Verdict
Summary
Kino Lorber’s two-disc, four-film set Pete Walker: Crime Collection is presented in the best quality possible, all four films in nice high definition, in three different aspect ratios, as per each film’s proper format (1:33:1, 1:66:1, 1:78:1), and there’s a ton of bonus features, from audio commentaries, interviews (Walker is still alive and provided a ton of material), interviews with co-stars, cinematographers, and trailers. There’s enough material here to keep the casual fan going for hours. Overall, this was a fun set to work through as a viewer, and I’d happily recommend it for fans of exploitation fans and newcomers.
Cool It, Carol (1970) Plot:
A young couple moves to London with no money, and soon get caught up in the seedy adult entertainment world.
Review:
Joe (Robin Askwith) and Carol (Janet Lynn) are teenagers living in a small town in England, and they interact on a daily basis in and around the gas station Carol works at. He’s a little sweet on her, but so far their relationship is platonic. Carol wants to try modeling in London, and she convinces Joe to accompany her by train to help her out a little, and when Joe asks for a few days off, he gets fired instead. With nothing to lose and with just a few bucks in his pocket, he goes with Carol to London, and along the way on the train ride, Joe realizes that Carol is hot to trot and fancies him in ways he never could have hoped or dreamed. Now officially a couple, they rent a very cheap room in London and with a vague contact somewhere in the city, they bumble around aimlessly, hoping to find Carol some modeling work, despite not having a portfolio for her or knowing how any of it all works. Carol is so naive about modeling that she happily takes her clothes off in front of male receptionists without being prompted, which raises some eyebrows, but it also gets plenty of attention because, after all, she’s a very pretty girl and endowed with a body most women would die for and men would be more than eager to pay to see and enjoy. She soon lands herself nude modeling gigs, which very quickly leads her down an even seedier and more desperate path as she and Joe run out of money and become more willing to offer Carol up as a prostitute to scuzzy guys on the street … which leads to her basically having a pimp over the course of a weekend where she services strangers lining up around the block to have a chance to have sex with her. She’s so pretty and willing to give herself away that Joe as her “manager” stumbles into even more lurid opportunities for Carol (and him) to make porn movies together, which by some miracle turns into a goldmine as Carol is offered even more money to service very wealthy clients on a case-by-case basis. Simultaneously, Carol lands herself a very respectable contract as a legit model, working for one of the biggest modeling agencies in London, and having already been used and abused by just about every creep in town over the last few days, she and Joe call it quits while they’re ahead and go back home to work at the gas station again.
A pretty cynical and sad, but somehow innocent-seeming drama about the complete and utter loss of innocence and exploitation of beauty, Cool It, Carol (also known as The Dirtiest Girl I Ever Met) somehow works because of the way star Lynn manages to portray this pretty girl who’s willing to do absolutely anything to float by with her good-for-nothing boyfriend. It feels more or less pretty real, but the script lets them down a bit with some dialogue that ends up being forced on characters who admit very bluntly that they’re not happy and that this isn’t what they want with their lives after putting themselves through hell to just have enough to eat. Pete Walker seems to know and understand this sordid and sleazy world very well, and it’s very uncomfortable and gross at times, though star Lynn is a real gem of a gal and it’s a shame she allowed herself to be exploited (more or less) by Walker to tell this ugly little story.
Die Screaming, Marianne (1970) Plot:
A young woman in trouble marries a guy on a whim, leading to bad business.
Review:
Marianne (Susan George) flees her life and with a very attractive face and figure, she quickly rebounds with a stranger who picks her up after almost running her down on the road. The stranger is a pushy and unlikable guy named Sebastian (Christopher Sandford) who takes her home because she doesn’t protest, and two weeks later he declares himself in love with her and demands that they get married. Marianne, who has a troubled past she’s kept hidden from this guy she’s been living with for the past few weeks, reluctantly agrees, and they go to City Hall and say their vows while Sebastian’s friend Eli (Barry Evans) serves as their witness. When Marianne signs the papers, she signs Eli as her husband rather than Sebastian, which enrages Sebastian, who feels betrayed by her whim, but Eli is happily befuddled because Marianne is very pretty and hey: He’s now married to a babe! Eli takes her home because she now has nowhere to go (she walks out on Sebastian, who was a jerk), and they live together without Eli asking for a thing of her, and then they become an official couple. That’s when the penny drops: Marianne has been on the run from her sister and father, a corrupt judge, who has been trying to get Marianne to deliver some evidence she has that could potentially put him in prison. Her sister and father then use Sebastian to try to coax her back home, which means putting Eli in a position to be killed or something worse, as her sister and evil father will do anything to get Marianne to return what they believe could harm the family.
