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| Is she or isn't she? Sondra Locke |
Marguerite (Sonda Locke) is a strange young woman who lives a cloistered life with her mother, Katherine (Mary Ure) and grandmother, Julia (Signe Hasso of The House on 92nd Street). Her only real "companion" is a big doll she calls Aaron. Katherine's estranged husband, Michael (Robert Shaw) comes to see her because he has fallen in love with Anne (Sally Kellerman of Slither) and wants a divorce. This leads into three brutal murders and an attack on Anne -- none of this is handled with any great panache. It's strange that there seems to be some attempt to create mystery over the identity of the perpetrator, when the assailant seems obvious from the first. The film does have a sick final twist that may simply be too far-fetched for most viewers to swallow. The performances are all on target, although some might find Locke a bit too weird and ethereal. This is another in a long line of Psycho-inspired psycho-shockers, but not one of the more memorable ones. Shaw [From Russia with Love] and Mary Ure were married at the time (until her death just four years later).
Verdict: Oddball thriller with some very good acting. **1/2.
Another one to add to my list, had never even heard of it. I always have loved Sondra Locke, from her films with Eastwood, and as this is a genre I really enjoy, I look forward to seeing her in it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for highlighting this one for me!
-Chris
My pleasure. Years ago when I worked for Columbia Pictures in some New York office or other, I came across a post-production script of this movie (not the shooting script, but a shot by shot description of the finished picture) and had always wanted to see the darn thing. I finally found it on youtube just recently. I can't quite say it was worth the twenty or thirty years wait, but I'm glad I finally got to see it. And it has its moments and a freaky ending ...
ReplyDeleteCan't wait!
ReplyDelete