A Movie I picked out for Horror Movie Madness Month, but was too interesting to not review.
This is 1964's Shock Treatment, a Film that followed in the wake of Psycho and other Films about the mentally ill.
This is viewed as a bit of a knock-off, but that's only true in Theme.
Plot-wise- they are miles apart!
A crazy guy is put away, but someone is convinced that he's hiding money. An Actor is paid to find it, but must face off with a Nurse Ratched-like figure to do so.
To note, the Book in question- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- came out in 1962, but the seminal Film was stuck in development hell for 13 years (It ended up doing alright though).
This Film has a bunch of big Stars like Stuart Whitman, Lauren Bacall and Roddy McDowall in it.
So why was the only copy I could find of it a so-so German release?
To find out, read on...
A crazy Gardener- McDowall- casually kills his Boss with Garden Shears. My German Copy was retitled to 'The Killer with the Garden Shears.'
He casually turns himself in and gets committed.
While a bunch of burned up money was found at the Scene, a man is convinced that McDowall actually hid more of it.
He pays an Actor- Whitman- to get the information from him inside of the Institution.
He studies plants- to get close to Roddy- and then casually commits a weird crime pretending to be some sort of confused beatnik.
This somehow gets him sent to an Institution, which feels silly.
He eventually makes friends with McDowall, but has to keep up the act inside.
Between that, he has a romance with a young blonde.
One night, he's told to take some pills and he does.
He wakes up strapped to a table and is given, well, Shock Treatment!
The woman- who also testified about McDowall- explains afterwards that she knows he's faking it.
When he threatens to out her for torturing him, she gives a dose of a drug that will make him comatose!
It seems to work too well as time passes with him not recovering.
McDowall- who is being coerced by Bacall to share the money- tries to kill Whitman, but he's saved at the last moment.
As it turns out, he was faking being still comatose and escapes!
However, the guy that hired him is dead and nobody will believe his tale now.
He goes back to find Bacall confronting McDowall about the money- it's all ash!
That's what you get for trusting a crazy guy.
He tries to kill Whitman in the Garden with a pitchfork (a weird Clue set), but is tripped and impaled on some metal stakes!
In the aftermath, Bacall snaps.
She did all of this for money...that never existed.
And so, our Tale ends with Whitman apparently striking a deal to not face prison time for his crime in exchange for exposing Bacall's misdeeds.
Now she's in the same Institution she once ran.
The End.
A pretty enjoyable Film, even if it doesn't exactly elevate the Genre.
At its core, this is a simple Mystery Film with a simple hook- can a sane man survive in an Institution?
He does pretty well, to be fair, until the shock treatment.
The Acting is good, if a bit melodramatic. The Actors will often go big when not doing so might be a better choice. It makes more sense for McDowall, whose Character is supposed to be crazy and erratic.
Even so, it comes off more like a Soap Opera than it should.
The whole look at the mentally ill here is not exactly ideal, as they tend to just be either fully zoned out or dangerously erratic. Most people in there are more of a danger to themselves than others.
While it's not an amazing Film, it features many Stars- including a young Ossie Davis!- and feels like the kind of Film that should be on Svengoolie someday. Maybe it will happen.
I'll leave you with the best bit from watching a German Version of this Film...
***The Film cuts between the real shot and this German Language Insert Shot. Neat.***
Next time, it's a return to Bond and Moore is still here saving the day. I guess I have to figure out what the hell an Octopussy is, I guess. Stay tuned...
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