An interesting plot is sort of lost in the telling in Die Screaming, Marianne, a slow-build thriller / mystery that depends on your patience to understand how it all unfolds. George is great looking, but her character isn’t necessarily likable, so the film falters a bit as it unfolds. It’s a little long, too, which means that there are long stretches where nothing much happens. It feels like it could’ve made a more compelling novel than film, and Pete Walker’s script and direction are of interest in a way that makes the plot and twists somewhat unique, though it’s a potboiler in the style of a movie of the week rather than an exploitation-style film, which is ultimately is.
Moon (1969) Plot:
A debonair crook teams up with a buxom blonde to swindle Arabian gold before some crooked cops do.
Review:
Moon (Micahel Latimer) is a smooth operator, a debonair crook who cruises gay bars and strip clubs, sleeping with any man or woman if it means getting what he wants in terms of information that inches him closer to whatever objective is in his sights at the moment. Currently, he’s after a stash of Arabian gold that he gets wind of from a couple of dirty cops who have killed to get the location of said gold. Moon’s amorality lands him in the bed of a buxom blonde babe (played by Luan Peters) who seems to know where the gold is, but when she’s captured by the dirty cops for leverage, Moon has to get creative to get her back, but she’s not actually his top priority despite the fact that she’s in love with him, no: He’s far more keen on the gold.
Pete Walker’s riff on Bond is fairly low rent, but makes good use of its cast and locations, and it also gives the film’s bisexual character an Aston Martin to drive around in, which should clue you into the film’s obvious inspirations. It’s not nearly as ambitious as a run-of-the-mill Bond rip off, but it plays it cool and loose with its heavy emphasis on sex and nudity, of which the film has plenty of. Peters and various other great looking gals frequently appear in the nude, and while the film lacks “action,” it makes up for it with a plot heavy script that you really need to follow to stay invested. The film ends in such a way that there was no way they could do a sequel, which is sort of a shame.
The Big Switch (1968) Plot:
A handsome, single man is blackmailed and framed … so that he’ll appear in pornographic pictures.
Review:
Handsome, eligible bachelor John Carter (Sebastian Breaks) lives on the edge, always courting danger, but all he’s really interested in is self-preservation and pleasure. He’s a hedonist, in other words. When an attractive young woman he barely knows is murdered by a hitman, Carter’s fingerprints are planted on the gun, and brought into the inner sanctum of a league of pornographers that have (for whatever reason) targeted him to participate in a pornographic set of pictures. Apparently, he’s that handsome, and now that he realizes that he’s being framed, he takes the offensive and tries to fight back. He takes a couple of girls with him, girls who are in basically the same position as he is in, but much more vulnerable, and with a squad of goons working for the pornographers, Carter has an uphill battle to survive the day.
From exploitation filmmaker Pete Walker, who was able to make little look like a lot with plenty of classy nudity, action, and a good music score that makes it seem like this is a 007-type of film, The Big Switch is basic, but a reliable little genre film that keep you interested from the start. I can’t say I’ll remember much of it later on, but I enjoyed it well enough while I was watching, so what’s to complain about?
Kino Lorber’s two-disc, four-film set Pete Walker: Crime Collection (#29 in their Kino Cult line) is presented in the best quality possible, all four films in nice high definition, in three different aspect ratios, as per each film’s proper format (1:33:1, 1:66:1, 1:78:1), and there’s a ton of bonus features, from audio commentaries, interviews (Walker is still alive and provided a ton of material), interviews with co-stars, cinematographers, and trailers. There’s enough material here to keep the casual fan going for hours. Overall, this was a fun set to work through as a viewer, and I’d happily recommend it for fans of exploitation fans and newcomers.
