Strait-Jacket (B or 3/4 stars)
2 yrs. after What Happened to Baby Jane?, Bette Davis starred in the acclaimed, but not exceptional Hush ...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, while Joan Crawford left that production & entered this horror flick, 'Strait-Jacket' (directed by horror aficionado William Castle). Is this movie particularly good? Nah. Was it ridiculed at the time? Yep. But was it campy fun? Ohhhh, yeah. And does Joan Crawford give a good performance? You BET. From her riotous, self-parodying walk-on {done up to the nines 1940's style} - to her mid-film hysterics - to her poignant final scene ... she's hypnotic to watch. Onto the 'story'.
Crawford stars as is Lucy Harbin, who was sent to an asylum/sanitorium for 20 yrs. after axing her husband & his mistress in a moment of rage. The witness to this massacre? Her 3 yr. old daughter. When released, Lucy {incidentally, Joan Crawford's real name in Lucille} comes to live on her brother's farm with her now grown-up daughter, Carol (Diane Baker, who co-starred with Joan in other films in the '60s). Carol is anxious to marry a nice young man, John, but his oh-so-respectable parents are against the marriage because of Joan's scandalous history & incarceration. Soon after Lucy's arrival, axe murders start piling up (a doctor, a deranged farm hand played by George Kennedy). As Lucy starts hallucinating again; thinking that she's losing her mind {cue a scene involving dismembered heads, haha}. So, is Lucy at it again? Or is something else afoot?
Again, 'Strait-Jacket' isn't what qualifies as a 'good cinema', but Joan Crawford acquits herself very well and, as mentioned above, plays up the nutty axe-murderess role in a wonderfully campy way. I mentioned her sexy, cigarette-smoke laden entrance ... the camp factor is OFF-THE-CHARTS there. And the fact that she thought she could pull off someone in her late 30s {when she really close to 60} is hysterical enough. Her bug-eyed hallucinations & screams had me cackling in my seat. But then, she rivets in the smaller, quieter dramatic scenes, as well. She gives it her all.
Really, this film is for Joan Crawford fans & those curious to finally see this Grand Dame Guignol cult classic. The story was more camp than scary; too derivative of Psycho or ... even Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? But it's a fun little horror flick to experience. The production values are low, but the enjoyment factor is relatively high. I don't think Joan Crawford realized that 'Strait-Jacket' came off as more fun/campy than serious film. She didn't relish the effect that she had on people who DID love her & these types of campy horror flicks. That's too bad, because the movie has left its mark.
Crawford stars as is Lucy Harbin, who was sent to an asylum/sanitorium for 20 yrs. after axing her husband & his mistress in a moment of rage. The witness to this massacre? Her 3 yr. old daughter. When released, Lucy {incidentally, Joan Crawford's real name in Lucille} comes to live on her brother's farm with her now grown-up daughter, Carol (Diane Baker, who co-starred with Joan in other films in the '60s). Carol is anxious to marry a nice young man, John, but his oh-so-respectable parents are against the marriage because of Joan's scandalous history & incarceration. Soon after Lucy's arrival, axe murders start piling up (a doctor, a deranged farm hand played by George Kennedy). As Lucy starts hallucinating again; thinking that she's losing her mind {cue a scene involving dismembered heads, haha}. So, is Lucy at it again? Or is something else afoot?
Again, 'Strait-Jacket' isn't what qualifies as a 'good cinema', but Joan Crawford acquits herself very well and, as mentioned above, plays up the nutty axe-murderess role in a wonderfully campy way. I mentioned her sexy, cigarette-smoke laden entrance ... the camp factor is OFF-THE-CHARTS there. And the fact that she thought she could pull off someone in her late 30s {when she really close to 60} is hysterical enough. Her bug-eyed hallucinations & screams had me cackling in my seat. But then, she rivets in the smaller, quieter dramatic scenes, as well. She gives it her all.
Really, this film is for Joan Crawford fans & those curious to finally see this Grand Dame Guignol cult classic. The story was more camp than scary; too derivative of Psycho or ... even Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? But it's a fun little horror flick to experience. The production values are low, but the enjoyment factor is relatively high. I don't think Joan Crawford realized that 'Strait-Jacket' came off as more fun/campy than serious film. She didn't relish the effect that she had on people who DID love her & these types of campy horror flicks. That's too bad, because the movie has left its mark.