Three in the Attic
Encyclopedia
Three in the Attic is a 1968
movie, starring Christopher Jones
and Yvette Mimieux
, with Judy Pace
and Maggie Thrett
. Nan Martin
, John Beck
, and Eve McVeagh
appear in supporting roles.
who swears his fidelity to all three of the women he is dating, who are unaware of his deception. When they learn the truth about Paxton, the women lure him into a college dormitory attic, where they each take turns tormenting and pampering Paxton physically.
), a renowned womanizer, is a student at the fictional Willard College for Men, located one mile away from the fictional Fulton College for women. The schools are located in small college communities in the middle of Vermont.
After meeting at a Zeta Chi (ZX) fraternity party, Paxton and a Fulton undergrad, Tobey Clinton (Yvette Mimieux
), begin dating. They then take their relationship to the next level by spending the summer together by the beach in Providencetown.
Paxton and Tobey are then caught living together by Tobey’s parents at their family house in Providencetown. Following a fight between Tobey and her mother, the two separate for the rest of the last two weeks of summer break. Tobey, by now deeply in love, is ecstatic to be with Paxton upon their return to school.
While out on his motorcycle, Paxton has a chance encounter with a young artist in need of a ride, their meeting is quite sexually charged. The young artist, Eulice (Judy Pace
), another Fulton student, entreats Paxton to let her paint him naked. When she is finished, Paxton learns that she only wanted to paint his face, but got him naked for fun. She promises to get nude for Paxton as compensation. After a meal, they retire to a Motel that Paxton frequents with his many different conquests.
Following his initial escapade with Eulice, Paxton brags to his fraternity brothers that he feels no remorse.
While they are on a trip to a cabin, Tobey asks Paxton to move out of his fraternity house and move into an apartment with her. Paxton overreacts; Tobey explains that her father bet her that if she rented an apartment for the two of them Paxton would get cold feet and end the relationship. A bitter fight ensues but they soon make up.
Paxton receives a phone call from Eucile at his fraternity house, and is goaded into seeing her again. While racing over to Eulice’s residence Paxton trips and happens upon a hippie-girl, Jan (Maggie Thrett
), who is making a flower-collage in the woods. They strike a conversation, and soon after Paxton takes Jan to his favorite Motel. The two eat some of Jan’s “magic-brownies” and then Jan uses body paint to cover Paxton’s back in flowers. As soon as Paxton makes a move, Jan runs for the door. Paxton aggressively attacks her, and then stops and feigns to be homosexual who was abused by a junior high school coach. This exploitative trickery wins her sympathy and they soon become intimate.
Again, Paxton brags about his exploits back at his fraternity house. One of his brothers gives him the idea of dating all three girls at the same time. They scheme over some beers, and come up with an elaborate plan for Paxton to trick all three girls into thinking he is seeing them exclusively.
While at a movie which Paxton is watching with Tobey, he is almost discovered by both Eulice and Jan, who spot him from the front; he barely escapes detection.
Paxton returns to the Zeta Chi house and walks into a party where brothers are taking advantage of a drunken co-ed. Paxton, hit with a sudden sense of guilt, tries to protect the girl from the brothers’ jeers.
Paxton, filled with his new-found conscience, rents an apartment for himself and Tobey and goes to her dorm building to surprise her with his new level of commitment. Tobey, obviously very distraught, tells Paxton to follow her into her attic where she reveals that she, Eulice, and Jan have discovered Paxton’s secret infidelity. Tobey caught him after seeing Eulice’s painting of Paxton at an art show and tracking down the artist. The three then lock Paxton in the attic and plan to continue sleeping with him constantly to physically wear him out as a punishment. Paxton rebels by going on a hunger strike.
After noticing his drop in class attendance, the dean of Willard College sends out a description of Paxton to neighboring colleges, labeling him as a missing student.
A nosy dorm mate of Tobey’s notices the actions of Paxton’s captors and reports them to the assistant dean of Fulton. Meanwhile, Paxton is being worn to physical extremes from a combination nearly two week’s malnutrition and being unable to resist the relentless advances of Tobey, Eulice, and Jan. The assistant dean of Fulton, Dean Nazarin (Nan Martin
), connects information listed in a missing person’s report and information from a nosy student. She then concludes that Paxton is being held in the attic of Fulton’s Ford Hall, Tobey’s residence.
Tobey meets with Dean Nazarin and explains the situation. Unable to officially condone the actions of the young women, the dean offers a chance for Tobey to carry out Paxton’s “punishment” while turning a blind eye.
Meanwhile, Paxton has vivid hallucinations where he accuses his three captors and they are unanimously hated by all of Fulton College while he is shown love and comfort.
