Stanley (1972)

I'll tell you why so serious

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This one is about a Native American Vietnam vet who is suffering from post-traumatic stress. He lives alone in the middle of the Florida Everglades with a collection of pet snakes. Soon, he and his favoured pet Stanley start biting back at local undesirables who have wronged him.Stanley is another product from b-movie producers Crown International Pictures. It's one of those films from the period that focuses on the horror of animals attacking people, although admittedly in this case it's more a case of a disturbed human actively encouraging his creatures to attack. Whatever the case, it's the snakes which are the main draw here with plenty of interesting footage throughout; although be warned that there is one scene where it looked to me at least like a snake was battered to death off the floor by our protagonist, while on another occasion we are treated to a snake slowly eating a mouse which wasn't exactly very pleasant. Yet, despite these shock scenes, this is not really the scariest of films unless, or course, you have a phobia of snakes, in which case I'm sure it'll be unbearable.It's not a bad film, although it's too long for what it is, clocking in at over 100 minutes. Consequently, it drags a bit in places. If it wasn't for this it would be more effective for sure. The central idea is distinctive enough to be memorable though and it does have occasional bizarre sequences such as a strip-tease act where the climax has the woman biting the head off a snake! Then there is Alex Rocco's character's demise in a swimming pool, which is to say the least memorably hilarious. On the whole, not a bad film; almost good in fact but it just falls short.

Nah, in all seriousness this movie is exactly like "Willard" with the substitution of snakes for rats. Neither movie is what you would call realistic, however, I have to say trained rats are a bit more believable than trained poisonous snakes. This movie features a guy who is supposedly a Seminole Indian, though it took someone else saying this in the movie before I knew this fact as the guy looks nothing like an Indian, nor does he act much like one. He also does not act much like a former soldier, but he apparently was serving in Vietnam only a few months earlier. Well he is the type of guy now who likes to capture snakes and make them his friends, cause he can not stand man anymore. Well I can sympathize with his not caring for being around people much as I do not care for being around people much either, but to make friends with snakes? No thanks, not only snakes though, but rather venomous ones. Gee Tim (the main character), why not have a few komodo dragons a wolverine or two? Why stick with just one type of animal that just is not a good pet? Me, I would rather have a dog or something, but hey Tim is a man of nature and there is nothing that they can not do. So he has his favorite snake, Stanley of the title and he has his main squeeze who had a name, but I can not remember it at the moment! Crap, now Stanley will come for me! Well things are starting to come apart for Tim as this dude who is somehow responsible for his father's death is offering him a job tracking snakes to make belts, there is a new act in town as a former friend of the family is using Stanley's snakes in very yucky ways, and Tim needs woman. Well that last part seems to come out of left field at the end of the film and makes little sense other than to extend the already to long run time of the film and give our 'hero' a nice fiery send off. Nope, sorry, did not think this was a good horror movie at all and what is most perplexing is that it was in a DVD collection I got called Gorehouse Greats, I think they meant for this one to be in BoreHouse Yawns. I only give it a two because unlike a lot of other cheap horror flicks of the 70's this one actually has a good look to it and has some nice shots. I would give it a three, but no film that features that song sung as Tim is taking the daughter through the swamp anything higher! My ears are still bleeding after that one, I mean I did not care for that song during the opening credits, but it was not as bad after hearing this one. So what do you get in this one other than lots of snakes? Well a stupid quicksand scene as Hollywood thinks quicksand sucks you down into the pits of hell when in actuality you would simply be stuck bobbing in it from the chest up. You see the worst strip show ever as the gals at the club featured here seem to forget to remove their clothes (but that may be a good thing seeing as who was dancing). You see a guy strung out on cocaine and you also have what had to be a misplaced sequence in the film. Tim sends Stanley in to kill two guys stuck in quicksand. The next thing you see is him having a dinner with Stanley and his gal. The next the strung out dude starts walking around where he finds Tim's house and proceeds to kill Stanley's babe and his kids. What happened here? Did that strung out dude sleep for like ever so that Tim could have dinner with his snakes and then apparently leave out far enough to not hear the gunshot the idiot fired when he first entered the house? This film is a mess and not worth watching and is not gruesome. For snake lovers only, all three of em.

