Pretty Poison (1968)

Director:

Noel Black

Writers:

Stephen Geller (novel)
Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 July 1968 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

She's such a sweet girl. He's such a nice boy. They'll scare the hell out of you.

Plot:

When a mentally disturbed young man tells a pretty girl that he's a secret agent, she believes him, and murder and mayhem ensue.

Plot Keywords:

High School | Murder | Drill Team | Social Commentary | Juvenile Delinquent

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Anthony Perkins	...	Dennis Pitt
Tuesday Weld	...	Sue Ann Stepanek
Beverly Garland	...	Mrs. Stepanek
John Randolph	...	Morton Azenauer
Dick O'Neill	...	Bud Munsch
Clarice Blackburn	...	Mrs. Bronson
Joseph Bova	...	Pete
Ken Kercheval	...	Harry Jackson
Don Fellows	...	Detective
George Ryan	...	Drillmaster & Team (as George Ryan's Winslow High-Steppers)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jay Barney	...	(uncredited)
Timothy Callahan	...	Plainclothes Cop (uncredited)
Parker Fennelly	...	Sam - Night Watchman (uncredited)
William Fort	...	Cop (uncredited)
Tom Gorman	...	First Detective (uncredited)
Paul Larson	...	Mrs. Stepanek's Boyfriend (uncredited)
Dan Morgan	...	Man at Police Station (uncredited)
Maurice Ottinger	...	Highway Policeman (uncredited)
Gil Rogers	...	Man at Police Station (uncredited)
Bill Sorrells	...	Cop at Beanery (uncredited)
Ed Wagner	...	Cop (uncredited)

Directed by
Noel Black

Writing credits
Stephen Geller		(novel "She Let Him Continue")
Lorenzo Semple Jr.		(screenplay)

Produced by
Marshall Backlar	....	producer (as Marshal Backlar)
Noel Black	....	producer
Jack Grossberg	....	associate producer
Lawrence Turman	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Johnny Mandel

Cinematography by
David L. Quaid		(director of photography) (as David Quaid)

Film Editing by
William H. Ziegler		(as William Ziegler)

Art Direction by
Harold Michelson
Jack Martin Smith

Costume Design by
Ann Roth

Makeup Department
Robert Jiras	....	makeup artist
Ben Nye	....	assistant makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Jack Grossberg	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roger M. Rothstein	....	assistant director (as Roger Rothstein)

Sound Department
David Dockendorf	....	sound
Dennis Maitland	....	sound

Special Effects by
Billy King	....	special effects
Ralph Winigar	....	special effects

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (presents)
• Lawrence Turman (as a Lawrence Turman production)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1968) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1973) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• CBS/Fox Home Video (1983) (Australia) (VHS) (PAL)
• Odeon Entertainment (2013) (UK) (DVD)
• Video Beat (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Video Beat (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• George Ryan's Winslow High-Steppers  group cast members: drillmaster and team

Also Known As:

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1988) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:Approved | USA:R (re-rating) (1968) | Iceland:16 | West Germany:18 | Netherlands:18 (orginal rating)

Filming Locations:

Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Tuesday Weld hated working with director Noel Black and told film critic Rex Reed that she thought she gave her "worst performance" in the film.

Quotes:

Dennis Pitt:[Meeting with Mr. Azenauer in the prison] There was some poison once, but no one recognized it. In fact, that poison was even quite... pretty-looking. So, the problem was, what to do about it? It took me some time to realize that what to do about it was very simple: nothing.
Morton Azenauer:Nothing?
Dennis Pitt:Correct, Mr. Azenauer, because who'd listen to me - known to be no good? But if that poison just stayed there, getting worse and worse, like poison always does - spreading, until even the blindest man could see, until he HAD to see...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The A-Team: Pure-Dee Poison (#2.17)" (1984)

Soundtrack:

The Thunderer

A movie not to be missed

It mixes elements of Gun Crazy with Lolita and Night of the Hunter and may have influenced Terrence Malick's Badlands and Billy Bob Thornton's Sling Blade. With this I want to say, Pretty Poison is a very American and good and memorable movie.

It has the best performance of Anthony Perkins I have ever seen. And I have seen Hitchcock's Psycho. He plays a character who, like Billy Liar, lives in a kind of a fantasy world (he is not a teenager however, but well past 30) – a potential Lee Harvey Oswald, I guess. His confused state of mind is exploited by a premature, smart and amoral girl, played by Tuesday Weld who is also terrific. The world this confused character had constructed for himself and which gave him some kind of self confidence and cockiness crumbles fast and leaves him a helpless, quivering bundle.

There are some quirky details which lift the story from the ruts of formulaic story telling. The lower middle class girl drives a snazzy powder blue Triumph convertible sports car, the couple make excursions into the wilderness, the Perkins character has a nightmarish night out in hiding, with hooting owls, red lizards and headlights piercing the forest. It all has a slightly surrealistic quality which reflect the character's state of mind and gives the movie a dream like quality. The dialog is also good – the best scene for me was Perkin's phone call to the local sheriff in order to report a murder. Check it out.

In the final scene the girl meets a new boyfriend. I bet this is young Joe Pesci, but he is not in the credits. - Thanks to the IMDb message board I know now that I would have lost the bet. Still, it's a pleasant and exciting discovery.