Failing to make Paxton explain his actions, Tobey finally consents to release him from the attic and, disoriented, he stumbles into an unsuspecting female dorm. He is attacked by the female residents as an intruder and knocked unconscious. An ambulance soon takes him away.
Thanks to intervention from Dean Nazarin, the three girls get out of the scandal without punishment.
With the help of Eulice, Paxton is then able to chase down Tobey before she leaves town on a bus, and reconciles with her after a desperate display of love.
.
gave the film two stars and discussed the movie's inability to live up to the promise of its premise as its major flaw. He further noted Judy Pace's role as Eulice as one of the film's few highlights. Viewers on rogerebert.com gave the picture 3.5 stars. Variety gave the movie a very poor review, and stated that writer Stephen Yafa disowned the picture. The review cites amaturish acting and the fact that the movie is "littered with padding optical effects, hampered by uneven dramatic concept, and redundant in its too-delicious sex teasing" in its critic.
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
. The campus scenes depict Carolina's Polk Place
, Kenan Dorm, and the administrative South Building in particular.
The location for the Zeta Chi house is actually the Alpha Delta chapter house of Alpha Tau Omega
, located at 303 East Franklin Street
in Chapel Hill. Scenes are shot in front of the house, in its Great Hall, and in the house's basement, also known as "The Cave."
An additional scene was also filmed in the attic of the Graham House at 115 Battle Lane, a few blocks from the Alpha Delta house.
1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...
movie, starring Christopher Jones
Christopher Jones (actor)
William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, is an American character actor, born August 18, 1941 in Jackson, Tennessee....
and Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Carmen Mimieux is a retired American movie and television actress.-Early life and career:Yvette Mimieux was born in Los Angeles, California, to a French father and Mexican mother, Carmen Montemayor...
, with Judy Pace
Judy Pace
Judy Lenteen Pace is an American stage and screen actress.-Career Biography:Pace became a familiar face in the 1970s on both the big and small screen, appearing in popular blaxploitation movies and popular television shows. She played a character on the soap opera One Life to Live...
and Maggie Thrett
Maggie Thrett
Maggie Thrett, born Diane Pine, was a singer and stage, movie and television actress in the 1960s. Aged fifteen, she made her Off-Broadway debut in 1962 in Out Brief Candle. By the age of eighteen she was regularly performing as a dancer at Trude Heller's in Greenwich Village, New York, as noted...
. Nan Martin
Nan Martin
Nan Martin was an American actress who starred in movies and on television.Born in Decatur, Illinois and raised in Santa Monica, California, her first film role was The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit...
, John Beck
John Beck (actor)
John Beck is an American actor. He grew up in Joliet, Illinois. Renowned as a gritty actor with plenty of presence on set, he is ultimately best-known worldwide for playing the role of Mark Graison in Dallas during the mid-1980s, but is also well-known for several other roles in which he...
, and Eve McVeagh
Eve McVeagh
Eve McVeagh, born Eva Elizabeth McVeagh, was an American actress of film, television, stage, and radio. Born in Ohio, McVeagh moved to Los Angeles in 1923, where she started acting in theater in her teens. Her career spanned 52 years from her first stage role through her last stage appearance...
appear in supporting roles.
Premise
Jones plays Paxton Quigley, a lotharioLothario
Lothario is a male first name which came to connote an unscrupulous seducer of women.In The Impertinent Curiosity, a story-within-the-story in Don Quixote , by Miguel de Cervantes, a man named Anselmo coerces Lothario, his faithful friend, to test the virtue of Anselmo's wife, Camila...
who swears his fidelity to all three of the women he is dating, who are unaware of his deception. When they learn the truth about Paxton, the women lure him into a college dormitory attic, where they each take turns tormenting and pampering Paxton physically.
Plot summary
Paxton Quigley (Christopher JonesChristopher Jones (actor)
William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, is an American character actor, born August 18, 1941 in Jackson, Tennessee....
), a renowned womanizer, is a student at the fictional Willard College for Men, located one mile away from the fictional Fulton College for women. The schools are located in small college communities in the middle of Vermont.
After meeting at a Zeta Chi (ZX) fraternity party, Paxton and a Fulton undergrad, Tobey Clinton (Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Carmen Mimieux is a retired American movie and television actress.-Early life and career:Yvette Mimieux was born in Los Angeles, California, to a French father and Mexican mother, Carmen Montemayor...
), begin dating. They then take their relationship to the next level by spending the summer together by the beach in Providencetown.
Paxton and Tobey are then caught living together by Tobey’s parents at their family house in Providencetown. Following a fight between Tobey and her mother, the two separate for the rest of the last two weeks of summer break. Tobey, by now deeply in love, is ecstatic to be with Paxton upon their return to school.
