The latest in our series of writers highlighting under-seen gems is an ode to a dark and disturbing 1960 thriller
You’ll find it in the depths of Prime Video, provocatively labelled “Private Property – a psycho-sexual thrill ride”. In the accompanying artwork, a stilettoed blonde bombshell displays her rear to camera, her black and white image garishly colorised in purple and yellow. Among the listed cast, character actor Warren Oates is the biggest name, while if you’ve heard of the film’s director, Leslie Stevens, at all, it’s possibly as one of the minds behind the late-70s TV’s Star Wars knock-off Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Such a package could easily be mistaken for cheap streaming dregs. And Private Property most certainly is cheap, shot as it was largely at its director’s house for less than $60,000, a tiny sum even in 1960 when the film was...
You’ll find it in the depths of Prime Video, provocatively labelled “Private Property – a psycho-sexual thrill ride”. In the accompanying artwork, a stilettoed blonde bombshell displays her rear to camera, her black and white image garishly colorised in purple and yellow. Among the listed cast, character actor Warren Oates is the biggest name, while if you’ve heard of the film’s director, Leslie Stevens, at all, it’s possibly as one of the minds behind the late-70s TV’s Star Wars knock-off Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Such a package could easily be mistaken for cheap streaming dregs. And Private Property most certainly is cheap, shot as it was largely at its director’s house for less than $60,000, a tiny sum even in 1960 when the film was...
- 3/8/2022
- by Brogan Morris
- The Guardian - Film News
Is this once-lost film the apex of obscure independent Hollywood filmmaking? Made way outside the limits of the Production Code, it's even better than I hoped it would be. Leslie Stevens' 'backyard movie' is the work of a directorial wunderkind with an inspired crew. Totally original, with three unforgettable performances. Private Property Blu-ray + DVD Cinelicious 1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date November 8, 2016 / 34.99 Starring Kate Manx, Corey Allen, Warren Oates Robert Ward, Jerome Cowan, Jules Maitland. Cinematography Ted McCord, Conrad Hall Film Editor Jerry Young Original Music Pete Rugolo Film Technology Alexander Singer Produced by Stanley Colbert Written and Directed by Leslie Stevens
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I saw Private Property for the first time last night, and came away thinking, 'these are the most believably complex, twisted, adult screen characters I've seen in a long time.' I also felt that I had witnessed some really extraordinary acting,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I saw Private Property for the first time last night, and came away thinking, 'these are the most believably complex, twisted, adult screen characters I've seen in a long time.' I also felt that I had witnessed some really extraordinary acting,...
- 11/5/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This past year, Cinelicious Pics has restored and distributed two unique films tragically underseen or never received U.S. distribution: Eiichi Yamamoto’s 1973 animated masterpiece “Belladonna of Sadness,” and Leslie Stevens’ long-missing 1960’s thriller “Private Property,” about two homicidal Southern California drifters (Warren Oates and Corey Allen) who wander off the beach into the Beverly Hills home of unhappy housewife Anne (Kate Manx) and slowly worm their way into her life.
Read More: Cinelicious Pics to Release 4k Restoration of Lost Noir ‘Private Property’
Cinelicious gave it a brief theatrical distribution this year in New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, and other cities, and it will be released on Blu-ray this week. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below featuring Allen’s character finally alone with Anne. The scene was one of the reasons why the film was rejected by the Motion Picture Association for failure to comply with the code,...
Read More: Cinelicious Pics to Release 4k Restoration of Lost Noir ‘Private Property’
Cinelicious gave it a brief theatrical distribution this year in New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, and other cities, and it will be released on Blu-ray this week. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below featuring Allen’s character finally alone with Anne. The scene was one of the reasons why the film was rejected by the Motion Picture Association for failure to comply with the code,...
- 10/24/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Over the course of his career, the notoriously hard-living Warren Oates palled around with Dennis Hopper and served as one of many Sam Peckinpah muses. His relationship with Hollywood bad boys extended to John Milius, who directed him in the memorable title role for the B-grade biopic Dillinger. By the time he passed away in 1982, he had over 120 film and television productions to his name.
But in 1960, Oates was a struggling young actor whose broad, bulldoggish face and crooked-toothed smile didn’t exactly scream movie star. He was, however, perfect as a counterpart to Corey Allen in director Leslie Stevens‘ lost film Private Property.
Nearly six decades after its initial release, the black-and-white gem has re-emerged thanks to efforts of the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Cinelicious Pics, a small company with a reputation for digging up valuable works doomed to obscurity. Their latest find provides a glimpse into a...
But in 1960, Oates was a struggling young actor whose broad, bulldoggish face and crooked-toothed smile didn’t exactly scream movie star. He was, however, perfect as a counterpart to Corey Allen in director Leslie Stevens‘ lost film Private Property.
