IMDb > The Werewolf of Washington (1973) > IMDb user comments
Filter: Hide Spoilers:
Page 1 of 3:[1] [2] [3] [Next]
Index 24 comments in total 

12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Let me make one thing perfectly clear....., 22 October 2004
Author: TheatreX from Louisville, KY

Hey now, if only government were this interesting. The president (who seems to be a Nixon-type, since he says "Let me make one thing perfectly clear" a few times) hires a press secretary (Dean Stockwell) who was bitten by a werewolf while on assignment in Hungary. This is an amusing movie and it's rather deadpan but there's humor there. The werewolf makeup is cheesy and hasn't advanced much since the 30's, the gore is mild (this is from 1973) and yet this still holds a certain sort of charm...or something, at least to me. Apparently this wasn't made by someone that had high opinions of the current administration at the time, but that's fine, they didn't deserve them. Best is when after changing into a werewolf, Stockwell is loping through the basement only to find Dr. Kiss, with a covered body with HUGE feet under the sheet, hmm, now what could THAT be? This is by no means a great movie, but I found it to be amusing and interesting, and I liked it well enough. A very strange little film and well worth seeking out if you're sick of the current dreck that's being shoved down the public's throat. Check it out please.

Was the above comment useful to you?

12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Weird, 24 April 2004
Author: Gafke from United States

This is a sometimes slow-moving, sometimes cheap-looking but always a what- the-HELL-am-I-watching?! kind of a film. Dean Stockwell, who seems to have walked onto the set of "The Wolfman" at films beginning, gets a silver headed walking stick, encounters some weird gypsy types and becomes cursed with lycanthropy. Part werewolf film, part Watergate satire, Stockwell looks pretty cool with his full wolf make-up on and shows a talent for physical comedy as well. The scene where he gets his hand stuck in a bowling ball, whilst the clueless President fails to notice, is hysterical. This really isn't meant to be a thrilling chiller, but the scene with a girl trapped by the werewolf inside of an overturned phone booth is rather tense and well done. Yes, it's cheap, the acting isn't that great (outside of Stockwell's performance) the sets are lousy and everything screams 70S!!! in all of its tacky hideousness (the flowered wallpaper in the heroine's bedroom is by far the scariest thing about this film) but it's not a total loss. Its a sharp, clever and sometimes very black comedy with some nice make-up effects. It's worth seeing for Stockwell's manic performance alone.

Was the above comment useful to you?

8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Bizarre, 11 November 2004
Author: jlon from Dublin

One of those "one of a kind" movies. DVD review.

An assistant to the American President turns into a werewolf - but nobody believes him.

Recommended horror-comedy that's best seen late at night. There's a strange mix between horror, Watergate political intrigue and very funny comedy. I couldn't stop laughing as the President plays bowling with Stockwell who partly turns into a werewolf (he gets his fingers stuck in a bowling ball). Picture uses the Abott & Costello humour of monsters that nobody believes. Another good scene was the woman trapped in a horizontal phone booth with Stockwell trying to get in. Good line used in the helicopter: "it's no Jack, it's a hijack".

The Werewolf Of Washington is one bizarre horror-comedy.

Was the above comment useful to you?

4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Magnificently bad, laugh out loud funny!, 16 July 2006
10/10
Author: (scroffy2001) from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Voting for this one is tough, it's either a one star or a 10 star! I picked it up the other night as an impulse buy when getting gas...there at the counter for $9.99 was a 10 movie, 3DVD crap compilation called "Werewolves, Vampires and Zombies." This was the movie that sold me on the package...ow had I not heard of this one? Technically, it's awful. Sound and visual quality are very spotty, as is usually the case with these cheap compilations. Heck, spotty implies there may be some good moments, so let me change that assessment to horrible. Continuity is an afterthought, camera shots attempt to be arty, from shots up through the bottom of a toilet bowl to dizzying handhelds.

Perhaps the biggest plot issue is the appearance of the mysterious and diminutive Dr. Kiss, performing his Frankensteinian experiments in the White House basement. He seems to be some sort of power behind the throne, but we never discover more than that. Everything about the good doctor, from the deference of the president, his experiments, to his disappearing with a peculiar sunglassed man into the same stall of a bathroom, makes no sense whatsoever. It really seems like one day on the set someone said "hey look, we got a midget! Write him into the story!" Sure, it makes no sense, but after the movie you and your fellow viewers will be laughing and wondering wtf it was all about.

