Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Roger Vadim

Writers:

Francis Pollini (novel)
Gene Roddenberry (writer)

Release Date:

12 July 1971 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

A good football coach can get away with murder.

Plot:

In a California high school, a married teacher is the athletic coach and faculty advisor. He starts...

Plot Keywords:

California | Sex | Teacher | High School | Female Nudity

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	Michael 'Tiger' McDrew
Angie Dickinson	...	Miss Betty Smith
Telly Savalas	...	Captain Sam Surcher
John David Carson	...	Ponce de Leon Harper
Roddy McDowall	...	Mr. Proffer
Keenan Wynn	...	Chief John Poldaski
James Doohan	...	Follo
William Campbell	...	Grady
Susan Tolsky	...	Miss Harriet Craymire
Barbara Leigh	...	Jean McDrew
Gretchen Parsons Carpenter	...	Marjorie (as Gretchen Burrell)
Aimée Eccles	...	Hilda Lee
JoAnna Cameron	...	Yvonne Millick
Margaret Markov	...	Polly
June Fairchild	...	Sonny Swangle

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:18 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

'Cybill Sheppard' was offered a role but turned it down. It would have been her feature debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Sunny Swingle records her message for Tiger, the reel of tape is near the end, but when Ponce plays it back, it is near the beginning.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tommy Boy (1995)

Soundtrack:

CHILLY WINDS

Wow! Excellent film!

Wow! What an intelligent film! Roger Vadim (director) and Gene Roddenberry (screen writer) take what could have been a teen titillation flick and mold it smoothly into a tense psychological drama.

The film moves from innocent voyeurism to chilling unconscionable murder.

Michael "Tiger" McDrew (Rock Hudson) is the school psychologist who encourages boys via sports and girls via sex. He is an ex-football hero who status as a national icon gives him a sense of invulnerability.

His downfall starts when his female students want more from him than just sexual favors. One by one, the girls profess their love for him and their desire to be his wife. There's only problem, his off campus life includes a lovely wife (Barbara Leigh) and young daughter (Stephanie Mizrahi).

So, one by one, his "pretty maids" start showing up on campus dead. Telly Savalas (Captain Sam Surcher) is superb as the investigator. Check out his lieutenant, Follo (James Doohan).

The second story line, in which awkward student, and `Tiger' McDrew protégé, Ponce De Leon Harper (John David Carson) comes of age with the help of his teacher Miss Betty Smith (a GORGEOUS Angie Dickinson), is handled in a sweet and sensitive manner.

The film is clever from start to finish and the ending suggests a sequel, which to my knowledge, never came to be.