Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)(A COLD WIND IN AUGUST -1961- B+W, widescreen) - Filmed shortly after the cancellation of TV's popular and ground-breaking gangster noir-ish 'Peter Gunn', co-star Lola Albright ('Joy House', 'Lord Love a Duck', 'The Monolith Monster') shines as a stripper and former prostitute who seduces and ultimately falls for an impressionable working-class seventeen year-old boy who happens to be the building superintendent's son, who comes to fix her sink pipe and sticks around to check out the rest of her plumbing. They tumble hot and heavy for each other, acting out their romance in full public view, which was only mildly shocking to some back in those days (today, it's mandatory jail time and sexual predator status for the rest of your life along with a social pariah tag and unemployable character listing on your resume, but back then it was simply "robbing the cradle" and warranted mere gossip from the neighborhood jealous fat moms in housecoats and hair rollers - I ain't sayin' it's right, I'm just sayin'). Boy, we've come a long way, but I'm not certain I'd call it 'progress'. (When I was a kid, almost every boy in my school and on my block had a crush on an older woman somewhere - a teacher, a housewife, a friends mom, a department store saleswoman - but it wasn't considered 'criminal behavior' whether you were the subject or the subjectee. It's a double-standard, I know, because I think men who lust after young girls are creepy degenerates...). I'm certain this is the reason why this flick has never seen daylight before this limited MGM release.
Scott Marlowe is competent as the 17 year-old who hangs around with his buds and girlfriends in alleyways and streets of what appears to be New York City, and has a great relationship with his father, who knows of his affair with 'the Madonna', as he refers to her, and never tries to discourage the relationship, he sees it as part of growing up, and the absence of a mother is probably one of the reasons, or so we're kinda led to believe. But Lola has a sleazeball ex, a sugar daddy in the form of Herschel Bernardi (also of 'Peter Gunn' fame), and a serious drinking problem, so things get complicated rather quickly. She isn't a bad person, she does favors for other women in the building, she's rather pitiable in fact - to help her ex from getting knee-capped by the mob, she agrees to go back to stripping for a week at a downtown dive, and don't you know Scott's friends decide to go to the joint to see the fresh meat and quickly report back to Scott, who's reluctant to believe them. Well, seeing is believing, and after he witnesses the stage show, is understandably crushed. Now he puts two and two together and realizes that Bernardi is more than a 'friend', and feels like a fool. Youth has a way of recovering quickly however, and before you know it, Scott is back with his own age group and a local girl, and poor Lola is forever forlorn. Such is life in the cruel daylight hours of the Naked City in this part cautionary tale, part True Romance saga, and part sexploitation timepiece from director Alexander Singer.
Lola Albright is superb in the role; it's only 80 minutes long and flies by, so it must have something going for it. It's tawdry, enjoyable trash, if nothing else. If it had nudity, it would be one of the best 'Something Weird Video' nudie film classics from the 60's. For what it was, I enjoyed it, but I like Lola, the rest of you will have to decide for yourself based on these disclosures. 'A Cold Wind In August' has some torrid steamy moments...
Click Here to see more reviews about: A Cold Wind In August (MGM Limited Edition Collection)
Click here for more information about A Cold Wind In August (MGM Limited Edition Collection)
0 comments:
Post a Comment