Viettelysten pauloissa (1965)

Viettelysten pauloissa (1965). Viettelysten pauloissa: Directed by Harvey Hart. With Ann-Margret, Michael Parks, Janet Margolin, Brad Dexter. A young sailor returns home to discover his girl has married an older, wealthy man.

“Thereu0026#39;s a lot to like about this film, even though itu0026#39;s slight and, too often, dramatically crude. The director, Harvey Hart, went on to do mostly television in his career and thatu0026#39;s a little surprising, because he frames scenes in very thoughtful, compelling ways. The story doesnu0026#39;t have quite the depth or psychological complexity to support all those hysterical camera angles, (he had to have been influenced by Elia Kazanu0026#39;s classic u0026quot;East of Edenu0026quot; – which interestingly, he later went on to direct the TV movie remake of) but it keeps the movie from getting boring – which it all too easily could have become.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe best thing about the film is the cast. Michael Parks. Ann-Margret. Kim Darby. Janet Margolin. Theyu0026#39;re all bright, young, attractive, appealing (and in Ann-Margaretu0026#39;s case scorchingly sexy) – you donu0026#39;t mind spending an hour and a half with these people. Itu0026#39;s particularly interesting to watch Parks in one of his few fully fleshed out roles. He was often criticised for being a 2nd rate James Dean imitator, but thereu0026#39;s very little of that here. As in u0026quot;The Happeningu0026quot; which he would appear in a couple years later, he shows a real talent for physical, self-mocking comedy – sort of lampooning the expectations of his Dean-like appearance. In fact, you get the feeling heu0026#39;s struggling to shed all that u0026quot;sensitive young rebelu0026quot; baggage, and is much more comfortable just being a clown.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eParks unfortunately slogged and mumbled his way through a lot of wretched movies throughout his career but here he IS an actor. There is one key exchange which illustrates this perfectly. He walks into a bar after a disillusioning encounter with a Mortician friend he thought was going to give him a job, no strings attached and has the following conversation with the bartender: u0026quot;Bus, you look like you just got back from a funeral.u0026quot; u0026quot;I did.u0026quot; u0026quot;Whose?u0026quot; u0026quot;Mine, I guess.u0026quot; Not especially original dialogue, but Parks is able to put a spin on that last line which makes it sound fresh and, more importantly, real.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor a film that never quite comes together, (and in fact falls apart in the 2nd half) it boasts an unusually high number of memorable scenes: Parksu0026#39; early morning, exhilarating embrace of his kid sister (Darby) his first day back; A-M deliberately running her expensive car into his new convertible so that heu0026#39;ll have to notice her; and my favorite – Parks walking out on her in some club, and A-M following him slowly in her car as he mills through the deserted streets of his hometown. The two of them really connect in some of their early scenes together (theyu0026#39;re as good as anything between Beatty and Wood in u0026quot;Splendor in the Grassu0026quot;) so itu0026#39;s really disappointing when the decision is made to reduce A-M from a 3 dimensional character to 2 dimensional as the story unfolds. The relationship simply isnu0026#39;t explored in a satisfactory or believable way.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNevertheless itu0026#39;s fascinating watching this curiosity, through the miracle of video, thatu0026#39;s been virtually buried for 35 years.”