A Woman for All Men

Compact but talented cast headlined by sexploitation starlet Judy Brown as "the woman" brought home from one of cantankerous millionaire Keenan Wynn's frequent Las Vegas excursions, only to be mistreated by Wynn's drunken abuse and jealousy. His sons soon discover she's 'too much woman for any one man' (quote, unquote) and the web of seduction, murder and double cross is spun. But just who is the spider?

Notable in the cast are Andy Robinson and Peter Hooten playing the sons, while Alex Rocco has a small role as a police detective. There's not much prohibited content to warrant the R rating; a lot of semi-nude embraces, vaguely transparent negligees and soap opera dialogue but the film still manages to look like a 70's style loop. The trashy wallpaper, cheap sets and stage decor give an authentic render, but there's often too much talk, and too little action to sustain the interest.

Still, it's good to see Wynn in both a dominant and vulnerable characterisation, showcasing some acting talents he rarely had the opportunity to display in the latter part of his career (even if his screen time is limited).

"A Woman For All Men" aka "Deadly Intrigue" is a good movie. It's about two brothers: Steve (Andy Robinson) and Paul (Peter Hooten) who work for their father Walter (Keenan Wynn). When Walter brings home the beautiful Sarah (Lois Hall), everything spins out of control. Soon, blackmail, double-crosses, and murder become family traits.

The performances are well-acted, and the plot has some fun twists. Alex Rocco is only in it for 10 minutes, but his presence is always welcome. The only problem with the movie is that the 2nd half drags a little.

In the end: If you can locate this movie, it's definitely worth watching.

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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.

Judith Brown who plays the young hot wife and gold digger to her much older and very rich recent newlywed husband Keenan Wynn come home to a not too friendly welcome by Keenan Wynn's three (3) adult children. I find it hard to relate to these particular family dynamics as my own upbringing was much simpler.

In direct contrast to my own upbringing the McCoy family owned a huge general contracting business building large industrial plazas in and around California, they drove the most expensive vehicles, lived in a luxurious home on a large property, and they had servants taking care of any and all their household needs, but the McCoy children were lacking any semblance of love and/or affection from their matriarch father Walter (Keenan Wynn).

The new young hot looking wife Karen (Judith Brown) made no bones about why she married the much older businessman Walter McCoy it was because of his enormous wealth and nothing else. Walter liked to brag how rich, strong and virile he was and he ran his house as if everyone was expected to cow tow to him, not only the servants, but his new bride and three (3) adult children as well. If any of his family even breathed a sigh of discontent Walter would quickly tell them they knew where the front door was and they were free to leave and try and make it on their own without any of his financial support.

It doesn't take long for one of Walter's son Steve McCoy (Andrew Robinson) to be exposed to Walter's new bride Karen who starts having wandering eyes towards her much younger stepson who she begins grooming to be her next and new lover. This sets off even higher levels of mistrust and emotions between the various McCoy family members until Walter is suddenly and unexpectedly pronounced as missing and assumed to have committed suicide.

Now the family members including Walter's recent new bride Karen call in their husband/father's lawyer to commence dispersing his last will and testament which the lawyer states unequivocally that he is not prepared to do as he has specific orders from the missing Walter McCoy to follow.

I won't divulge how the family dynamics deteriorate further but suffice to say that the McCoy family show their greed, lust and anger towards one another even with their father still missing and assumed to have committed suicide, and their hussy stepmother grinning like a cheshire cat.

This is a strange family which reflects that money can't buy happiness. It is an under rated film which is why I have given it a slightly higher rating at 8 out of 10 to counter some of the lower under appreciated IMDB ratings.

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.