Television Films

All posts tagged Television Films

Gay Shit in Horror: 1979’s She’s Dressed to Kill

Published February 22, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

“Don’t panic. Contrary to popular report, I don’t mix modeling and big game hunting.” – Model Kate Bedford to a female colleague, She’s Dressed to Kill

Recognizable as the bloodied hero of the original Children of the Corn, actor-director Peter Horton truly showed his subtle performing powers as Tony Smith in 1979 television terror flick, She’s Dressed to Kill.

A Viet Nam deserter, Horton’s Tony has been taken in by manipulative fashion designer Regine Danton (the late, truly magnificent Eleanor Parker) at her mountainside retreat. As models and deluxe buyers gather for Danton’s latest show, it is revealed that the young and talented Smith has actually created the entire collection. With his promised credit for the gowns denied by Danton, Smith recoils with anger. Soon, attendees mysteriously begin to be murdered and he becomes a prime suspect. But, Smith soon finds a very willing supporter.

Victor DeSalle, a catty columnist ably played by the distinguished Clive Revill (The Legend of Hell House, C.H.U.D. II, Dracula: Dead and Loving It), agrees to sponsor Smith, if he can steal back his original designs. As the two characters chat, they acknowledge their mutual attraction to men with a bittersweet dialogue that is both guarded yet skillfully apparent. Despite his character’s devious plot, Revill does eventually show some tenderness toward the younger man in his portrayal while Horton supplies some softer touches to his characterization, as well. Director Gus Trikonis (The Evil, The Dark Side of Terror) allows for these nice emotional qualities to emerge, here, in a sharp contrast to the playful quality of the rest of the film.

George Leffert, who also wrote 1977’s similarly themed The Night They Took Miss Beautiful, makes room for a take charge lesbian in his script, as well. While Kate Bedford, a safari jaunting model, is occasionally played for laughs, gorgeous Cathee Shirriff inhabits her with enough likeable pride to make her a positive role model, as well.

Considering the time period in which this was filmed, the overwhelming sensitivity and various shades of personalities given these characters should be thought of as quite an achievement, especially in a network based thriller. But, it is also interesting to note that, even in the late 70’s, it was much easier to sell an attractive female queer as opposed to a male one. Bedford is decidedly out and accepted by her peers while the characters of Smith and DeSalle are cloaked in secrecy.

Food for thought…until the next time!

SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Sharkbait Retro Village: Gale Sondergaard in “The Cat Creature”

Published February 13, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

From soul sucking mermaids to possessed drive-ins and satanic dogs, gay director Curtis Harrington’s film subjects are gloriously unusual. He, like many a lavender lad before him also appreciated a good diva when he saw one.

Counting Gloria Swanson (Killer Bees), Debbie Reynolds and Shelly Winters (What’s the Matter with Helen?), Ann Sothern (The Killing Kind) and Piper Laurie (Rudy) among his leading ladies, Harrington, akin to such Golden Age “female directors” like George Cukor and Douglas Sirk, worked with some of filmdom’s most majestic femmes.

In the 1973 television terror flick The Cat Creature, Harrington worked magic with the mysterious, socially beleaguered Gale Sondergaard. As winner of the first Academy Award for Supporting Actress in 1936, Sondergaard had a quality career until being blackballed in the ’50s for refusing to testify during the McCarthy “Red Scare” trials. She eventually returned to the screen in the ’60s and spent a lot of the ’70s doing television and fright fare such as Savage Intruder (1970).

Here, with a sassy firmness, Sondergaard infuses the supporting role of Hester Black with a steely spine and a heart of gold. A former con, Black provides mothering (with some faint lesbian undertones) to the young female assistants in her pawn shop. Her world is turned upside down, though, when one of the women in her employ mysteriously disappears. As a sly cat works its way through nearby alleys and acquaintances soon lose their lives, it appears that the killer may be mystical in nature and much closer to Black than she ever expected.

Harrington works with an astute sense of shadow, here. (He would employ the same techniques in the sillier, much beloved Devil Dog: Hound of Hell in 1978, as well.) The mood he generates does much to elevate the simple plotline (which makes the true killer’s identity fairly obvious, early on in the proceedings).

Old school horror lovers will appreciate the appearance of David Hedison (The Fly) as the male lead and sit com fanatics should delight to the presence of a very young, almost unrecognizable Meredith Baxter (Birney), who sports lots and lots of hair!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Countdown to Carrie: Yvette Mimieux, “Hit Lady” (1974)

Published August 23, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

(Love it or hate it, the Carrie remake will be upon us in October – thus we celebrate the strong women in horror, science fiction and exploitation with Countdown to Carrie!)

Roarke: “How many women do you suppose make your kind of money?”
Angela: “Tell me something, Roarke. How many men do you suppose make my kind of money?”

Thought of as a purring sex kitten to some, due to her roles in such 60’s fare as Where the Boys Are and The Time Machine, gorgeous Yvette Mimieux decided to take control of her career in the mid-70’s and crafted a fun and powerful vehicle for herself with the television film, Hit Lady (1974).

As sharp shooting Angela deVries, Mimieux combines frivolity and feminism to grand effect here, all while dashing about in personalized Nolan Miller designs. Of course, by the time we meet Angela love has started to melt her cold heart and she finds herself unable to commit to her last kill-for-hire. Thus double crosses and frantic car chases decorate the last act of this quick moving vehicle. Add in a downbeat ending, more fitting for a European indie than a jaunty ABC production, and you have a fizzy cocktail decorated with a ferocious female at the lead.

Mimieux, no stranger to television terrors such as (beloved entries) Snowbeast and Devil Dog: Hound of Hell, is joined here by frequent genre personality Clu Gulager (Return of the Living Dead, Feast, Nightmare on Elm Street 2) who practically radiates slime as her duplicitous boss.

Keenan Wynn (Van Johnson’s gruffer half.)

Even a queer fear angle is provided for via the participation of veteran actor Keenan Wynn (Piranha, The Dark, Hysterical) and the exquisitely handsome Dack Rambo (Nightmare Honeymoon, Good Against Evil) as the artist whom entrances de Vries. Many old school Hollywood biographies make note of Wynn’s bisexuality. In fact, it was rumored that Wynn divorced his wife, Evie, so that she could (happily, it is noted) marry his lover, screen idol Van Johnson.

Meanwhile, shortly before his tragic death in 1994 due to HIV complications, Rambo acknowledged his bisexuality in detailed, heartfelt interview with Soap Opera Weekly.

Rambo – Half naked, fully threatened!

Thankfully, there are always (bittersweet) celluloid memories….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY7OJ6Y5usY

Until the next time SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan – aka – www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan!