HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Zee & Co The Terrible Trio
Year: 1972
Director: Brian G. Hutton
Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, Susannah York, Margaret Leighton, John Standing, Mary Larkin, Michael Cashman, Gino Melvazzi
Genre: DramaBuy from Amazon
Rating:  5 (from 1 vote)
Review: Married couple Zee (Elizabeth Taylor) and Robert (Michael Caine) are preparing to go out to a party held by one of their friends, Gladys (Margaret Leighton), but as usual their tempers are running high as they delight in aggravating each other. Robert would appear to be the more reasonable of the two, with his wife a garrulous, hot-blooded kind of woman who likes nothing more than being in control of her husband even if it makes him msierable - no, especially if it makes him miserable. It's not surprising he starts looking elsewhere for female company...

This was what British movies took to be a film for adults back in 1972, where frank dialogue, some of it strong language, was the order of the day to make the audience think they were watching something truly daring. Or maybe not, as most laughed this off the screen as if it were depicting a string of tantrums staged by people old enough and wise enough to know better, except that after a while this cinematic trainwreck did begin to appeal in its odd, daft way. It helped that Taylor was well into her series of movies that largely attracted lovers of sheer camp, and for those fans this was the crowning achievement of that period.

Subtlety was not on the agenda here as our leading lady tackled the plot as a bull in a china shop might tackle a dinner service, leaving the characters looking as if they'd been through a particularly rough time, not least the most sensitive member of the cast, Stella (Susannah York). It's love at first sight the moment Robert sets his eyes on her, so hoping for a brief fling as a breather from his tumultuous home life he chats her up and though she is sceptical at first, seeing through his lines, she allows herself to succumb to his charms. Almost immediately Zee has worked out what is going on and begun her machinations to bring down Stella's house of cards.

Stella is a young widow with twin sons at boarding school, runs a boutique and as Zee observes with spite, "Sees beauty in everything - especially SHIT!", making her fair game in both Robert and his wife's view, though with different aims in what they want to do with her. Taylor is fairly unbelievable here, not so much a force of nature as a human tornado, firing off dubious anecdotes (check out the one about the woman who breastfed her twins) and spitting out her lines like venom. Although to be fair Caine has his share of ridiculous moments as well, applying the raised voice to his dialogue on more than one occasion and even getting his own dubious anecdote about a "vicious" pet hamster.

Frankly it was bizarre, and it only continued in that fashion right up to the now semi-notorious ending where Zee takes her revenge at being abandoned by her spouse, a denouement that has its seeds sown the moment Stella admits she was thrown out of school for getting up to hanky panky with one of the nuns. Before that, it's true that the over the top melodrama does grow exhausting, and as if to acknowledge that director Brian G. Hutton (best known for that similarly touching relationship portrait Where Eagles Dare) and writer Edna O'Brien (adapting her own story with farcial results) dial down the histrionics in the second half as Zee almost goes too far. It's merely a hiatus before more yelling, of course, and Taylor, dressed in what look like voluminous sheets, playing blaring rock at every opportunity, drinking like a fish and bitching as if it were going out of fashion, would have made a memorable horror movie monster if we were not intended to be moved by the characters' plight. Which we are, if laughing counts as being moved. Music by Stanley Myers.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 4289 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
  Stuart Watmough
Paul Shrimpton
Darren Jones
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
   

 

Last Updated: