MovieChat Forums > Strait-Jacket (1964) Discussion > Best really bad movie ever made?

Best really bad movie ever made?


Is it?

Ironically, despite having the most potential of any of Castle's films (because, of course, of Crawford and the subject matter -- axe murders), STRAIT-JACKET is actually the worst directorial work Castle has ever done.

And that's frustrating.


Here's an interesting 2014 review of STRAIT-JACKET:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/64650/strait-jacket-sony-choice-collect ion/

In the review, the critic makes an astute point about what passes for acceptable "realism" in acting today:

"...When Crawford first sees Baker after 20 years, the subtlety and layering of her emoting is remarkable (when I read a critic dismissing this kind of acting as outdated and melodramatic, I'm reading a critic who thinks the only valid kind of performance is one that falls in line with today's faux-naturalistic, self-reflexive, ironic posturing and posing)...."

Always on the outside looking in:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/190/1398911842_5.jpg

Joan always seemed so desperate to come out of the closet:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/190/1398912007_2.jpg


Oh, look, a promo "How to Plan a Movie Murder" with Joan I'd never seen before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwTyVYR6wMs


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The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.

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After seeing BABY JANE, director Bill Castle became obsessed with the idea of making an "A" picture with one of the stars of that movie with the writer of PSYCHO.

Unfortunately, he chose the writer of the PSYCHO book (Robert Bloch) instead of the PSYCHO screenplay (Joe Stephano).

But once he got Joan Crawford on board, Castle -- never known as an auteur -- did some of his sloppiest direction ever... Don't get me wrong, I have an affection for STRAIT-JACKET, but it's a little too "B-minus" than "B".

No subjective camera leading up to the prologue murders??

However, despite the films clunkiness, one thing that could have helped STRAIT-JACKET to be a smidgen -- a big smidgen -- better, would have been better cinematography.

I'm assuming Crawford had approval of the cameraman, but sometimes Castle would use Joseph Biroc, a master of B&W photography and the use of deep shadows, to give Castle's films a kind of dignity they didn't always deserve... In fact, after Joan walked off of HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (where she was filmed by Biroc) she worked with him again on Castle's I SAW WHAT YOU DID in 1965.

As silly as I SAW WHAT YOU DID may be, one of the reasons it works as well as it does is Biroc's creepy camerawork.

And that's a key thing missing from STRAIT-JACKET. Arthur Arling's mostly flat-lighted style and use of questionable lenses only enhances the amateurish flavor of STRAIT-JACKET --- something most Castle films, as a rule, needed to avoid or lessen. (Arling was used to giving Doris Day all her blurry color close-ups).

The film's domestic sitcom look doesn't do anything to counter Castle's directorial incompetence... Can you imagine the climactic mother-on-daughter fight-in-drag lit in a way that didn't resemble a scene from the first season of PETTICOAT JUNCTION??

As a result, only the subject matter (mysterious axe murders), the era (that PSYCHO/TwilightZone end-of-the-world early-'60s atmosphere) and, of course, Joan Crawford's performance, helps this movie work at all.

And that's a lot. But a better DP could have salvaged this picture, minimizing Castle's creative tin ear.

And didn't Castle offer Joan director-approval? And she politely said "yes" to Castle?

Oh, Joan. Oh, Bill.

Yes, I'm fond of STRAIT-JACKET, and I'm fine with certain "B" elements. But when I look at the macabre majesty of Biroc's photography in I SAW WHAT YOU DID (to say nothing of HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE) and the greater directorial polish from Castle in HOMICIDAL (oddly, perhaps his most professional work) I pine for how much better STRAIT-JACKET could have been.

Joan in "I Saw What You Did":
http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/65isaw13oct7.jpg

A delicious "B-plus" movie is acceptable. But the end result for STRAIT-JACKET was just a little too creaky.

And the right photographer could have made the difference.



--

The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.

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You're being too intellectual about it.

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The Eyes of the City are Mine!Mother Pressman / Anguish (1987)

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[deleted]

But thank you for calling me "intellectual."

--

The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.

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I love this movie! Very good actors all around playing it as if it was a big A list studio picture! No shade thrown at Straight-Jacket ever.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

It's a risible atrocity. It doesn't need an MST3K send-up, because the movie itself is its own sendup. It isn't bad enough to be "good".

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Yeah, sorta.

Besides, I said "really bad" and I deliberately avoided using the phrase "so good it's bad."

--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA


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