By Richard Winters
My Rating: 3 out of 10
4-Word Review: Ahead of his time.
Based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Richard Farina the story follows Paps (Barry Primus) who attends college in the ’50’s but behaves more like someone out of the 60’s and finds it challenging dealing with the rigid mind set of the other students. He gets into a relationship with Kristin (Linda De Coff) but it ends in acrimony when he refuses to meet her parents whom he deems part of the WASP establishment. He eventually gets in with Heff (David Downing) and Jack (Susan Tyrrell) who dabble in drugs and convince him to travel down to Cuba just as the Cuban revolution gets underway, which leads to tragic results.
While the novel did have some humor this film has none, which really hurts it. The expectation would be for a lot of irreverence but shockingly that doesn’t come and instead it’s talky that drones on and doesn’t lead anywhere. The opening bit has some comedy as Paps comes onto and makes out with his attractive young new landlord, played by Marian Clarke, but even that flubs because it brings out the sexually carefree culture of the late 60’s, but since this is supposed to be the 50’s it’s out of place and doesn’t help to establish the staid setting that our main character is supposedly feels imprisoned by.
Farina, who sadly died in 1966 just 2 days after his book got published, had far more interesting experiences in real life attending Cornell University during the late 50’s where he befriended fellow classmate Thomas Pynchon and got suspended for getting involved in student protests, but nothing like that gets shown here. At one point Kristin accuses Paps, during one of their spats, that he does nothing but sit around and waste away and that’s the absolute truth. He’s not actively propelling the action and seems like he’s dropping out of his own movie. I was expecting more lively confrontations between he and the other students, but outside of a few snarky comments this never comes to any adequate fruition. The scenic, tranquil landscape, filmed on location in Meadville, Pennsylvania, is the film’s only asset, but otherwise it stagnates badly.
There are a couple of good moments. One involves actor James Noble playing a priest who is duped into coming to Paps room in order to ‘cure’ him of his ‘deadly illness’, which is funny particularly Noble’s tiny pocketbook of candles and crosses that he brings out in order to perform the ‘last rites’. The painting of an ape that scares Paps while he has a drug trip has some diverting camera work though would’ve been better had the ape come to life though with the special effects capabilities of that era it would’ve been difficult. De Coff, who did just one more movie after this before retiring from the business to become an ordained minister, is really refreshing especially her appealing face, which is attractive but without the glossy Hollywood look.
It’s interesting seeing young stars before they were famous including Raul Julia, John P. Ryan, Susan Tyrrell, Zack Norman as a drug dealer, Nicholas Hammond who later became famous for playing Spiderman, and pop music composer/singer Paul Jabara. Bruce Davidson also gets featured in a small bit, but I was surprised he wasn’t made the star since he had a prominent role in Last Summer, which was released before this one was produced, and looked more age appropriate since he was in his 20’s while Primus was already 32. Either way the script doesn’t bring out these co-star’s talents effectively and their presence doesn’t lift the film out of its otherwise deadening pace.
My Rating: 3 out of 10
Released: September 15, 1971
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
Rated R
Director: Jeffrey Young
Studio: Paramount
Available: Amazon Video, YouTube
Scopophilia 