INGLORIOUS BASTARDS Hooten, work hard outdoors without cozy office jobs, providing enough frustration in what's already predictably forced into the overall Film Noir template...

Soon enough, oldest son and dad's trophy wife hook up and, like TAROT starring Sue Lyon and Gloria Graham a few years earlier, it's the heart-of-gold housekeeper (a respectfully aged Lois Hall) who begins figuring things out: along with dad's only-daughter played by Patty Bodeen, a blue-eyed, round-faced, pouting beauty who should have been in a lot more of these kitschy thrillers... Her melodramatic gusto really fits when needed: And with more dialogue than action, anything spontaneous is welcome to wake things up: Especially since Brown, usually the "straight woman" of Corman films, has to remain firm and one-dimensional in the lead role.

The suspense builds nicely but it's almost too late once the viewer gets lethargically captured. Then again, random twists and turns occur too soon for the essential "boiling point" to amount to anything beyond a reason for square-jawed Brown to shed her clothes (in an ongoing homemade film within this film).

And yet, with recognizable actors Don Porter as Wynn's lawyer and Alex Rocco as the inevitable snoopy cop, this WOMAN is better than one might think. Perhaps those who had served in classic crime heaven (the likes of THE GODFATHER, THE MECHANIC and CHARLEY VARRICK) lacked the usual guilt while reigning in this sizzling perdition of super-low-budget fare.

This movie begins with a beautiful woman by the name of "Karen" (Judith Brown) marrying an older man named "Walter McCoy" (Keenan Wynn) and subsequently driving home with him to meet his adult daughter "Cynthia" (Patty Bodeen) and his two sons, "Steve" (Andrew Robinson) and "Paul" (Peter Hooten). It then becomes known that Walter is a multi-millionaire who owns a construction company and is extremely selfish and over-bearing to everyone. Karen, as it turns out, was a high-class Las Vegas prostitute who never loved Walter and has married him only because he is rich. Needless to say, both Paul and Cynthia suspect that Karen is nothing but a gold digger and they now feel threatened by her influence with Walter and the probable impact on their inheritance. Steve, on the other hand, becomes attracted to Karen and discovers that Karen is equally attracted to him. They eventually have an affair which threatens everything. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a rather standard film-noir which was greatly enhanced by the presence of Judith Brown and some decent mystery toward the end. It isn't a great movie by any means, but I didn't think it was necessarily that bad either and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Arthur Marks had a respectably consistent career as a director and producer, working on TV series like "Perry Mason", then transitioning to exploitation films in the 1970s: blackspoitation ("Friday Foster", "Detroit 9000", "J. D.'s Revenge"), sexploitation ("Togetherness", "Linda Lovelace for President"), and things like the sexploitation/proto-slasher hybrid "The Roommates". While these films were popular, none of them would hit any artistic high marks, which brings us to this film, something of an anomaly in Marks' oeuvre. I watched this on a DVD/Blue Ray set that included both "A Woman For All Men" and "The Roommates", so I could compare Marks' style. "A Woman For All Men" wins hands down in terms of being the better film. That being said, it's still not a great or even good film when held up against other "mainstream" titles of the era. Marks was not a great screenwriter, so he was wise to bring in Robert Brees to provide the story. Brees had also had a respectable career, writing (or more accurately, collaborating on) potboilers like "Magnificent Obsession" and "Autumn Leaves" before graduating up (or down, depending on your preference) to exploitation like "From Earth to the Moon", "Frogs", and "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" What we have here is a domestic soap opera with some noirish overtones, accented with some rather demur nudity by Judith Brown. Anyone who is familiar with Ms. Brown inevitably remembers her as she looked in "Women in Cages" and "The Big Doll House", with long auburn hair. For this film, she totally changed her look, getting a curly, dyed-blonde bob that would become the standard coiffure of middle-aged, gated-community housewives during the 1980s; she looks a younger Rue McClanahan. I won't bother to rehash the plot, but I do believe the movie begins to fragment once the affair between Brown and Andrew Robinson's characters is underway. The supporting characters, such as the older brother and his girlfriend and Steve's girlfriend, all but vanish from the story. There's also a lot of choppy editing and scenes that end suddenly. One complaint: we see a randomly inserted scene where Karen, Brown's character, witness the daughter masturbating. The scene cuts from Karen's face, to the daughter doing the act, then back to Karen, then a close-up of the daughter screetching at Karen that she's ruined everything. Apparently this was some sort of leftover from an incest plot point that was cut from the final print. It would have been interesting, but some slipshod editing let it go. And of course, the twist ending that you could more or less suspect: there were two characters that might have possibly wanted Karen out of the picture, so it was no big surprise to learn who it was.

Despite being a decent thriller, Marks couldn't resist marketing the movie like one of his "girly" flicks, insinuating all kinds of sexy shananigans (the movie's alternate title was "Part Time Wife") which ultimately were not there. The version I saw looked great, the only noticeable grain was on the opening montage of Karen putting on make-up under the credits. The dialogue in the first half of the film is crisp, but as I said erratic editing plagues the second half. The ending seems like something out of a TV movie of the era, most of which look like high art when stacked up against recent theatrical offerings. Given this was made by a sexploitation director/producer, all around it's rather good. Average, but good.

Keenan wynn always was a loud mouthed womanizer and andrew robinson was only unforgettable as the psycho in dirty harry ... i fail to see how judith brown qualifies as some raving beauty and she only has fried eggs for chest ornaments...dul, dull, dull

The title character is Karen (Judith Brown, "The Big Doll House"), a young lady from Vegas with a dubious past. She marries the cranky, domineering construction company magnate Walter McCoy (Keenan Wynn at his most amusingly irascible), which doesn't sit well with his young sons Steve ("Dirty Harry" villain Andrew Robinson) and Paul (Peter Hooten, "The Inglorious Bastards"). Not unjustly, they wonder if they'll now be shut out of his will. Things take an even seedier turn when sexpot Karen comes on to Steve, leading to various other complications, such as death and cover-ups.

Written by producer Robert Blees ("Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?"), and directed by prolific 70s exploitation filmmaker Arthur Marks ("J.D.'s Revenge"), "A Woman for All Men" definitely owes a fair bit to classic film noir, but spices it up with a "modern", drive-in style approach. As such, it's not a great story, or even that well written, but it IS entertaining and watchable all the way through. It's very well shot by Robert Birchall and nicely scored by Luchi De Jesus ("Black Belt Jones"). There's a little bit of violence and a minimal dose of female skin. Blees tries to keep you on your toes throughout, as you figure out what's going on, and ends things with a twist.

Really, the main reason to watch is for this impressive cast of familiar faces. Certainly, this is a more high profile cast than one might ordinarily see in this sort of thing. And that includes Alex Rocco as an investigating Missing Persons detective, and Don Porter ("White Line Fever") as the McCoy family lawyer. The female cast are all very attractive, including Lois Hall as family housekeeper Sarah, Patty Bodeen as the teen aged daughter Cynthia, Ginny Golden as Steves' gal Rodell, and Elaine Fulkerson as Pauls' girl Allison. Veteran character actor Tom Bower ("Die Hard 2") has a bit as a construction worker. Brown makes the most of her meaty role, but the movie just doesn't pop as much when Wynn's not around.

Worth a look for 70s exploitation devotees.

Six out of 10.