(1973/USA)
Reviewed By-Kit Gavin Directed by Carl Monson Starring Frank Bannon, John Kirkpatric, Sandi Carey, Con Convert, and Sharon Kelly. Released through: Something Weird/ Image [United States] Region 1 NTSC
From start to finish, A SCREAM IN THE STREETS is filled with sleazy images and vignettes, loosely following a paper thin storyline surrounding two police officers, Bob Streeker [Bannon] and Ed "Iron Balls" Haskell [Kirkpatric], based in Los Angeles, and the various sleazy criminals, freaks, weirdoes and pervs, they find lurking in the metropolis. The cops both have a different approach and style too, one is happily married living a quiet middle class suburban lifestyle outside of his job, and the other is ball busting and frequently causes problems for his partner, searching without a warrant or arresting without reading rights. From the outset of the film, we know we are in for a sleazy trashy ride, with an attractive mini-skirted girl fleeing from her attacker, a mad cackling transvestite, who gives chase before catching up with his victim, raping her and then killing her – in broad daylight, screaming at her "I hate women! You’re all dirty!" as he doe the deed.. Although so blatantly obviously not a woman, complete with stubble and dreadful wig, this transvestite killer who remains nameless throughout the film, still manages to convince women that he is indeed one.
Other sleazy scenes include an ugly middle aged pervert who visits a prostitute (claiming to be a masseuse) and starts to beat her with his belt a part of the foreplay ritual with perhaps a little too much zeal. A small time crook murders a grocery store owner, amazingly gets given bail, and ends up being forced to drive off a cliff! A voyeur watches a couple of dope smokers having sex (the oral sex doesn’t look simulated!). Also there a couple of bored housewives who take up lesbianism whilst their husbands are out at work. All of this intermixed with much and plentiful female nudity and sex scenes in it’s 90 minutes running time. None the less this is 70’s exploitation cinema, not high art by any stretch, and as a result should be enjoyed for what it is, before women’s lib and political correctness started to rear it’s ugly head in movies.
Director Carl Monson made only a handful of films as a director and, including this one, three have seen releases through Something Weird, and a fourth, BOOBY TRAP which he associate produced, has been released alongside his THE TAKERS. One of Monson’s most well-known features is PLEASE DON’T EAT MY MOTHER, his own variant on "The Little Shoppe of Horrors" which starred the luscious Rene Bond. With A SCREAM IN THE STREETS he has pretty much directed a full feature length stag movie, interspersed with a vague detective story of two cops doing their jobs, arresting lowlife and trying to locate a murderer. On the storyline front the film sags, it could snugly fit into 25 minutes, however as exploitation sleaze, it excels. There is a bizarre moment where the film is shot split screen, with the rapist and the cop, and such dubious artistic quality seems to be almost out of place for the rest of the film. Dialogue for these sort of films are rarely important but there are some laugh out loud awfully scripted moments – including some of the worst chat up lines ever.
Leads Frank Bannon and John Kirkpatric seem to have been one hit wonders with this film, not having gone on to pursue acting careers, and certainly not having appeared in any other movies. There are a few exploitation actresses in the film but most of the cast seems to have either vanished into obscurity or moved into roles behind the camera, including one member having gone on to do stunts for JAWS 2. Most of the male cast members don’t look like professional actors of any sort, and the female members look like they were picked purely because they had done nudity before or because of ther attractive figures, or both. Amongst the familiar faces are Sandy Carey who appeared in plentiful exploitation pictures before and afterwards including movies for Doris Wishman. Con Convert, who seemed to make a career in the 1970’s of playing transvestite roles and here is no exception, where he plays the nasty Transvestite rapist who opens the movie. Also in a small role as a police phone operator is Sharon Kelly, an attractive feisty buxom redhead actress who appeared in many exploitation films, before turning to a hardcore career in the mid 1980’s under the name of Colleen Brennan and then, sadly, vanishing. Kelly was a popular actress on the exploitation circuit, having worked with Russ Meyer in Supervixens, and played the title role in THE DIRTY MIND OF YOUNG SALLY, as well as an appearance as one of the harem girls in ILSA HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHEIKS. Even in her softcore movies, this one being no exception, Kelly’s sex scenes were considerably stronger than most actresses were prepared to go, and occasionally glimpses of her private parts could and can be seen.
I believe that this release through Image and Something Weird has come from the original elements for the film, rather than having been taken from a print which seems to be the norm for a large selection of discs by Something Weird (complete with scratches, splices, speckles, etc). Presented in full frame format, this release really sparkles, with bright vibrant colors, and there only seem to be a few markings scattered through the release. The film is also presented fully uncut, as it has apparently seen several releases in the United States in cut versions on VHS, and was released in the UK uncut, but as a "pre-certification" video so any original cassettes of this release are going to be over 20 years old (!!). Apparantly the film has been re-released in the UK in a heavily cut version, cut by close to 15 minutes, which sounds like it is best avoided. This DVD release is clearly the way to go! Soundtrack is clean, presented in original mono.
Once again, Something Weird have excelled in the extras department, releasing a plethora of goodies, which although not strictly related to the main feature tie in quite nicely with it. There is a strange and amusing short/public information film called "Crime in the Streets" featuring a young Chuck Norris (presumably shot in the early 70’s) instructing a karate class and afterwards answering banal questions on self defence. Next up is a moronic short, in absolutely awful condition, covered in scratches, leaps and jumps, that very fact makes the experience of watching it a cross between laugh out loud and torture on the eyes. Entitled "Caught in the Can" it is about a couple of goons who have dressed up as hookers, and end up in the slammer with a couple of real whores. However the girls happily decide to strip and engage in some fun with the two dragged up phony whores. And there is another short movie, "The Prowler", not related in anyway shape or form to the film of the same title by Joe Zito, and featuring effects by Tom Savini. This is a black and white little feature about a burglar, the "prowler" of the title, a rather intimidating looking individual (I think not) being pursued by the cops. Also, most something Weird DVDs include in someway or form some burlesque or striptease, and this release is no exception, including an originally entitled black and white feature called "A Strip in the Streets".
Also on the disc there is a healthy selection of trailers for various US drive-in oddball releases, many of which are never likely to see the light of day. That is my one gripe with Something Weird, I love watching the trailers and you really want to see the films, such as LOVE TOY, PROSTITUTES PROTECTIVE SOCIETY (just for the title alone) and ANN AND EVE. Something Weird here have included the original trailer for this wonderfully sleazy little movie and 11 other movies, all loosely related to the title. Also included are the poster and exploitation art galleries which appear in most every DVD released by Something Weird, full of pressbook art, and admats a plenty, for titles by producer extraordinaire Harry Novak. As well as this there is a gallery of 10 x 8 stills. Mostly nude publicity shots. Rounding off the extras is a bizarre little feature, called "Harry Novak Crime Stopper", shot on video featuring Harry Novak pulling out a rifle, after having shown off his firearms (which would make Michael Moore squirm, when Something Weird head honcho Mike Vraney and friends pay a visit to his offices, and Novak learns that a video store hasn’t paid for some DVDs. Something Weird indeed!!
Audio: 4 BITCH SLAPS Video: 4 BITCH SLAPS Extras: 3.5 BITCH SLAPS Story: 2.5 BITCH SLAPS Overall: 3 BITCH SLAPS
