Steve Oliver of 'Peyton Place' stars here as Terry Shaw, a struggling writer and gigolo. One of his lovers is older woman Mrs. Golden (a slumming Rita Hayworth ("Gilda"), in one of her final film appearances). She's married to wealthy, wheelchair-bound Harry Golden (top character actor Ford Rainey ("The Sand Pebbles")).
Their affair comes to an end when Harry discovers the two of them together, but unfortunately the film does not end there. It then spends a fair amount of time indulging in sleazy, swinging, and surreal early 70's drug and dance sequences, and it remains to be seen whether the reprehensible Terry will ever pay the price for the vile things he does.
Overall, this is not as much fun as the typical output from Florida-based exploitation filmmaker William Grefe. It's good for some mild entertainment as a trashy melodrama, but it's rough going when the character with whom we're required to spend so much time is such a worthless jerk. It tends to run the gamut of entertainment value, ranging from being boring to fairly amusing to generally agreeable.
Rita shows some appeal in this late-career role, managing to retain some of her dignity. Oliver is good in the sense that he really makes you hate his character. Rainey is solid in his brief time on screen. The supporting cast, like Ms. Hayworth, has some appeal even if they don't possess her degree of talent: Fay Spain as the victimized Pauline and Fleurette Carter as the enticing Nadine have real showcase roles. Frequent Grefe collaborator / boxing legend Willie Pastrano appears here as a glasses and suit wearing character named Henry. Other familiar faces (at least to those familiar with Florida-made genre and exploitation titles) include John Vella ("Sting of Death") and Jeff Gillen ("Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things"). Joe E. Ross of 'Car 54, Where are You?' fame has a cameo as Terry's agent; exploitation legend William Kerwin ("Blood Feast") turns up near the end as a uniformed cop. (Another Grefe collaborator, pop star Steve Alaimo, sings the songs on the soundtrack.)
All in all, this is the kind of thing one may stick with just in the hope of making sure that the despicable Terry receives his comeuppance before the end credits start rolling. But there are better (or at least more entertaining) Bill Grefe films out there.
Also available in an even more exploitative version, when the distributor took Grefe's finished film and added more nudity to try to spice it up.
Five out of 10.
Their affair comes to an end when Harry discovers the two of them together, but unfortunately the film does not end there. It then spends a fair amount of time indulging in sleazy, swinging, and surreal early 70's drug and dance sequences, and it remains to be seen whether the reprehensible Terry will ever pay the price for the vile things he does.
Overall, this is not as much fun as the typical output from Florida-based exploitation filmmaker William Grefe. It's good for some mild entertainment as a trashy melodrama, but it's rough going when the character with whom we're required to spend so much time is such a worthless jerk. It tends to run the gamut of entertainment value, ranging from being boring to fairly amusing to generally agreeable.
Rita shows some appeal in this late-career role, managing to retain some of her dignity. Oliver is good in the sense that he really makes you hate his character. Rainey is solid in his brief time on screen. The supporting cast, like Ms. Hayworth, has some appeal even if they don't possess her degree of talent: Fay Spain as the victimized Pauline and Fleurette Carter as the enticing Nadine have real showcase roles. Frequent Grefe collaborator / boxing legend Willie Pastrano appears here as a glasses and suit wearing character named Henry. Other familiar faces (at least to those familiar with Florida-made genre and exploitation titles) include John Vella ("Sting of Death") and Jeff Gillen ("Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things"). Joe E. Ross of 'Car 54, Where are You?' fame has a cameo as Terry's agent; exploitation legend William Kerwin ("Blood Feast") turns up near the end as a uniformed cop. (Another Grefe collaborator, pop star Steve Alaimo, sings the songs on the soundtrack.)
All in all, this is the kind of thing one may stick with just in the hope of making sure that the despicable Terry receives his comeuppance before the end credits start rolling. But there are better (or at least more entertaining) Bill Grefe films out there.
Also available in an even more exploitative version, when the distributor took Grefe's finished film and added more nudity to try to spice it up.
Five out of 10.