hipthornton

Lavish Republic western with good female cast.Joan Leslie and Vera Ralston are most effective as two women heading to California to make a new life.Joan's husband is killed,Vera finds work as an entertainer,barkeeper.There's a load of familiar faces in the character parts.The costumes are nice.The settings lavish.Republic made alot of strong women films with a western setting.It was nice seeing women finally being more than just dutiful wives and saloon girls.Republic had a way of making realistic settings,costumes.The men in the story actually look dusty after a long ride.The Victor Young score is very nice,including the title song.This film is usually dismissed as just another Vera Ralston film but it's Joan Leslie's story.

Having suffered through two terrible remakes,Why Donald Sutherland couldn't have been in an actual remake is beyond me.The political subtext escaped me,all I know is it scared the bejesus out of me.The entire point was people were being changed but only their loved ones knew that.They looked and acted the same but they were different.Virginia Christine's heartbreak as she realizes her beloved uncle and aunt are imposters was chilling.Let's face it,the remakes entirely missed this point.The changed ones acted weird,almost had steam blowing out of their nose,eyes bugging out.Would love to see the version without the narration and tacked on ending.Kevin McCarthy standing on the freeway screaming at the camera: You're next! You're Next!

One of the tragedies of this slasher flick was that the only surviving camper,Adrienne King, never got a career out of it.Unlike Jamie Lee Curtis who was the offspring of Hollywood stars Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis,Miss King drifted into obscurity,at least in the public eye.She helps her husband run a production company in New York.The atmosphere of the isolated summer camp is wonderfully realized.Fall colors contrasting with the terror underneath.Miss King goes from helpless victim to tough Mama as she fights for her own survival.Strange that this was never cited as a bid for women's lib!Even her cute boyfriend Harry Crosby bites it,leaving her alone to cope.Betsy Palmer is wonderful as the disturbed Mrs. Voorhees.The murders are graphic but not lingering.The music is almost Hitchcockian and played a major part in slasher films to come.