319. Wild in the Streets

319. (23 Dec) Wild in the Streets (1968, Barry Shear) 55



A transportive time capsule, this psychedelic take on the generation gap circa 1968 is episodic, strange, but terribly urgent. The overbearing Shelley Winters, with too limited screentime, perfectly embodies the past while the charismatic Christopher Jones represents the future. The film gets increasingly frenzied, mostly an alarmist portrait of what a youth takeover of America would mean. There's much to appreciate here, from forced LSD consumption to internment camps for those over the age of 35. Wild, indeed! The Oscar nomination for Film Editing is fun considering gimmicky split-screen tricks and rapid cuts.

253. Revenge!

253. (26 Oct) Revenge! (1971, Jud Taylor) 38



Revenge! is essentially two films with an intersecting plot. The far more interesting segment, which gets less airtime, has Shelley Winters imprisoning Bradford Dillman in her basement after he seduces, impregnates and inadvertently causes her daughter to commit suicide. Meanwhile, his wife uses phony psychic Stuart Whitman to try to find him. It's a tedious and highly implausible search. Ultimately, this is all premise with fairly miserable execution.