Post by petrolino on May 11, 2018 22:00:42 GMT
In the sordid mystery 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?', disc jockey Norah Dain (Juliet Prowse) is routinely investigated by Lieutenant Dave Madden (Jan Murray) when she reports some obscene phone calls she's been receiving to her local police department.
The fuzzy psychodrama 'Who Killed Teddy Bear? is a small independent film about the seamier side of urban life. It's a New York story filmed out on location, with music from Four Seasons member Charles Calello of Newark, New Jersey. The narrative details events in the life of discotheque princess Norah Dain, dirty cop Dave Madden, ripped busboy Lawrence Sherman (Sal Mineo), play actress Edie Sherman (Margot Bennett) and club owner Marian Freeman (Elaine Stritch).
'Who Killed Teddy Bear?' is a progressive piece of pulp fiction that delves deep inside its sexually charged psychodrama. Cinematographer Joseph Brun frequently reflects small happenings through fragments and shards of the frame, harnessing extreme angles to chart movements, some of which are captured using blurred lenses and foggy optics. Fevered dancefloor action hurls the spirit of rock 'n roll into rhythm 'n blues, creating a theoretical collision the kids are only too happy to get dance crazy to.
Two years after filming 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?', actor Sal Mineo narrated filmmaker Max Miller's startling wake-up call 'LSD : Insight Or Insanity?' (1967). Mineo is called upon to explain teenage girls' fashions, styles and need to belong to a hip scene besieged by hallucinogenic drug peddlers. A scientific study follows (Sonny Bono narrated Miller's 1968 follow-up film 'Marijuana').
'Who Killed Teddy Bear?' is a jarring entry in the New York crime cycle that surely influenced Clint Eastwood's critically acclaimed directorial debut 'Play Misty For Me' (1971). If you like films like 'Sorry, Wrong Number' (1948), 'Black Christmas' (1976), 'When A Stranger Calls' (1979) and 'Lisa' (1989), not to mention Philip Leacock's landmark television movie 'When Michael Calls' (1972), perhaps you might appreciate 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?' Director Joseph Cates is the older brother of director Gilbert Cates.
"I'm suggesting it could be somebody you know. Nobody's in violet, including virgins."
Jayne Mansfield takes a break during the filming of Joseph Cates' The Fat Spy' (1966)
'Woman's Gotta Have It' - Bobby Womack (born March 4, 1944, Cleveland, Ohio)
Jayne Mansfield takes a break during the filming of Joseph Cates' The Fat Spy' (1966)
'Woman's Gotta Have It' - Bobby Womack (born March 4, 1944, Cleveland, Ohio)
The fuzzy psychodrama 'Who Killed Teddy Bear? is a small independent film about the seamier side of urban life. It's a New York story filmed out on location, with music from Four Seasons member Charles Calello of Newark, New Jersey. The narrative details events in the life of discotheque princess Norah Dain, dirty cop Dave Madden, ripped busboy Lawrence Sherman (Sal Mineo), play actress Edie Sherman (Margot Bennett) and club owner Marian Freeman (Elaine Stritch).
"The film itself is a powder keg of beautifully moody B&W cinematography and the grimy underbelly of the human condition. The opening credit sequence alone sets the tone, featuring a blurry undulation of bodies as a little girl watches, clutching her cherished teddy bear. She turns away, only to fall down the stairs, with her face now suddenly blank, as if she is dead or brain damaged. Without a breath of relief, the actual film starts in a cramped, shadowy bedroom, complete with a nightstand littered with lurid publications, featuring titles like French Frills and When She Was Bad. A mirror reflects the image of a man caressing his bare chest while looking at photos of Norah, right before calling her up.
The elements of sleaze continue as Norah encounters police Lieutenant Dave Madden (Jan Murray), a single dad whose fascination with all manners of sexual deviancy infects his home life. (At one point, one of his coworkers mentions how Dave’s young daughter talks like a “vice squad officer.”) Even Norah’s boss, the glamorous ball buster Marian (Elaine Stritch), comes across like an uneasy mixture of maternal and less than pure motive. We even get some now-historic footage of a seamier New York City, with the highlight being Lawrence’s jaunt to an adult bookstore. Seeing shelves lined with girlie mags and books ranging from Fanny Hill, William S. Burroughs Naked Lunch, Hubert Selby Jr.‘s Last Exit to Brooklyn to more purple prose titles like Dance Hall Dyke and My Naughty, Naughty Life is a much beloved peek into the pre-gentrification and Disneyfication of Times Square. 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?' is a brave film that gives you no easy answers."
- Heather Drain, Dangerous Minds
The elements of sleaze continue as Norah encounters police Lieutenant Dave Madden (Jan Murray), a single dad whose fascination with all manners of sexual deviancy infects his home life. (At one point, one of his coworkers mentions how Dave’s young daughter talks like a “vice squad officer.”) Even Norah’s boss, the glamorous ball buster Marian (Elaine Stritch), comes across like an uneasy mixture of maternal and less than pure motive. We even get some now-historic footage of a seamier New York City, with the highlight being Lawrence’s jaunt to an adult bookstore. Seeing shelves lined with girlie mags and books ranging from Fanny Hill, William S. Burroughs Naked Lunch, Hubert Selby Jr.‘s Last Exit to Brooklyn to more purple prose titles like Dance Hall Dyke and My Naughty, Naughty Life is a much beloved peek into the pre-gentrification and Disneyfication of Times Square. 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?' is a brave film that gives you no easy answers."
- Heather Drain, Dangerous Minds
Anne Francis & John Kerr in Joseph Cates' 'Girl Of The Night' (1960)
'Get Into Something' - The Isley Brothers of Cincinnati, Ohio
'Who Killed Teddy Bear?' is a progressive piece of pulp fiction that delves deep inside its sexually charged psychodrama. Cinematographer Joseph Brun frequently reflects small happenings through fragments and shards of the frame, harnessing extreme angles to chart movements, some of which are captured using blurred lenses and foggy optics. Fevered dancefloor action hurls the spirit of rock 'n roll into rhythm 'n blues, creating a theoretical collision the kids are only too happy to get dance crazy to.
Two years after filming 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?', actor Sal Mineo narrated filmmaker Max Miller's startling wake-up call 'LSD : Insight Or Insanity?' (1967). Mineo is called upon to explain teenage girls' fashions, styles and need to belong to a hip scene besieged by hallucinogenic drug peddlers. A scientific study follows (Sonny Bono narrated Miller's 1968 follow-up film 'Marijuana').
"Who Killed Teddy Bear?, the 1965 cult classic, only recently had its first UK screening. It wasn't banned, as such, rather rejected outright by British censors at the time of its release. Every frame is imbued with a glorious sleazy quality that rendered it impossible to cut. Forty years later it can still shock, more for its ahead-of-the-curve qualities."
- Phelim O'Neill, The Guardian
Juliet Prowse & Sal Mineo in 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?'
- Phelim O'Neill, The Guardian
Juliet Prowse & Sal Mineo in 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?'
'Give The People What They Want' - The O'Jays of Canton, Ohio
'Who Killed Teddy Bear?' is a jarring entry in the New York crime cycle that surely influenced Clint Eastwood's critically acclaimed directorial debut 'Play Misty For Me' (1971). If you like films like 'Sorry, Wrong Number' (1948), 'Black Christmas' (1976), 'When A Stranger Calls' (1979) and 'Lisa' (1989), not to mention Philip Leacock's landmark television movie 'When Michael Calls' (1972), perhaps you might appreciate 'Who Killed Teddy Bear?' Director Joseph Cates is the older brother of director Gilbert Cates.
Go Cavs!
