The Touch of Flesh (1960)

Director:

R. John Hugh

Writer:

Nancy S. Camp (story)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A whole town exploded when a boy and a girl DARED go beyond the blue denim stage!!!

Plot Keywords:

Exploitation | Abortion | Independent Film

Cast

Ted Marshall	...	Eddie Mercer
Jeanne Rainer	...	Joan Denton
Sue Ellis	...	Vikky Smith
Charles Martin	...	Dr. Earl Denton
Robert J. Cannon	...	Sam Ingram
Stephen Wesley	...	Police Chief George Brown
Tony Morris	...	Tom Daly
Josie Hascall	...	Miss Hannah

Directed by
R. John Hugh

Writing credits
Nancy S. Camp		(story)

Produced by
R. John Hugh	....	producer

Cinematography by
Charles T. O'Rork

Film Editing by
William A. Slade

Art Direction by
Waldo B. Moon

Makeup Department
Rudolph Liszt	....	makeup artist (as Rudolph G. Liszt)

Production Management
Ray T. Kline Jr.	....	unit manager
C.L. Seymour Jr.	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tony Chastain	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Bryan McGee	....	sound recordist
Hamilton O'Hara	....	special sound effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lois McGee	....	wardrobe supervisor

Music Department
Harry Glass	....	musical director

Other crew
Gayle DeCamp	....	assistant to the producer
Lorraine Slade	....	script clerk

Production Companies

• Today Theatre Production Inc. (1958)

Distributors

• Something Weird Video (SWV) (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2004) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)

Also Known As:

"'You've Ruined Me Eddie!'" - USA (reissue title)
"The 1,000 Faces of Dirty Me" - USA (promotional title)

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Today Theatre Production Inc.

Quotes:

Vikky Smith:Oh, and never tell anyone that Vikky Smith walked into a young man's apartment with a big bottle and short shorts and spent the whole night - talking.

Pulp Pregnancy Drama from the Deep South

If you are the type of person who seeks out this movie, you are likely familiar with the paperback fiction of the 50s. You know the kind -- the ones with some underclad girl on the cover who is in the process of losing the rest of her clothing. Depicted, luridly, is a hot sweaty low class Southern locale -- a log cabin or a mangrove swamp or the outbuildings of a declining old plantation. Meanwhile, the story inside the outrageous covers isn't exactly what's promised on the cover. There are no naughty bits, really, in the prose. There is usually a somewhat erratic plot that goes from tough talk, to lynchings, to odd encounters with rough tough sheriff types. Sometiomes the writing is pretty good -- a lot of the paperbacks bring an unexpected sense of place (Florida, Georgia, Mississippi) to the goings on, or manage an unexpected turn of phrase, or being out a memorable character or two, or some plot twists.

Well, this film is much like those paperbacks. The actors ain't memorable, and the photography is nothing too great. (It is always good to see location photography from this era, and there are some good looks at at Florida town that, as of 1959, was still "old South") But the story -- which starts out as a boy from the wrong side of tracks knocks up a rich girl narrative -- takes a series of unexpected twists which lead to a rather surprising (if slightly outrageous) ending. Every now and then, we also get to see shots of of the two female leads in their underwear, offering themselves up to our somewhat lunkheaded hero. If you are in the right mood, this is a good way to spend 72 minutes. I am curious whether the scriptwriter did other movies, because the plot is the best thing here.