The political humor has it's moments, lots of hippie hating and attempts by the administration to control the hated and feared media (the pres holds an unscheduled press conference to announce an agreement with the Chinese, he and his handlers hope it will deflect attention from his declaring martial law in D.C. to take care of the problems of the murders and the damned hippies).

There are an abundance of laugh-out-loud moments, whether intentional or not, but more than anything else the greatest thing of this movie is its ability at the end to leave you with an overwhelming feeling of "what the heck was that?"

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
total political satire, 26 May 2007
10/10
Author: Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) from Portland, Oregon, USA

I don't know specifically whether "The Werewolf of Washington" was intended as a political satire, but it sure comes across as such. It probably helped that the movie was released around the time of Watergate (and at one point, we even get a glimpse of that very building).

The opening voice-over monologue begins with something like "How could it happen here?", before White House press secretary Jack Whittier (Dean Stockwell) explains his predicament. I believe that Upton Sinclair wrote a book called "It Can Happen Here", about the possibility of fascism coming to America. Anyway, after Jack has an affair with the president's daughter, the prez sends him to Hungary - ah, a jab at the Cold War - where he gets bitten by a wolf. When someone warns Jack about the pentagram, he thinks that the person says Pentagon (what aren't those warmongers behind?).

When he arrives back in the states, the president is angry about how the media reports negatively on the current state of affairs, especially since it makes the nation's youth protest things so much; the prez's solution: martial law! If that isn't a rip at the Nixon administration, then I don't know what is! But sure enough, Jack starts seeing the pentagram in people's palms, and...well, you know what happens once there's a full moon.

So even if it was intended as a straightforward horror flick, this certainly elicits a sense of political satire. With comments about the Black Panthers and other stuff, it's just the sort of thing that we need nowadays. I totally recommend it.

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Odd odd film, 14 March 2007
4/10
Author: t-birkhead from United Kingdom

Not too sure what too make of this one. On the one hand, its definitely a great idea, and there are some funny moments. On the other, its slow moving and so damn odd its not all that entertaining. The werewolf effects are kinda funny, being very much sorta 30's wolfman style, but the attacks are bloodless and not particularly effective. The satirical aspect is amusing if silly, but the humour and supernatural aspects just don't really gel. I did enjoy Dean Stockwell's performance, he kept the movie watchable for me with his energetic portrayal of the werewolf, and I did have some sympathy for his characters plight. Also the writing was fairly quality with some occasional good witty moments. But in the end I just couldn't really get on the side of this movie. In my opinion its only worth a look as a particularly bizarre 70's curio

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
bowling with a werewolf is a howl man!!!!, 29 August 2005
8/10
Author: asinyne from United States

I had a lot of fun watching this completely offbeat film. This is obviously a spoof of horror flicks and a good natured, tongue in cheek comment on American politics during the Nixon era. The editing is horrible, the lighting even worse, and there is no escaping this movie is early seventies to the max. In the end though, all of this only seems to add to this little movies charms which are considerable.

I think the writing is excellent, the idea of a werewolf among the Washington elite is pretty darn original. At times it seems almost like a skit from an early classic Saturday night live show. Very much so actually. There are some very funny moments like the bowling scene which made me laugh out loud. My eleven year old daughter laughed also which is good. The scene with the girl in the phone booth is also hilarious, and the bit with the Chinese diplomat on the plane cracked me up again.

Dean Stockwell is terrific in this movie, he delivers a very edgy performance that amazingly has you laughing at one scene and feeling very sorry for him at other times. His increasing anxiety and frustration over becoming a werewolf actually made me squirm a bit and almost made me stop watching the movie!!!! But then came the bowling scene and you realize its all for laughs. He gets great support from others in the cast especially the actors playing the president and the attorney general(Biff Mcquire and Clifton James), they are both a ton of fun.

I think i have a cool bit of trivia for you. Dean's dad Harry Stockwell makes a cameo appearance in the scene where the president briefs the joint chiefs of staff. Another hilarious scene. In the Harry Stockwell section of IMDb that isn't mentioned, i think it should be. Overall, the Werewolf of Washington is a c movie that delivers and a verl cool comment on a memorable time in American history. I liked it a lot!!!!

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Not Quite as Bad as the Bush Administration, 7 February 2007
5/10
Author: Hitchcoc from United States

This thing is all tongue in cheek. And in some ways it's a bit charming. The president and all his people are a bunch of clueless idiots. If it weren't for six years ago, I would have said this was impossible. Of course, it was 1973 and the country was reeling from Watergate. There was racial tension and distrust. Now we have Dean Stockwell whose career has been dotted with psychos and weirdos. He finds himself at the end of the werewolf chain, having been bitten in Hungary. He serves as press secretary with the mild inconvenience of turning into a werewolf when the moon is full. He kills a little, bowls a little, terrorizes people in telephone booths. He suspects what has happened to him but, of course. no one will buy it. To the bitter end, the President of the United States is insincere and manipulative (and stupid). The film is pretty predictable, but its comic moments are the best. Don't expect to take this seriously. Maybe a scholar will look at it and see it as pure satire. Unfortunately, it's not that good.