While out on his motorcycle, Paxton has a chance encounter with a young artist in need of a ride, their meeting is quite sexually charged. The young artist, Eulice (Judy Pace
Judy Pace
Judy Lenteen Pace is an American stage and screen actress.-Career Biography:Pace became a familiar face in the 1970s on both the big and small screen, appearing in popular blaxploitation movies and popular television shows. She played a character on the soap opera One Life to Live...
), another Fulton student, entreats Paxton to let her paint him naked. When she is finished, Paxton learns that she only wanted to paint his face, but got him naked for fun. She promises to get nude for Paxton as compensation. After a meal, they retire to a Motel that Paxton frequents with his many different conquests.
Following his initial escapade with Eulice, Paxton brags to his fraternity brothers that he feels no remorse.
While they are on a trip to a cabin, Tobey asks Paxton to move out of his fraternity house and move into an apartment with her. Paxton overreacts; Tobey explains that her father bet her that if she rented an apartment for the two of them Paxton would get cold feet and end the relationship. A bitter fight ensues but they soon make up.
Paxton receives a phone call from Eucile at his fraternity house, and is goaded into seeing her again. While racing over to Eulice’s residence Paxton trips and happens upon a hippie-girl, Jan (Maggie Thrett
Maggie Thrett
Maggie Thrett, born Diane Pine, was a singer and stage, movie and television actress in the 1960s. Aged fifteen, she made her Off-Broadway debut in 1962 in Out Brief Candle. By the age of eighteen she was regularly performing as a dancer at Trude Heller's in Greenwich Village, New York, as noted...
), who is making a flower-collage in the woods. They strike a conversation, and soon after Paxton takes Jan to his favorite Motel. The two eat some of Jan’s “magic-brownies” and then Jan uses body paint to cover Paxton’s back in flowers. As soon as Paxton makes a move, Jan runs for the door. Paxton aggressively attacks her, and then stops and feigns to be homosexual who was abused by a junior high school coach. This exploitative trickery wins her sympathy and they soon become intimate.
Again, Paxton brags about his exploits back at his fraternity house. One of his brothers gives him the idea of dating all three girls at the same time. They scheme over some beers, and come up with an elaborate plan for Paxton to trick all three girls into thinking he is seeing them exclusively.
While at a movie which Paxton is watching with Tobey, he is almost discovered by both Eulice and Jan, who spot him from the front; he barely escapes detection.
Paxton returns to the Zeta Chi house and walks into a party where brothers are taking advantage of a drunken co-ed. Paxton, hit with a sudden sense of guilt, tries to protect the girl from the brothers’ jeers.
Paxton, filled with his new-found conscience, rents an apartment for himself and Tobey and goes to her dorm building to surprise her with his new level of commitment. Tobey, obviously very distraught, tells Paxton to follow her into her attic where she reveals that she, Eulice, and Jan have discovered Paxton’s secret infidelity. Tobey caught him after seeing Eulice’s painting of Paxton at an art show and tracking down the artist. The three then lock Paxton in the attic and plan to continue sleeping with him constantly to physically wear him out as a punishment. Paxton rebels by going on a hunger strike.
After noticing his drop in class attendance, the dean of Willard College sends out a description of Paxton to neighboring colleges, labeling him as a missing student.
A nosy dorm mate of Tobey’s notices the actions of Paxton’s captors and reports them to the assistant dean of Fulton. Meanwhile, Paxton is being worn to physical extremes from a combination nearly two week’s malnutrition and being unable to resist the relentless advances of Tobey, Eulice, and Jan. The assistant dean of Fulton, Dean Nazarin (Nan Martin
Nan Martin
Nan Martin was an American actress who starred in movies and on television.Born in Decatur, Illinois and raised in Santa Monica, California, her first film role was The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit...
), connects information listed in a missing person’s report and information from a nosy student. She then concludes that Paxton is being held in the attic of Fulton’s Ford Hall, Tobey’s residence.
Tobey meets with Dean Nazarin and explains the situation. Unable to officially condone the actions of the young women, the dean offers a chance for Tobey to carry out Paxton’s “punishment” while turning a blind eye.
Meanwhile, Paxton has vivid hallucinations where he accuses his three captors and they are unanimously hated by all of Fulton College while he is shown love and comfort.
Failing to make Paxton explain his actions, Tobey finally consents to release him from the attic and, disoriented, he stumbles into an unsuspecting female dorm. He is attacked by the female residents as an intruder and knocked unconscious. An ambulance soon takes him away.
Thanks to intervention from Dean Nazarin, the three girls get out of the scandal without punishment.
