Scientist / researcher Dr. Mercer Boley (Cornel Wilde) and his daughter Diana (Jennifer Salt), a photographer, tour the Southwest to research a book Dr. Boley is writing on Demonology. Their first stop is at a roadside attraction owned and operated by Uncle Willie (Woody Chambliss), who shows Dr. Boley and Diana what he claims is the actual skeleton of a gargoyle, an ancient race of creatures sent to earth by Satan to do his bidding. At first believing the skeleton is fake, Dr. Boley and Diana have a change of heart when Willie’s “Desert Museum” is attacked from the air… by gargoyles!
As father and daughter scramble to find a safe place to hide, the lead gargoyle (Bernie Casey) and his minions are doing what they can to track the good doctor down, all the while protecting their eggs, which, once hatched, could result in gargoyles becoming the dominant species on earth.
Not all of the make-up effects in Gargoyles are perfect. Some of the creatures look exactly like what they are – actors in a suit. Bernie Casey’s gargoyle, however, is damn near flawless, and the combination of his sinister appearance and creepy-as-hell voice (enhanced by a sort of echo effect) helped land Winston his first ever major award, a 1973 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup (which he shared with Del Armstrong and Ellis Burmen Jr.).
Along with its monsters, Gargoyles features several stand-out moments, all of which enhance the inherent horror in its story. I was especially impressed by a nighttime scene in which Dr. Boley and Diana are speeding away from Willie’s museum, only to be attacked by a gargoyle that had dropped onto the roof of their car, tearing it to pieces as its potential victims attempt to shake it loose. Equally strong is a sequence in which two gargoyles track Boley to a roadside motel and surprise him and Diana as they are lying in bed. And while the final showdown in the gargoyle’s lair, situated deep in a desert cave, is hit-and-miss (on their home turf, the creatures just don’t seem as threatening), it does end the movie on an exciting note.
The performances are quite good. Wilde and Salt make for likable leads, but its Woody Chambliss (as the nearly-senile Willie) and Casey (as the evil gargoyle) who steal their respective scenes. Also appearing is a young Scott Glenn, who plays Reeger, a biker who agrees to help Dr. Boley during a key scene in the movie's final act.
All this, plus the film’s frantic pace and Robert Prince’s effective (if slightly overused) musical score, helped turn Gargoyles into one the most memorable TV horror movies of the seventies.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Throw in a screenplay penned by the great Samuel Fuller, and you have a movie firing on all cylinders, a gritty crime drama with a splash of romance.
Jenny Marsh (Patricia Knight) has just been paroled from prison, where she served five years for murder. Her parole officer, Griff Marat (Cornel Wilde), is tough on Jenny, but helps get her life back on track, setting Jenny up with a new job and a place to stay.
Things take a turn for the worse when Jenny’s old flame, gambler Harry Wesson (John Baragrey), comes calling. Harry was the reason Jenny ended up in prison (she shot a man to protect him), yet she still loves the sap.
Hoping to keep the two apart, Griff hires Jenny to act as caretaker for his blind mother (Esther Minciotti). Before long, Griff and Jenny develop feelings for one another, but will a jilted Harry allow the two to live happily ever after, or does he have a plan to break them up once and for all?
Knight and Wilde, who were actually married at the time this movie was made, both deliver strong performances; the tension that exists between their characters in the opening scene, when Griff is laying out the rules for Jenny’s parole, slowly dissipates as they spend more time together, and we hope Jenny will dump Harry and stay with Griff.
Then something happens that sends the story off in another direction, with Griff doing things he never imagined he would, all in an effort to keep Jenny from returning to prison. While Sirk works his magic in the films first half, building the relationship between his two main characters, Fuller’s knack for drumming up tension comes into play in the second half, and because we were witnesses to their blossoming romance, we root like hell for Griff and Jenny when things go south, even when they’re breaking the law.
I wasn’t too wild about the ending (which, apparently, was re-written, much to Sirk’s and Fuller’s dismay), but Shockproof still proved to be the perfect blending of writer and director, taking on the distinct personalities of both to deliver a movie that will tug at your heartstrings one minute and drag you to the edge of your seat the next.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Story-wise, though, this 1945 film is far from exquisite, relating a tale of desire, obsession, even murder in a way that is guaranteed to shake you. Leave Her to Heaven is a motion picture you won’t soon forget.
Following a chance encounter on a train, writer Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) and rich girl Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) quickly fall in love. Ellen goes so far as to break her engagement to lawyer Russell Quinton (Vincent Price) so that she and Richard can be married.
Living together at Richard’s lakeside lodge (known as “The Back of the Moon”), the lovers are happy for a while. But Ellen’s jealousy soon overcomes her, and she seeks to destroy every other relationship in Richard’s life. Nobody is safe from her wrath, not Richard’s handicapped brother Danny (Darryl Hickman) or Ellen’s own adopted sister Ruth (Jeanne Crain), and even the couple’s unborn child proves a potential threat!
Across the board, the performances in Leave Her to Heaven are adequate at best. Though nominated for an Academy Award, Tierney is merely serviceable as the out-of-control Ellen, while Wilde, Crain, and the rest are satisfactory, though not spectacular (the lone stand-out is Vincent Price as the jilted lover / attorney, whose role is expanded later in the film).
Where Leave Her to Heaven distinguishes itself is in its presentation (there is striking imagery throughout), which is contrasted at all times by the bleak nature of its story. On the surface, Ellen appears to be the perfect wife. She supports Richard in his writing endeavors, and helps take care of his invalid brother Danny. But time and again, Tierney and director John Stahl clue us in on the fact that Ellen is a very selfish person, and does not intend to share her husband with anyone; a scene set on the lake, when Danny is swimming as Ellen looks on in a rowboat, is as dark as they come.
Mixing elements of melodrama and film noir, Leave Her to Heaven feels like the perfect mix of Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows) and Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity), and while the final scenes are borderline ludicrous (the courtroom sequence at the end raises more questions than it answers), the blending of gorgeous visuals and dark themes carries Leave Her to Heaven to an entirely other level.
Rating: 9 out of 10