Reviews

With an inane plot, moronic script, half-assed directing, and, worst of all, inept acting -- in a word, CHEEZY -- you have to question why a movie like this even exists. The quick answer is sexploitation, of course, but then why not just pile on the sex, instead of complicating it with (a) a noir cliche like the crusading public servant falling into moral dissolution, (b) the enigmatic Christoid character from another plane of reality, whose name, Sam Silver, is a takeoff on the director's name? This dud was in the theater for one week before it disappeared, and when I went I was the only person in the audience! To see this was slumming and it was a guilty pleasure like junk food. The only reason I remember it is because of the unexplained pretentiousness of inserting an ill-fitting note of profundity in the person of Sam Silver, and especially, the presence of Elena Sahagun, a very beautiful and underappreciated actress. It was worth the price of admission just to see her prancing in sexy white lingerie. Please, someone, give her a major role in a well-directed quality film and let her shine. She deserves much better!

It's a brilliant film and left me utterly fascinated. I'm going to see it again to make sure I take in more of the details that Kubrick so carefully arranged. Notice how he gives us a clue to the identity of the Mystery Woman. Kubrick masks her face and frames her so that we can recognize her by the outstanding profile of her bare breast, which was shown from the same angle in an earlier scene. I don't think this idea has ever been tried before. A true original!