With the help of Eulice, Paxton is then able to chase down Tobey before she leaves town on a bus, and reconciles with her after a desperate display of love.
Cast
- Paxton Quigley - Christopher JonesChristopher Jones (actor)William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, is an American character actor, born August 18, 1941 in Jackson, Tennessee....
- Tobey Clinton - Yvette MimieuxYvette MimieuxYvette Carmen Mimieux is a retired American movie and television actress.-Early life and career:Yvette Mimieux was born in Los Angeles, California, to a French father and Mexican mother, Carmen Montemayor...
- Eulice - Judy PaceJudy PaceJudy Lenteen Pace is an American stage and screen actress.-Career Biography:Pace became a familiar face in the 1970s on both the big and small screen, appearing in popular blaxploitation movies and popular television shows. She played a character on the soap opera One Life to Live...
- Jan - Maggie ThrettMaggie ThrettMaggie Thrett, born Diane Pine, was a singer and stage, movie and television actress in the 1960s. Aged fifteen, she made her Off-Broadway debut in 1962 in Out Brief Candle. By the age of eighteen she was regularly performing as a dancer at Trude Heller's in Greenwich Village, New York, as noted...
- Dean Nazarin - Nan MartinNan MartinNan Martin was an American actress who starred in movies and on television.Born in Decatur, Illinois and raised in Santa Monica, California, her first film role was The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit...
- Jake - John BeckJohn Beck (actor)John Beck is an American actor. He grew up in Joliet, Illinois. Renowned as a gritty actor with plenty of presence on set, he is ultimately best-known worldwide for playing the role of Mark Graison in Dallas during the mid-1980s, but is also well-known for several other roles in which he...
- Mrs. Clinton - Eve McVeaghEve McVeaghEve McVeagh, born Eva Elizabeth McVeagh, was an American actress of film, television, stage, and radio. Born in Ohio, McVeagh moved to Los Angeles in 1923, where she started acting in theater in her teens. Her career spanned 52 years from her first stage role through her last stage appearance...
- Selma - Reva RoseReva RoseReva Rose is an American actress of stage and screen, best known for playing Lucy van Pelt in the Off-Broadway production of Clark Gesner's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.- Stage :...
- Mr. Clinton - Richard DerrRichard DerrRichard Derr was an American film and television actor.-Selected filmography:*Sex Hygiene *Joan of Arc *When Worlds Collide *Something to Live For *The Invisible Avenger...
- Flo - Honey Alden
- Wilfred - Tom Ahearne
Music
The soundtrack was performed by the British duo Chad & Jeremy with the music being composed by Chad Stuart for Sidewalk RecordsSidewalk Records
Sidewalk Records was a record label based in Hollywood, California that was started in 1963 by Mike Curb at the age of eighteen. The company was first formed as Sidewalk Productions and later became a subsidiary label of Capitol Records. Many recordings by Sidewalk Productions appeared on the...
.
Response
Three in the Attic was released to mixed reviews. Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film two stars and discussed the movie's inability to live up to the promise of its premise as its major flaw. He further noted Judy Pace's role as Eulice as one of the film's few highlights. Viewers on rogerebert.com gave the picture 3.5 stars. Variety gave the movie a very poor review, and stated that writer Stephen Yafa disowned the picture. The review cites amaturish acting and the fact that the movie is "littered with padding optical effects, hampered by uneven dramatic concept, and redundant in its too-delicious sex teasing" in its critic.
Film Location
Much of Three in the Attic was filmed at the University of North CarolinaUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
. The campus scenes depict Carolina's Polk Place
Polk Place
Polk Place was the home of 11th President of the United States James K. Polk. It was his final residence, and was demolished in 1900. His tomb was located here until 1893, when it was moved to the Tennessee State Capitol. It was located in Nashville, Tennessee. An iron fountain was preserved...
, Kenan Dorm, and the administrative South Building in particular.
The location for the Zeta Chi house is actually the Alpha Delta chapter house of Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega is a secret American leadership and social fraternity.The Fraternity has more than 250 active and inactive chapters, more than 200,000 initiates, and over 7,000 active undergraduate members. The 200,000th member was initiated in early 2009...
, located at 303 East Franklin Street
Franklin Street (Chapel Hill)
Franklin Street is a prominent thoroughfare in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Historic Franklin Street is considered the center of social life for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as the town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and it is home to numerous coffee shops, restaurants,...
in Chapel Hill. Scenes are shot in front of the house, in its Great Hall, and in the house's basement, also known as "The Cave."
An additional scene was also filmed in the attic of the Graham House at 115 Battle Lane, a few blocks from the Alpha Delta house.