La meurtrière diabolique

No matter what script she was given to do, Joan Crawford was a pro. In this William Castle classic, she proves it again. The plot has been rehashed in previous reviews, so I can get to the heart of the matter here. Joan plays an ex-axe murderess with typical fury, beautifully combined with a poignancy which may be completely unexpected, but nevertheless completely appropriate. Well supported by the underrated Diane Baker, Leif Erikson, Rochelle Hudson and George Kennedy, she gives meaning and depth to what otherwise would have been just another horror film. Whether playing scenes with daughter Baker's boyfriend (John Anthony Hayes) or his snobbish parents, (Howard St, John and Edith Atwater), Crawford is on the money, using her years of experience to transcend her material. Thanks to her, "Strait-Jacket" is a worthy thriller from a Legendary Star and a fondly remembered director. See Castle's other collaboration with Joan, "I Saw What You Did" (1965). It's a winner, too!

Joan Crawford's performance is masterful, ranging all the way from pitiful to frightening. Crawford was a great movie actress. She commands the screen and has thoroughly prepared for every scene and every word of dialogue, however good or bad the dialogue might be.

The whole film is never dull for a moment and is well made within the limits of the guilty pleasure sort of style. Like a train wreck, you can't look away.

Supporting cast acting is adequate, especially Diane Baker who works well with Joan Crawford as they create a memorable mother/daughter team.

For the ultimate in absurd, guilty pleasure brilliance by director William Castle and star Joan Crawford, view "Straight Jacket" when you get the chance.

The movie opens with shocking betrayal. Lucy Harbin (Joan Crawford) returns from a journey only to find her husband (Lee Majors) in bed with another woman. She spins into a murderous rampage. With an axe, she evens the score by lopping of the heads of her adulterous husband and his mistress with a big, shiny axe. Her revenge is the fuel for local legend, but the price is twenty years in a mental intuition.

When Crawford is released from custody (fully recovered) the story begins.

The prison bus drops Crawford off at the home of her sweet and innocent daughter, who is very popular and happens to be dating the richest boy in town. She also watched as her mother brutally murdered two people, including her father, but in spite of life's little setbacks, Diane Harbin is perfectly fine.

With such a humdrum cast of characters, it seems strange when headless corpses start showing up all over town. Who could the murderer be?

This movie is one of the five best movies I saw in 2003. It's lots of fun, and Crawford's performance outclasses any I've seen. It is a GREAT movie. It's got LOTS of decapitations, but no gore or fake blood! A modern marvel!

And so with those words begins this wacked out slasher film/murder mystery that shows Joan Crawford lopping off the heads of her husband and his girlfriend while they lie in post-coital repose -- and that's before the opening credits have even started!

"Strait-Jacket" has the look and feel of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and all of those other exploitative films from the 1960s that put once-great declining actresses in campy schlock and let audiences howl at them. But somehow, this movie doesn't feel exploitative. If Joan Crawford had delivered a bad performance, it would have. But she tackles the role with such seriousness and commitment that she single-handedly ends up selling the film to you, and making you genuinely care about her character and what happens to her. Joan Crawford may have been hell to live and work with in her personal life, but it takes an actress with a unique skill to make a film like this not only competent, but almost fascinating.

As for the movie itself, it's laughably predictable. I called the "surprise" ending about fifteen minutes into the film, and then talked myself out of it because I thought it would be too obvious. Well, I should have stuck to my guns, but it didn't much matter -- by the end I was no longer watching the film for the ending -- I was watching it for Joan, which is the only reason (albeit a damn good one) for watching this film at all.

Grade: B

Like all William Castle films, the story of STRAIT-JACKET is slight, full of holes, and often silly to the point of absurdity. Long ago Joan Crawford came home to find her husband in bed with a floozie and snatched up an ax. Adjudged insane, she is locked up in an asylum for twenty years, but now she's home--and pretty soon some really weird things begin to happen around the old family farm. Could it be, oh, I don't know... JOAN? Throughout his career, producer-director William Castle liked to build his movies around gimmicks: TINGLER had "Percepto," 13 GHOSTS had "Illusion-O," and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL had "Emergo." But STRAIT-JACKET had something better: Joan Crawford herself, who plays in a style that can only be described as "Emote-O-Rama." Say what you like about Crawford, she never gave any performance less than one hundred percent, and in STRAIT-JACKET she gives one hundred and fifty. In the opening scenes, 60-something Joan has the unmitigated gall to play Lucy in her 20s! Later, as Lucy in her 40s, Joan plays the role like a nice little old lady who occasionally drops acid: when she's not busy with her nervous breakdown, she sucks down bourbon, attempts to seduce her daughter's boyfriend (even to the point of putting her fingers in his mouth), knits like a fiend, lights a cigarette by striking a match on a record album, raises hell at a dinner party... and all of it about as subtle as a bulldozer.

But they didn't call her a star for nothing: not only does Crawford manage to carry it off with complete conviction, she actually manages to endow the character with considerable pathos along the way. And I have absolutely no doubt that THIS was the film Faye Dunaway studied the most when preparing to play Crawford in the infamous MOMMIE DEAREST; watch both back-to-back and you'll know exactly what I mean.

The rest of the cast is pretty interesting as well, featuring Diane Baker as daughter Carol, Leif Erickson as Crawford's brother, George Kennedy as an unsavory farmhand, and a very young Lee Majors as the ill-fated husband--not to mention Mitchell Cox, a Pepsi V.P. Joan was favoring at the time. There are cheap special effects (amazing, how she can neatly lop off a head or two with a single blow), Pepsi-Cola product placements, and even some dialogue that would do Ed Woods proud. It's all campy and bizarre and hilariously weird and ramped up to the nth degree by Crawford's full-force performance.

With a somewhat better script and production values, STRAIT-JACKET could easily have matched Bette Davis' more sophisticated HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE; as it stands, however, it is a cult movie in all caps. The DVD release is very nicely done, with the film itself in excellent condition. A collection of Crawford's costume tests gives a surprising insight to actress' personality, and a particularly nice little making-of documentary includes comments from Diane Baker. (Note: don't watch the documentary, called "Battle-Ax," until after you've seen the film: it's a spoiler.) Strongly recommended to Castle, Cult, and Crawford fans! Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer