One Shocking Moment (USA, 1965) 71 min B&W DIR-SCR: Ted V. Mikels. PROD: Mark Brown, Ted V. Mikels. MUSIC: Nicholas Carras. DOP: Gregory Sandor. CAST: Gary Kent, Lee Anna, Verné Martine, Victor Izay.
A gripping tale of morals from auteur Ted V. Mikels! (Now that I have your attention…)
This curious nudie picture is an early directorial credit for Grade Z visionary Mikels, and a much more sober film than his later efforts of Astro-Zombies and The Corpse Grinders, for which he is better known. This tale of disintegrating suburban mores concerns the exploits of Cliff (Gary Kent) and Mindy (Lee Anna), who move to another city after his big promotion, and soon fall prey to the debauchery of two swinging gals who work down at the local peeler bar (one of them conveniently lives across the hall). The film opens titillatingly enough (as tantalizing as this flick gets, anyway) with Cliff getting it on with some as yet unknown woman, only to be interrupted by a spiked heel crushing his sweaty hand. Then we are whisked back to the past to understand how our couple spiralled down to this stage.
Although this flick was no doubt made solely for the raincoat crowd (with ample cut-ins of anonymous breast grabbing to keep those poor old horny guys interested), this sordid picture indirectly succeeds in capturing the high-rolling crowd’s suburban ennui, circa 1965. Although the characterizations are rather calculated (ie- written with little means to change their lives or defend themselves), they do however recall the era’s unfortunate sexism, in the objectification of females as property or a plaything. Cliff, for instance, makes remarks about his neighbour’s attractiveness… right in front of his poor wife! And later, after Mindy is “liberated” by the bisexual neighbour, and far from innocent herself, she gets back at husband by performing a drunken striptease at a party, which becomes equally embarrassing and sad.
Despite the crude production values (many scenes underlit; the canned soundtrack accentuating the heavy breathing to make this innocuous picture seem like a roughie), this somehow succeeds as a bitter portrait of executive life, where people in long, lonely alcoholic fogs are easily susceptible to ways of the flesh to relieve their stifling existences. Finally, the film creaks along to the scene where it opened, in which the interruption of Cliff’s tryst finally forces our characters realize how far they have descended.
And yet, instead of an expected wrap-up where we see Cliff and Mindy “being good”, we end on a Glen or Glenda montage, with plenty of underexposed freeway scenes, as the tired narrator offers that this picture should serve as a lesson about people escaping their ill repute, but ends with, “maybe some people won’t want to”. A bizarre touch to a turgid, but not uninteresting movie. Postscript: This review is based on my viewing of the Something Weird VHS tape. The movie has since been re-issued on DVD, and in a bright, clean restoration for streaming on byNWR‘s website. However my reactions are influenced by the circumstances under which I viewed it. The canned sound and dark cinematography (muddying much of Greg Sandor’s work) were products of the VHS transfer, which however enhanced the sordid material. In this case, the medium definitely was the message.
