Poor Pretty Eddie
Encyclopedia
Poor Pretty Eddie is a 1975 American film starring Leslie Uggams
, Shelly Winters and Michael Christian
. Made on a relatively small budget, it is known for having an atypical narrative and direction style, which combines horror, exploitation and surreal drama. It has subsequently become popular in cult and B movie
circles.
She is forced to spend the night at “Bertha’s Oasis”, a rundown lodge that serves as the bizarre fiefdom of an overweight ex-burlesque star who lords over her much younger boyfriend, Eddie, and a cast of equally-strange townsfolk. Eddie fancies himself a singer on par with Elvis, and expects Wetherly to make him famous. But things turn ugly for Wetherly, who endures rape and abuse at the hands of her captors, before culminating in her bloody revenge on the “rednecks” that terrorized her.
.
The movie's script, loosely based on the Jean Genet
play The Balcony
, was the work of consummate television writer B.W.Sandefur, who also wrote for such shows as Barnaby Jones
, Little House on The Prairie
and Charlie’s Angels).
The film was shot on location in and around Athens, Georgia
in 1973. The film’s biggest star, Shelley Winters, was flown in on a private plane that nearly crashed upon landing.
Upon its release in 1975, reviews were not kind. One Georgia-based film writer concluded: “Upon leaving the theater, I quite honestly felt nauseous.”
Over the course of its 10-year run at drive-ins and so-called grindhouse
theaters, the film was distributed under several different titles and existed in at least two different versions. Alternate titles included: Black Vengeance, The Girl in The Web, The Victim, Redneck County, Redneck County Rape, and in a re-edited (“softer”) version called Heartbreak Motel. The latter version added scenes previously left on the editing room floor while removing a fair amount of violence, and also featured a different ending.
Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her work in Hallelujah, Baby! She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.-Singing:...
, Shelly Winters and Michael Christian
Michael Christian
Michael Christian is a former Australian rules footballer and media personality from Busselton, Western Australia.Christian played 82 games for East Perth in the WAFL from 1981 to 1986 and then crossed to Collingwood in the VFL/AFL to play out his football career. Christian would play full-back...
. Made on a relatively small budget, it is known for having an atypical narrative and direction style, which combines horror, exploitation and surreal drama. It has subsequently become popular in cult and B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
circles.
Plot
Liz Wetherly is a popular black singer in need of a break from her hectic schedule. When her car breaks down, she ends up stuck in a remote southern town that‘s been left for dead “ever since they put in the interstate.”She is forced to spend the night at “Bertha’s Oasis”, a rundown lodge that serves as the bizarre fiefdom of an overweight ex-burlesque star who lords over her much younger boyfriend, Eddie, and a cast of equally-strange townsfolk. Eddie fancies himself a singer on par with Elvis, and expects Wetherly to make him famous. But things turn ugly for Wetherly, who endures rape and abuse at the hands of her captors, before culminating in her bloody revenge on the “rednecks” that terrorized her.
Cast
- Leslie UggamsLeslie UggamsLeslie Uggams is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her work in Hallelujah, Baby! She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.-Singing:...
- Shelly Winters
- Michael ChristianMichael ChristianMichael Christian is a former Australian rules footballer and media personality from Busselton, Western Australia.Christian played 82 games for East Perth in the WAFL from 1981 to 1986 and then crossed to Collingwood in the VFL/AFL to play out his football career. Christian would play full-back...
- Slim PickensSlim PickensLouis Burton Lindley, Jr. , better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr...
- Dub TaylorDub TaylorWalter Clarence Taylor, Jr. , better known as Dub Taylor, was an American actor who worked extensively in Westerns, but also in comedy from the 1940s into the 1990s.-Early life:...
- Ted CassidyTed CassidyTheodore Crawford Cassidy , known as Ted Cassidy, was an American actor who performed in television and films. At 6 ft 9 in in height, he tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie...
Background
Any prior experience the film-makers brought to Poor Pretty Eddie was limited mostly to work on adult films. According to the DVD’s extensive liner notes, they secured backing from Michael Thevis, a notorious Atlanta-based businessman commonly known as “The King of Pornography” whose other interests included a chain of sex shops, a record company, and the manufacture of peep-show booths. The film's director, Richard Robinson, knew Thevis from distributing his previous, more adult-oriented productions, and this marked a collective effort by all concerned to “go legit.” Thevis was later jailed on an assortment of charges and, following a prison escape in 1978, was placed on the FBI’s most-wanted listFBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1970s
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1970s is a list, maintained for a third decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.-FBI headlines in the 1970s:...
.
The movie's script, loosely based on the Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
play The Balcony
The Balcony
The Balcony is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. Since Peter Zadek directed its first production at the Arts Theatre Club in London in 1957, the play has attracted many of the greatest directors of the 20th century, including Peter Brook, Erwin Piscator, Roger Blin, Giorgio Strehler, and...
, was the work of consummate television writer B.W.Sandefur, who also wrote for such shows as Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. A spin-off from Cannon, the show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement...
, Little House on The Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
and Charlie’s Angels).
The film was shot on location in and around Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
in 1973. The film’s biggest star, Shelley Winters, was flown in on a private plane that nearly crashed upon landing.
Upon its release in 1975, reviews were not kind. One Georgia-based film writer concluded: “Upon leaving the theater, I quite honestly felt nauseous.”
Over the course of its 10-year run at drive-ins and so-called grindhouse
Grindhouse
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.- History :...
theaters, the film was distributed under several different titles and existed in at least two different versions. Alternate titles included: Black Vengeance, The Girl in The Web, The Victim, Redneck County, Redneck County Rape, and in a re-edited (“softer”) version called Heartbreak Motel. The latter version added scenes previously left on the editing room floor while removing a fair amount of violence, and also featured a different ending.
External links
- Poor Pretty Eddie at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Poor Pretty Eddie at Turner Classic MoviesTurner Classic MoviesTurner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...