Stanley

William Grefe had a knack for turning out low budget yet effective films in the 60s and 70s. STANLEY is one of his more popular releases. The film is very dated (mainly from the guys' clothing), but worth a look. The film is at it's most creepy with scenes of real snakes crawling all over the home of the snake-man. You can imagine what it must have been like to be on the set - Grefe was probably the lone crew man. The film's weakness is in it's running time - more than an hour and forty-five minutes is much too long for this kind of drive-in/exploitation fare. The film would have been more effective if trimmed down to a 90 minute or so running time. Like one character who got bit on the ass, it hurt to sit down that long!

1971's "Stanley" is one of director Wiiliam Grefe's better known titles, others include "Sting of Death" in 1965, "Death Curse of Tartu" in 1966, "Impulse" in 1973 (a rare starring role for William Shatner), and "Mako: The Jaws of Death" in 1975, all of which were shot on location in Florida. I found myself captivated by the two pop songs on the soundtrack, both written and performed by Jack Vino, and produced by Steve Alaimo, who appears on screen as the villainous henchman Crail (former singer and host of WHERE THE ACTION IS). The opening credits are accompanied by the beautiful "Sparrow," which is briefly reprised during the end credits, while the other tune, "Start a New World," features late in the film, as Tim drives Susie in a boat to his swamp hideaway. Lyrically, both tracks are odes to the environment and they lend a kind of stature to a film populated with unsympathetic characters and a clichéd storyline in which Tim Ochopee (Chris Robinson), a half-breed Vietnam veteran, turns his back on his tribe and the rest of society to live in isolation with a family of rattlesnakes in the Everglades. Shortly after completing "The Godfather," Alex Rocco returns to his exploitation roots ("Blood Mania") by playing the lead villain, making belts out of reptile skins, and is also responsible for the shooting death of Tim's father. He also shows an unfatherly and creepy incestuous desire for his gorgeous blonde daughter Susie, played in her one and only film by Susan Carroll (even the distracted director calls attention to her bikini clad assets by focusing on her perfect ass from her opening scene). Television veteran Chris Robinson made his movie debut in the title role of Roger Corman's 1959 "Beast from Haunted Cave," creating the beast himself. A native of West Palm Beach, now residing in Miami, Robinson proved easily available for this rare leading role, working very well with his dangerous co-stars. The recent DVD release makes up for the numerous truncated VHS issues, none of which were intact at a full 106 minutes. "Stanley" made four appearances on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, on Nov 6 1976 (followed by Lugosi's original 1931 "Dracula"), and three more solo: Apr 28 1979, Dec 13 1980, and Jan 16 1982. As a footnote, I also have great fondness for another Chiller Theater classic with a terrific theme song, 1973's Texas-filmed "Horror High" aka "Twisted Brain," its song titled "Vernon's Theme," performed by Jerry Coward.

The topic itself, a man getting vengeance with the use of his "pets," sounds very familiar to me, especially snakes. I have seen it before but more in the horror style, not psychotronic, as here. Director William Grefe was one of my favourites in the domain of exploitation features, destined to saturday evening audiences. Actually I above spoke of Bernie Kowalski's SSSNAKE, where it was also question of a young man involved with snakes, but the scheme in the way of showing them was not exactly the same though, it was not a matter of revenge. Anyway, I love this kind of indie productions, far from Hollywood industry and those producers who snoop around, seeking every dollar spent, the paper toilet you use each time you go to the men's room. Here, you are sure there is no director's cut, or maybe a very little. We are lucky that there were batches of them during the seventies. And as I said fifteen years ago on Imdb about another Grefe's film: JAWS OF DEATH, the director uses here the same scheme, but snakes instead of sharks. If you prefer, remember Daniel Mann's WILLARD. The lead used rats instead of....

If your looking to be scared, or seriously enjoy a movie, don't watch this. But... if you want to bust a gut laughing, I highly suggest "Stanley". Full of cheesy movie effects, hilarious dialog, and obvious plot holes, it will crack you up! At least, it did me. The acting is bearable and at least it tries to convey a good message, so thats the only reason I gave it 1 star. Though the beginning is actually o.k., boring, but o.k., eventually the cheesiness mounts to be ridiculous, and it is impossible to resist laughing. I have watched this 20 times at least, and we crack up more and more every time! So gather up some friends, get some popcorn, and get ready to laugh your butt off!

Tim Ochopee (Chris Robinson), an embittered Vietnam veteran of Native American descent, retreats from society into the Florida Everglades and becomes inseparable companions with a pet rattlesnake (Stanley)... a pet he teaches to kill on command.

A happy light rock soundtrack about saving trees opens the film, giving it a hippie nature vibe that is hard to reconcile with the actual picture (though, I guess, in some ways it's a pro-snake and anti-hunting film).

At 106 minutes, it runs a bit long, but is oddly enjoyable. That's 106 minutes on the Mill Creek disc. From what I hear, the BCI disc is only 96 minutes and some versions are only 92. I cannot tell you what is cut on each one.

Gloria the dancer (Marcie Knight) says, "any kind of love is better than any kind of hate", echoing the Indian warning that Tim's hatred is a cancer on his soul. I think that must be the theme, though it's really hard to say for sure.

I suppose this film could be scary if you're terrified of snakes, but they aren't really presented in a scary manner. The acting is good, besides over-acting Susie Thomkins (Susan Carroll) ruining an otherwise talented cast. Oh, and the drunk guy in the burlesque house provided the ten seconds of comic relief I needed.

This film isn't terrible. In fact, I found myself staring at the screen quite a bit. I suspect it would be a good flick for a small group of friends and some beers, maybe Milwaukee's Best Ice.