Nearly six decades after its initial release, the black-and-white gem has re-emerged thanks to efforts of the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Cinelicious Pics, a small company with a reputation for digging up valuable works doomed to obscurity. Their latest find provides a glimpse into a...
- 7/5/2016
- by Amanda Waltz
- The Film Stage
In Leslie Stevens‘ 1960 picture “Private Property,” a skin-tightening psychosexual thriller shot on the cheap in just five days, two pervy male gazers named Duke (Corey Allen) and Boots (Warren Oates) have lunch with a beautiful, sexually-frustrated housewife named Ann (Kate Manx, the director’s wife). They have grilled cheese and lemonade, but they really want […]
The post The Sad, Strange Grit Of Warren Oates, Star Of The Newly Restored ‘Private Property’ appeared first on The Playlist.
The post The Sad, Strange Grit Of Warren Oates, Star Of The Newly Restored ‘Private Property’ appeared first on The Playlist.
- 7/1/2016
- by Greg Cwik
- The Playlist
Piece of the Pie: Stevens’ Psychosexual Drama Gets Revamped
The poster tagline for Leslie Stevens’ 1960 directorial debut Private Property says it all, proclaiming the film to be “the boldest story of a planned seduction ever to scald the screen!” the statement hovering above the strangely positioned, free-floating figure of lead actress Kate Manx (wife of the director), derriere exposed.
Continue reading...
The poster tagline for Leslie Stevens’ 1960 directorial debut Private Property says it all, proclaiming the film to be “the boldest story of a planned seduction ever to scald the screen!” the statement hovering above the strangely positioned, free-floating figure of lead actress Kate Manx (wife of the director), derriere exposed.
Continue reading...
- 7/1/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The story of one or more drifters terrorizing any and all that come across their path is a narrative that’s become something of a cliche in the world of thriller/horror cinema. However, something that is entirely and in many ways iconic in its singularity is the on-screen presence of legendary character actor Warren Oates.
The subject of a new retrospective in New York, Oates’ career began in the late 50s doing regional theater in Louisville, after a run in the Us Marines. Moving into TV acting and ultimately the world of TV Westerns, Oates’ career was full of various guest roles on some of TV’s greatest series, only to meet his cinematic soul mate, Sam Peckinpah, while working on one of those very shows, The Rifleman. However, his first big screen starring role came in the intense, creepy and deeply unsettling lo-fi thriller, Private Property.
Itself the subject of reappraisal,...
The subject of a new retrospective in New York, Oates’ career began in the late 50s doing regional theater in Louisville, after a run in the Us Marines. Moving into TV acting and ultimately the world of TV Westerns, Oates’ career was full of various guest roles on some of TV’s greatest series, only to meet his cinematic soul mate, Sam Peckinpah, while working on one of those very shows, The Rifleman. However, his first big screen starring role came in the intense, creepy and deeply unsettling lo-fi thriller, Private Property.
Itself the subject of reappraisal,...
- 7/1/2016
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
A SoCal Rear Window made at the cusp of the sexual revolution is a peculiar but fascinating look at vicious prurience
Determining where trenchant psycho-sexual commentary ends and voyeuristic sleaze begins can be a dicey business, but if all such cases were as energetic and entertaining as Leslie Stevens’s “lost” 1960 independent picture Private Property we’d be better off.
Set in the sun-bleached Los Angeles hills at the cusp of the sexual revolution (and its bloody Manson family nadir), Private Property seems, at first, mere fodder for raincoat-wearing deviants. But there’s too much negative space in the screenplay to leave it at that. Watching in 2016, thanks to an undertaking by the UCLA Film & Television Archive working with Cinelicious Pics, one feels compelled to hurl problematic yellow cards at the screen. Indeed, appealing to a base crowd of perverts may very well have been an original goal from a marketing point of view.
Determining where trenchant psycho-sexual commentary ends and voyeuristic sleaze begins can be a dicey business, but if all such cases were as energetic and entertaining as Leslie Stevens’s “lost” 1960 independent picture Private Property we’d be better off.
Set in the sun-bleached Los Angeles hills at the cusp of the sexual revolution (and its bloody Manson family nadir), Private Property seems, at first, mere fodder for raincoat-wearing deviants. But there’s too much negative space in the screenplay to leave it at that. Watching in 2016, thanks to an undertaking by the UCLA Film & Television Archive working with Cinelicious Pics, one feels compelled to hurl problematic yellow cards at the screen. Indeed, appealing to a base crowd of perverts may very well have been an original goal from a marketing point of view.
- 6/27/2016
- by Jordan Hoffman
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.