Poor Pretty Eddie

Obscure exploitation film. Singer Liz Wetherly's (Leslie Uggams) car breaks down somewhere in the wilderness. The closest place with help has alcoholic Bertha (Shelley Winters) and her psychotic boy toy Eddie (Michael Christian). Eddie immediately falls for Liz but she rejects him. That doesn't stop him though and he'll do anything to keep her...whether she likes it or not. The print I saw of this was in terrible shape. The title was missing, there are no end credits and it was full of scratches and noise but this is probably the only print of this that exists. It's not a good movie at all (it's pretty terrible in fact) but you can't stop watching. There's bizarre mixes of shots--my favorite is when Eddie rapes Liz intercut with two dogs having sex while a cheerful little country tune plays on the soundtrack! There's a total absence of sense or logic and you spend half the movie trying to figure it out. There are more than a dozen times that Uggams could have gotten help--and never does a thing! To make things worse Uggams gives a truly terrible performance. We're supposed to sympathise with her but she's so obnoxious from the beginning you could care less. Also her face never once changes expression. Winters bulldozes through her part taking no prisoners. Christian was very good--he's handsome and a little sexy but you see the cruelty and madness seeping through. Also good is Ted Cassidy in a small role as Keno. So--NOT a good film but a truly fascinating bad one. Don't go out of your way to see it though. I can only give this a 5.

...of time (mine) and talent (the actors) Some very talented actors were involved, but they were given BAD material, BAD direction and BAD production values. I think there was an attempt by the director/writer to be "artistic" - with the weird footage like dogs f**king during the rape, etc., overall this is dull, boring and a blot on the careers of everyone involved. And I wasted my money on the DVD/BD version. AVOID IT, if you can! I have nothing more to say about this movie, and i detest the 10 line minimum for comments, so I will repeat myself: time and talent (the actors) Some very talented actors were involved, but they were given BAD material, BAD direction and BAD production values. And I wasted my money on the DVD/BD version. AVOID IT, if you can!

Like several people here, I too saw this in the wee hours of the morning on TCM, where yes folks, it ran with no introductory info, and NO TITLES. It simply ended and faded into nothingness where TCM switched back to some old Black and While film suitable for Gramma like it never happened. Maybe it didn't. Plot: It's one of those "woman fights for her life versus redneck" films that were around a lot in the 70s. This one has an African-American singer getting stuck in the rural south where she stays at a run down inn/bar while she waits for her car to get fixed. Meanwhile, the dashing bar owner falls in love with her, which results in the expected rape scene, this one rendered even more distasteful by the inter-cutting of shots of local mouthbreathers watching dogs screw. She goes almost catatonic from that point forward, and every person she turns to for help just leads her deeper into a maze of grotesque public officials who don't really want to help. It's like Kafka rolled around in batter and deep-fried. It's all so off-putting, the result is less one of bloody revenge than it is of confusion...that something so odd could have ever existed, or actually been shown on late-night television on a channel that so many people get. Be aware film fans...reruns of this could be lurking around your next sleepless night. Try to get some sleep.

