Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)

Director:

Roger Vadim

Writers:

Francis Pollini (novel)
Gene Roddenberry

Release Date:

12 July 1971 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

A good football coach can get away with murder.

Plot:

In a California high school, a married teacher is the athletic coach and faculty advisor. He starts...

Plot Keywords:

California | Sex | Teacher | High School | Micro Mini

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	Michael 'Tiger' McDrew
Angie Dickinson	...	Miss Betty Smith
Telly Savalas	...	Captain Sam Surcher
John David Carson	...	Ponce de Leon Harper
Roddy McDowall	...	Mr. Proffer
Keenan Wynn	...	Chief John Poldaski
James Doohan	...	Follo
William Campbell	...	Grady
Susan Tolsky	...	Miss Harriet Craymire
Barbara Leigh	...	Jean McDrew
Gretchen Parsons Carpenter	...	Marjorie (as Gretchen Burrell)
Aimée Eccles	...	Hilda Lee
JoAnna Cameron	...	Yvonne Millick
Margaret Markov	...	Polly
June Fairchild	...	Sonny Swangle
Joy Bang	...	Rita
Brenda Sykes	...	Pamela Wilcox
Diane Sherry	...	Sheryl
Philip Brown	...	Jim Green
Mark Malmborg	...	Dink
Kyle Johnson	...	Dave
Warren Seabury	...	Harold
Gary Tigerman	...	Boy #1
Tim Ray	...	Boy #2
Alberto Isaac	...	Boy #3
Dawn Roddenberry	...	Girl #1
Stephanie Mizrahi	...	Tiger's Daughter
Larry Marmorstein	...	T.V. Reporter
Judy Michie	...	Other Pretty Maids
Diane Lambert	...	Other Pretty Maids
Adriana Bentley	...	Other Pretty Maids
Joyce Williams	...	Other Pretty Maids
Chris Woodley	...	Other Pretty Maids (as Chris 'Allen' Woodley)
Fredricka Meyers	...	Other Pretty Maids
Linda Morand	...	Other Pretty Maids
Topo Swope	...	Other Pretty Maids
Orville Sherman	...	Pastor
Jomarie Ward	...	Gym Teacher
Otis Greene	...	Police Doctor
Guy Remsen	...	1st Board Member
Joe Quinn	...	2nd Board Member
Estrellita Rania	...	Hilda's Mother(Mrs. Lee)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sharon Douglas

Directed by
Roger Vadim

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Francis Pollini		novel
Gene Roddenberry

Produced by
Gene Roddenberry	....	producer

Original Music by
Lalo Schifrin

Cinematography by
Charles Rosher Jr.

Film Editing by
Bill Brame

Art Direction by
E. Preston Ames
George W. Davis

Set Decoration by
Robert R. Berton
Charles B. Pierce		(as Chuck Pierce)

Costume Design by
William Ware Theiss

Makeup Department
Cherie	....	hair stylist
Allan Snyder	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Maurice Vaccarino	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Dijoux	....	assistant director
David Silver	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Jerry Jost	....	sound
Hal Watkins	....	sound
Van Allen James	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Doug Byers	....	electrician (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Andrea E. Weaver	....	set costumer (uncredited)

Other crew
Rick Hall	....	recording producer
Glenn Shahan	....	unit publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1971) (USA) (theatrical) (also video)
• MGM-EMI (1971) (UK) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1971) (France) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2010) (USA) (DVD) (DVD-R)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:18 | France:-18 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

University High School - 11800 Texas Avenue, West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

A young Cybill Shepherd was offered a role as one of the murder victims but turned it down. It would have been her feature debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Sunny Swingle records her message for Tiger, the reel of tape is near the end, but when Ponce plays it back, it is near the beginning.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tommy Boy (1995)

Soundtrack:

CHILLY WINDS

Sexy Black Comedy/Worthy Cult Item

I don't know why this isn't a cult film. Rock Hudson plays a psychopathic sex killer (a heterosexual one). Angie Dickenson is a substitute teacher who deflowers a teen virgin. Telly Savalas and Keenan Wynn play cops. Roddy McDowell is the the principal. Heck, even Barbara "Vampirella" Leigh and James "Scotty" Doohan have a small roles. Not only that but take a look behind the camera--this movie teams up the French New Wave director who discovered Brigit Bardot with the creator of "Star Trek"! I always suspected that the strange appeal of the latter program for it's very sexually repressed fans was due to the fact that all the girls, human or alien, all wore miniskirts up to their tailbones--well, the Trekkies ought to take a gander at this big screen Rodenberry effort. ("Damnit Captain, that skirt just can't ride up anymore! They can't take it! They're going to blow!")

OK, maybe I shouldn't enjoy a film that spends so much time looking up the skirts of teenage girls, or showing them in nude clinches with Rock Hudson (who plays a VERY progressive guidance counselor and popular football coach), or lying face down dead with a note pinned to the back of their underwear. But only in the early 1970's could a film this completely irresponsible be made, let alone attract such an all-star cast. Not only that, but this film is historically significant in that it is the "missing link" between all the later teen sex comedies where an awkward male virgin (here given the perfect name, "Ponce de Leon")loses his virginity to an older woman, and the teen slasher films where slutty teenage girls pay for their promiscuity with their lives. Of course, this is horribly sexist and hypocritical, but it has clearly been a pattern in teen-oriented comedies and horror movies over the last thirty years. This movie at least seems to be aware of it's own absurd contradictions.

This is not only one of the rare sex comedies that is actually both funny and sexy, but it also adds a strong dose of black comedy into the mix. And the whole thing works wonderfully. Highly recommended.