Pretty Poison (1968)

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

Director:

Noel Black

Writers:

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

Stars:

Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited 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's Winslow High-Steppers	...	Drillmaster & Team

Storyline

Dennis Pitt, now in young adulthood, has been conditionally released from a psychiatric hospital, where he had been institutionalized for an incident that occurred when he was fifteen. Despite the doctors believing he to be rehabilitated in not suffering from the fantasies which dominated his life, Dennis is still required to check in with his case officer, Morton Azenauer, once a week. Azenauer will do whatever he can to help Dennis survive in the outside world. A year following his release, Dennis violates the conditions of his release by moving without telling Azenauer, thus missing his weekly check-ins. He moves to Winslow, Massachusetts where he has gotten a job at Sausenfeld Chemical Co., his boss, Bud Munsch, the company, and his acquaintances in town not aware of his history. In not being truly rehabilitated, Dennis believes the company is part of an alien conspiracy to poison the water supply, including openly discharging chemical waste into the local lake next to the plant. ...

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Plot Keywords:

teenage girl | psycho thriller | psychotic | black comedy | new england | 

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Taglines:

A shook-up story of the up-tight generation.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Spanish

Release Date:

18 September 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

She Let Him Continue

Filming Locations:

Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Lawrence Turman, Mollino Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anthony Perkins' was so convincing in his role as the mentally disturbed Dennis Pitt as he had been in as Norman Bates in Psycho (1960) that it typecast him for the rest of his career.

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Quotes

[on sex]
Sue Ann Stepanek: You know, when grown-ups do it, it's kind of dirty. That's because there's no one to punish them.

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Connections

Referenced in Rewind This! (2013)

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Soundtracks

The Thunderer
Music by John Philip Sousa

User Reviews

People only pay attention to what they discover for themselves.

"Pretty Poison" is a very interesting, offbeat, darkly comic thriller and a film that remains somewhat under-valued 50 years after its release. Anthony Perkins stars in the kind of role that fit him like a glove: Dennis Pitt, a young man just released from a mental institution. Starting a job at a chemical plant in a small Massachusetts town, he becomes utterly entranced with Sue Ann Stepanek (the memorable Tuesday Weld), a sexy blonde high-schooler and majorette. Given that Dennis is prone to a rich fantasy life, he feeds her a bunch of bull about the spy work that he's doing. She seems to fall for it, hook, line, and sinker, but as things progress, she takes the reigns, making him realize that underneath her wholesome beauty is a psycho that's about to emerge. Then he's just meekly plodding along in her wake.

A good candidate for cult status, "Pretty Poison" marked the filmmaking debut for young Noel Black, who worked mostly in TV and made only a handful of features. He gives the fast-moving, twisty plot very surefooted direction, and gets excellent performances out of his two stars. "Pretty Poison" also has a great feel for small-town America, and the kind of madness that could be boiling beneath the surface. What's appreciated about the tale (scripted by the busy Lorenzo Semple, Jr., based on the novel "She Let Him Continue" by Stephen Geller) is the fact that it's not so predictable. You're fascinated by this character played by the lovely Ms. Weld, and wonder what else she and the filmmakers will do with her.

Perkins may be too old for his role by at least a decade or so, but, much as he did in "Psycho", he does have the ability to earn some sympathy. By the end of the picture, you realize that for all his mental issues, he's not unintelligent. He may have been played for a sap, but he knows it, and he has some advice to pass on to his case worker Azenauer (top character actor John Randolph).

In addition to the great Randolph, other supporting players help to add gravitas: 1950s B movie queen Beverly Garland as Sue Ann's disapproving mother, Dick O'Neill as Dennis' cranky boss, and Clarice Blackburn as the helpful Mrs. Bronson. Ken Kercheval of future 'Dallas' fame has a bit at the end of the story.

But Ms. Weld, despite being a little too old for her role as well, is this pictures' main draw, revealing this not-so-innocent teens' true personality with a vengeance.

All in all, "Pretty Poison" is a striking little film that sinks its hooks into you and doesn't let go for 90 straight minutes.

Eight out of 10.