A friend and I watched "Poor Pretty Eddie" on the big screen, during a film night special appropriately entitled Rednecksploitation. Let me tell you, along with the ramshackle cinema hangar & the poor quality of the original film spool, the story & atmosphere of this movie catapulted us straight back to the glorious highlight-years of rancid 70's drive-in grindhouse exploitation! Movies like "Poor Pretty Eddie" will not and simply cannot be made anymore nowadays, because they're filthy, always discriminating to someone, rough, women-unfriendly and shameless. If someone made something like this today, groups of protesters would march outside the theaters until the owners have no other choice but to cancel the showings. Anyway, this fabulously entertaining film is shockingly perverse, hilarious and nightmarishly uncanny all at the same time. You've never encountered a bigger bunch of disturbed rednecks, not even in "Deliverance" or "Just before Dawn", and the script covers even the most controversial themes, like racism and rape. Leslie Uggams portrays a popular (and rather cocky) whose car naturally breaks down at the wrong place at the wrong time. On her way to a vacation Liz Wetherly strands in Southern Redneck Hell, at a miserable motel owned by a faded showgirl (now an obese and depressed old lady), a creepy-looking hunting dog lover and last but not least the wide-smirking & clearly deranged Elvis lunatic Eddie Collins. Eddie wants to keep her there, very much against the will of ol' Bertha, and continuously tries to impress her with his questionable singing talents, big white smiling teeth and flamboyant outfits that reveal his muscles and massive amount of chest hair. When all friendly approaches fail, Eddie rapes Liz and forces her into marrying him. Needless to say she slowly & tragically starts losing her senses. This low-budget exploitation classic naturally thrives on atmosphere & demented character drawings instead of on convoluted plotting and special effects. The lead characters are wondrously twisted, but literally every single one of the supportive characters are remarkable as well, like the sleazy tomato-sucking sheriff (the late grate Slim Pickens), his slingshot operating retard-sidekick and the perverse & fat-bellied judge/pool bar owner. Many of the crazed sequences in "Poor Pretty Eddie" literally need to be seen to be believed, for example the astonishingly tasteless montage of Liz' rape interlarded with images of two dogs copulating in front of an assembly of seemingly aroused farmers and to the tunes of another great country song. The acting performances are great; notably outstanding are Shelley Winters (Oscar winner AND exploitation siren, respect!), Ted Cassidy (the original Addams Family's Lurch) and of course Michael Christian as the titular not-so-poor and not-so-pretty Eddie. The climax sequence, set during an authentic and joyful hillbilly wedding party, is terrifically violent with slow-motion massacres and a total absence of sound. The film is overall poorly made, but several shots are surprisingly imaginative and the filming locations were definitely enchanting. "Poor Prettie Eddie" is most definitely a hidden gem. Sometimes falsely promoted as a Blaxploitation flick (with an a.k.a title "Black Vengeance") and the cover image here on the website makes it look like an average Psycho-inspired slasher movie, in reality the film is a totally unique and unforgettable drive-in experience.

For those that think this is some kind of "exploitation classic," it is actually a racist, misogynistic piece of garbage. (There is also some animal cruelty going on.) This "woman-in-jeopardy" is an excuse to show violence against a woman, with about every hillbilly stereotype known. It makes a joke out of rape - repeated rape. Winters must have really needed that money. Six weeks to film??!! Why?

Shelley Winters is one of the great film actresses of the late twentieth century. Her work in Night of the Hunter, Lolita and A Place in the Sun establish her as one of the best of the era. This movie is a sad piece of junk and Shelley certainly appears to be washed up like the character she plays in the film. Still, enough of Shelley's great talent remains as to keep me barely awake during all the ugliness of the plot.....sort of like Roots meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre without the Chainsaw. How can anyone not be interested in a film that features not only Shelley but also Leslie Uggams, Ted Cassisdy and Slim Pickens. Put them all together, subtract most of their talent, increase their stereotypical imagery and call it this mess.

Poor Pretty Eddie (1975) ** (out of 4) This drive-in flick has gathered a rather large cult following over the years as it mixes the blaxploitation and hickploitation genres and surprisingly features some well known actors. A black musician (Leslie Uggams) finds herself stuck in the South after her car dies on her. She checks into a rundown cabin resort ran by the once star Bertha (Shelley Winters) and her secret lover Eddie (Michael Christian) who has dreams of becoming a star. Eddie falls for the black woman who of course is repulsed by the redneck so he just rapes her and soon she's being held hostage by the weird family and even the nutty Sheriff (Slim Pickens). I had heard a lot of bad things about this movie but it wasn't nearly as bad as its reputation but then again, it's not too good either. The movie isn't as wild or as crazy as one might think considering the subject matter as the violence isn't ever too graphic and even the rape scene is rather tame. The rape scene is still rather rememberable because they have a country love song in the back group with quick edits to scenes of dogs humping out in the front yard. The film certainly manages to create a unique atmosphere with its low budget and there's no question that it has a surreal feel from start to finish but in the end there's really not enough here to keep the thing going and being entertaining throughout. What does work are some rather campy performances by both Winters and Pickens. Winters, as was normal for this part of her career, makes countless jokes in reference to her weight and it's funny to see her in something like this just a couple years after picking up her Oscar. Pickens in that dumb, racist redneck that you can't help but love because he doesn't know how dumb or racist he actually is. The actor certainly gets into the part and manages to deliver a few nice laughs. Uggams isn't too bad in her role but it's Ted Cassidy who steals the film as a weird assistant. What really hurts the film is the lead character who really comes off very stuck up and rather rude before any of the stuff begins happening to her. You really can't like her very much so when these bad things start to happen you really can't root for her overly much because of how much you dislike her from the first half of the film. Drive-in and exploitation fans will certainly want to check this one out but others should stay clear.

Trailer—Poor Pretty Eddie

Poor Pretty Eddie_720p(480P)

source: Poor Pretty Eddie