Shock Treatment (1964)

hyped garbage

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Despite the almost universal thumbs-down on this movie from professional critics, I think that thriller fans will find it reasonably entertaining. Admittedly, the movie has faults, but I don't blame the script so much as the direction. True, the plot strands and twists are very familiar. Indeed, "hackneyed" might be a better term. And some of the dialog doesn't ring true. But all told, I think Boehm has penned a reasonably exciting and suspenseful script, peopled with reasonably interesting characters and moving at a fairly fast pace. Unfortunately, the script's effectiveness has been whittled down by slack and inefficient direction. Worse still, the version I saw was at times almost impossible to follow due to jump cuts and lack of continuity. And where it is not glaringly inept, the direction is at best routine. Lauren Bacall has a role in which she would seem to be ideally cast, but she muffs it and is content to walk though the film just reciting her lines. Her close-ups are a disaster. She looks haggard. Whitman plays the hero with his customary competence, but the real acting high points are left to Roddy McDowall. Ossie Davis is also a stand-out. Carol Lynley is effective in a typical role.

Stuart Whitman is seen in a classical acting role and recruited to play a very rough part: He is to be paid for feigning insanity and being committed to psychiatric hospital. The goal is to learn more about a character played by Roddy McDowell, who is confined there.Whitman is excellent, as is McDowell. The latter develops a bit of an unstated crush on the former. So does Carol Lynley, who has a very small role for the major billing she gets.The plot revolves around psychiatrist and researcher Lauren Bacall. This character could give Dr. Caligari a run for his money.It's not hough art but i's exciting and suspenseful. And the acting is excellent all around.

SHOCK TREATMENT has a delicious hook: an actor is hired to impersonate a lunatic so he can be put in an institution and become friends with a lunatic killer who just happens to know where a lot of money is hidden. Of course, there are all sorts of complications, primarily head psychiatrist Lauren Bacall, who also has her eye on the money and figures out the actor's game. Not a bad set up, but the script is full of holes and lame dialogue and the direction is lackluster. But Bacall, as a precursor to Nurse Ratched, is a hoot as the villain and gets to administer shock treatment to the actor (Stuart Whitman) to try to break him! The ending isn't bad either, a couple of reversals and a nice battle with a pitch fork. This is one to watch with one eye closed on a rainy afternoon, which is just about how I caught in on Fox Movie Channel. In her autobiography, Bacall refers to the film as "truly tacky." She's right on target, both in her performance and her critique!

This movie is one of those that's great to watch in the dark with popcorn, on a rainy night, or come to think of it, pretty much anytime. The actors are great, and the mood is very intense. Whitman was early in his career, McDowell does his usual stellar work, and Lauren Bacall gives one of her best performances as someone who belongs in the asylum, not running it. This is a great old flick that deserves a lot more recognition that it gets. If you watch it, and like it, tell others about it so the word can be spread. This deserves to be released on DVD if it hasn't already, and should be mentioned with the other great Hollywood thrillers.