Dolce veleno

I recently got a hold of a bootleg copy of this film and liked it a lot. Why is this movie not on DVD? I'd like to see more of this director's work released on DVD with lots of extras and DVD Easter eggs!

Tuesday Weld and Tony Perkins make quite the creepy couple of murderous psychos in this late 60's film noir. I guess this qualifies as an underground classic. Despite the fact it is (or was) a major studio release. With today's troubled youth as royally screwed up as they are these days, I think a lot people could still relate to these characters. This twisted murderous couple reminds me of something out of an old sexy Jim Thompson pulp novel.

Go see Pretty Poison. A word to the wiseguy.

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.

Dennis Pitt (Anthony Perkins) is a young man who is being released from a mental hospital after having committed arson. He burned down his aunt's house at age 15. What he didn't know was that she was in the house at the time, and so she died in the fire.

Dennis has a job waiting for him at a chemical company, but it is mind numbingly boring work - sitting on an assembly line all day making sure that bottles of chemicals are OK and that they proceed down the assembly line OK, which they almost always do. Since Dennis' root problem is that he is subject to a rich fantasy life, this lack of something upon which to occupy his mind has him drifting into the exciting world of make-believe and out of dull reality in short order.

He gets involved with a pretty high school student, Sue Ann (Tuesday Weld), and tells her that he is an undercover CIA agent. Sue Ann seems to be a gullible thrill-seeking teen at first, impressed with Dennis's exciting stories of secret missions, maybe wanting to believe it, maybe actually believing it. Dennis has plans to sabotage the chemical plant where he works because it is dumping toxic chemicals into the river next to it. In his mind, some vandalism for the sake of his fantasy life and the environment is within the limits of acceptable behavior. But Sue Ann has a darker agenda, one that soon has Dennis unwillingly mixed up in murder. Complications ensue.

The 60s is not my favorite decade for film because so much of it is of two minds - You either have entries that are trying to push the envelope as it existed at the time such as "Midnight Cowboy" and "Bonnie and Clyde" or lighter fare such as Oliver or Mary Poppins. Sometimes you have both tendencies in the same film! But this one just clicks and rings true. Perkins was great as the doomed misfit, with a role that for sure is trying to capitalize - eight years later - on his role in Psycho, except here he's not a psycho as much as he is a gullible patsy. Then there is Beverly Garland as Sue Ann's hard drinking tough talking hypocritical mother just a year before she becomes the stepmother to My Three Sons - for sure this was a departure from her usual doe-eyed roles.

Note the brief scene at the end with Ken Kercheval, who played JR Ewing rival Cliff Barnes on Dallas some ten years later.

I'd recommend this one as it seems unfairly forgotten.

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.

The sleeper of 1968, this little-scene film is frightening with Tuesday Weld giving her best performance as a self-centered tinderbox of passion and greed. Anthony Perkins is his usual affable set of nervous tics and equally as good. What happened to this director? What happened to this film? The script has you guessing from beginning to end and it's a great payoff eventually.

A definite 9 out of 10 (the music is strictly bad tv score) in a great location in New England that hopefully will come out on DVD eventually. If you've never appreciated Ms. Weld before, this is the one you should try to track down. Strange story, wonderful cinematography, and sensitive lead performances make this one special.