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
A Failed Political Satire/Horror Hybrid, 9 March 2006
2/10
Author: ferbs54 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I swear, it's getting to the point where if I see that one of the DVDs I've rented or bought is from the company known as Alpha Video, I'm tempted to return it unwatched. Lousy 16mm print sources, fuzzy images and very problematic sound have been the hallmarks of just about every DVD I've seen from this outfit. Case in point: "The Werewolf of Washington" (1973), a strange political satire/horror hybrid that fails dismally on both fronts and is rendered almost unwatchable by Alpha Video's crummy-looking DVD. In this one, Dean Stockwell goes to Budapest as a reporter, is bitten by a werewolf, and later becomes the assistant press secretary to the American president. Only prob: He's now a werewolf himself! Unfortunately, this cool-sounding plot is undone by a ridiculous script, lame acting (Stockwell excepted; he's excellent) and extremely poor editing/continuity. The sound, lighting and sets are all fairly amateurish, and Milton Moses Ginsberg's direction alternates between flashy (wait'll you see that shot taken from below water level in a toilet!) to downright inept. The initial appearance of the werewolf is ludicrous and bound to inspire more laffs than shudders, although it must be conceded that later transformations are handled well and that the monster does look pretty scary (although Stockwell's effete drug dealer in 1986's "Blue Velvet" was even scarier). But Stockwell turns into the monster five nights in a row in this picture; do we EVER get full moons five nights in a row?!?!?!?! Anyway, the film does boast two neat scenes--an attack on a woman in a tipped-over phone booth and a transformation aboard the Prez' helicopter--and I suppose does demonstrate that we COULD be stuck with worse monsters in D.C. than the ones we have now. Hard to believe, I know!

Was the above comment useful to you?

4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
It's a strange one ..., 8 May 2005
5/10
Author: Noel (Werewolf-Moviesdotcom) from Bromsgrove, England

As you can probably guess from the title alone, "Werewolf of Washington" is basically a direct take on "The Wolf Man" story, shaped into a kind of political satire.

We join press secretary Jack Whittier on assignment in Hungary, where his girlfriend buys him a silver cane with a wolf's head handle. When his car breaks down he encounters some strange gypsies, and is attacked by a wolf which he beats to death with his cane. After the wolf is dead it changes back into human form, but the police don't even arrest him for murder. Jack is convinced that there is some kind of a government cover-up going on, but a gypsy woman tells him that he has become a werewolf, cursed with the sign of the pentagram ("Oh, so the pentagon's involved?"). He then returns to Washington, and finds that a series of people he meets are murdered in animal-like attacks ...

This movie does have a lot of very funny and memorable moments. The "phone booth" attack and most of the scenes with the president (particularly the bowling alley sequence) rank particularly highly, and this is certainly a film you won't forget in a hurry. It's one of the most original werewolf movies I've seen in a long time. The acting is surprisingly good considering how incompetent some aspects of the film appear to be, and that's where a lot of the comedy comes from. Dean Stockwell gives an excellent, nervous performance reminiscent of Lon Chaney Jr, and Biff McGuire as the president is just great.

However, it isn't all good news ... it was directed by Milton Moses Ginsberg, who seems primarily to have worked as an editor but has directed several obscure movies (his first movie "Coming Apart" actually appears quite popular critically). The film-making isn't terrible, but it's not really of professional quality -- in some scenes you can even catch that elusive shadow of the cameraman. Considering it was made by an editor, the movie is slow-moving and doesn't flow as well as it should, and some of the cuts just don't work at all. The dialogue is pretty clunky most of the time, although there are some clever plays on words. It's a political satire made at a time when it was fashionable to attack the administration, so of course there's plenty of topical humour going on.

Yes, it's silly and it's cheap and it's pretty incompetent, but it's also a lot of fun. I'm even tempted to give it a higher rating, but I might not live that down. Just see it if you want some quick laughs.

Was the above comment useful to you?
Page 1 of 3:[1] [2] [3] [Next]

Add another comment

Related Links

Plot summary Ratings External reviews
Plot keywords Main details Your user comments
Your vote history