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.

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 Strong (John Savage) returns home to Westchester after traveling across America. His brother Edward is rumored to get a divorce from his wife Joanna. Soon flirtations between Robert and Joanna turn serious. Edward has Deborah Holt openly as his mistress. Edward is pushed into delivering a package into Canada and he convinces Robert to do it with Deborah as the prize. When Robert and Deborah find the package filled with drugs, they dump it into a stream and have sex in the woods.

This is part soft core porno that is spiced up by some crazy family romantic entanglement and a drug deal gone wrong. It doesn't work as either that well. The acting is mostly bad but the directorial style is much worst. The ending is just completely out of step. It's a bad movie.

Crown International Pictures usually had a good idea as to what drive-in product would appeal to an audience, so if you've seen this pick-up, you might be wondering along with me as to what C.I.P. saw in this exercise in boredom. The movie has a pre-fame John Savage in its cast, though his performance here is nothing to sing about. (And speaking of singing, Savage also warbles a couple of terrible-sounding songs on the movie's soundtrack.) The movie does have a healthy amount of nudity and sex, but its presented in such an ordinary way that it isn't the least bit erotic. Also, the low budget apparently affected the sound recording, because some dialogue is so muffled that it's hard to make out what's being said. But the biggest problem the movie has is that it's so slow, so uneventful for the most part, chances are you'll fall asleep before the end. Insomniacs may go for this movie, others best avoid it.

The sister in law is one of those little known movies from the 1970's that slipped below the radar.the big star in this film is John Savage,who went on to star in; hair(78)the onion field(80)and the recent low budget horror flick;Christina's house(1999)this is about two brothers,one good one rotten,savage plays the good one.there's a love triangle,mafia dealings,and some drama.I'm not giving any spoilers away on this but i do recommend this movie as it is pretty good.the title makes it sound like an exploitation film,but it is'nt.its rated r so there's some violent scenes and nudity.the sister in law is a selection from the 8 movie boxed set called;drive in classics from;crown inter- national.i was very disappointed out by the ending,and i know most who view this movie will agree.i give sister in law 7 out of 10.its a pretty good little melodrama.