1971's "Stanley" is one of director Wiiliam Grefe's better known titles, others include "Sting of Death" in 1965, "Death Curse of Tartu" in 1966, "Impulse" in 1973 (a rare starring role for William Shatner), and "Mako: The Jaws of Death" in 1975, all of which were shot on location in Florida. I found myself captivated by the two pop songs on the soundtrack, both written and performed by Jack Vino, and produced by Steve Alaimo, who appears on screen as the villainous henchman Crail (former singer and host of WHERE THE ACTION IS). The opening credits are accompanied by the beautiful "Sparrow," which is briefly reprised during the end credits, while the other tune, "Start a New World," features late in the film, as Tim drives Susie in a boat to his swamp hideaway. Lyrically, both tracks are odes to the environment and they lend a kind of stature to a film populated with unsympathetic characters and a clichéd storyline in which Tim Ochopee (Chris Robinson), a half-breed Vietnam veteran, turns his back on his tribe and the rest of society to live in isolation with a family of rattlesnakes in the Everglades. Shortly after completing "The Godfather," Alex Rocco returns to his exploitation roots ("Blood Mania") by playing the lead villain, making belts out of reptile skins, and is also responsible for the shooting death of Tim's father. He also shows an unfatherly and creepy incestuous desire for his gorgeous blonde daughter Susie, played in her one and only film by Susan Carroll (even the distracted director calls attention to her bikini clad assets by focusing on her perfect ass from her opening scene). Television veteran Chris Robinson made his movie debut in the title role of Roger Corman's 1959 "Beast from Haunted Cave," creating the beast himself. A native of West Palm Beach, now residing in Miami, Robinson proved easily available for this rare leading role, working very well with his dangerous co-stars. The recent DVD release makes up for the numerous truncated VHS issues, none of which were intact at a full 106 minutes. "Stanley" made four appearances on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, on Nov 6 1976 (followed by Lugosi's original 1931 "Dracula"), and three more solo: Apr 28 1979, Dec 13 1980, and Jan 16 1982. As a footnote, I also have great fondness for another Chiller Theater classic with a terrific theme song, 1973's Texas-filmed "Horror High" aka "Twisted Brain," its song titled "Vernon's Theme," performed by Jerry Coward.

Crap! Another bad killer snake movie. Actually, this movie is pretty much just "Willard" with snakes instead of rats. Chris Robinson plays a Vietnam Vet and a Seminole Indian (neither very convincingly) whose only friends are poisonous snakes. He uses these "friends" to take revenge on greedy developer and snakeskin dealer (Alex Rocco, who appeared in "The Godfather" the same year)who was also conveniently responsible for the death of his father, and on a skanky stripper who bites the heads off of snakes as part of her act (because, of course, THAT'S a real turn-on).There are several problems with this movie. First, it is somewhat believable that rats might have affection for humans and do their bidding, but it is far less believable that snakes would (and the character here isn't given any special psychic powers over them a la Jennifer Connelly in "Phenomenon"). Second, poisonous snakes aren't very good at attacking people. Even when confronted with a large number of poisonous snakes, all the victims would have to do is run away--it's not like snakes are going to chase you. (The most ridiculous scene has Rocco's character attacked in his swimming pool by dozens of water moccasins). The movie really goes off the rails at the end though when Robinson suddenly falls in love with and kidnaps Rocco's sexy, bare-midriffed blonde daughter. After she spurns him, he tries to get the snakes to bite her, but they refuse, so he reacts in an unintentionally hilarious "Willard"-esque fashion and finally gets his just desserts.On the plus side this movie was directed by Willam Grefe who would go on to do equally ridiculous but much more entertaining movies like "Impulse" with William Shatner. It's also certainly no worse than many other killer snake movies-"Jennifer, "Rattlers" , "Spasms", "Venom", or more recent CGI crap like "Boa", "Python" and "Anaconda". Maybe filmmakers should just give up on these killer snake movies.