The People Next Door

source: The People Next Door

Theatrical remake of a well-regarded 1968 "CBS Playhouse" special for television about the secret drug-life of today's suburban teenagers was directed both times by David Greene, who practically disowned this franker, R-rated version. The problem could be in the central casting: Eli Wallach pushes far too hard as the clueless father of a tripping 16-year-old girl while mom Julie Harris smokes and looks distraught (when her daughter tells her she's on the Pill, Harris hilariously responds, "I think I'm losing my mind!"). The original rock songs (performed by The Bead Game and The Glass Bottle) are dreadfully pedagogic--hoping to 'inform' us with their lyrics--but, since nobody can reach this alienated girl, what good is it probing her inner-thoughts to music? Generation Gap tale has a solid cast (including Hal Holbrook, Cloris Leachman, Rue McClanahan, Stephen McHattie, Don Scardino, newcomer Deborah Winters, and Rutanya Alda as a pixilated nurse), yet the pitch of the film is off, hysterical instead of riveting. ** from ****

Seemed like one of those after school special on troubled teens, preoccupied parents, and anti-drugs turned all the way up to 11. Wasn't in the mood for it.

Alternately grim and funny expose of the "average" American family circa 1970. Eli Wallach & Julie Harris find out their darling teenage daughter is on drugs and their would-be rock star son knows way more about LSD than he should. Chaos ensues, doctors are consulted, and the neighbors prove to be as unhelpful as possible. Although Wallach's anger comes across as a bit grating, the performances are largely first-rate. Harris is excellent and the supporting cast includes Cloris Leachman, Rue McClanahan and Hal Holbrook.

David Greene was behind a lot of my favorite TV movies, like Roots; Rich Man, Poor Man; Madame Sin and the remake of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? He also made I Start Counting and The Shuttered Room. Arthur and Gerrie Mason (Eli Wallach and Julie Harris) realize that their marriage isn't perfect and struggle to fix it as their daughter Maxie fights drug addiction. Arthur catches her in bed with a biker, high on cocaine, and immediately believes that his rock star son Artie (Stephen McHattie) who gave her the drugs, but it turns out that its the nerd next door. Roger Ebert said that The People Next Door was "the best movie so far about parents, kids and drugs, and probably the best we're likely to get (considering Hollywood's recent tendency to exploit the drug culture for "youth movies")." This has a decent cast, with Hal Holbrook, Cloris Leachman and Rue McClanahan all showing up, along with Rutanya Alda as a nurse. It didn't make me want to stop doing drugs, but your viewing may change your habits.

Don't judge a book by its cover, or so the saying goes. Bloody good advice to tell you the truth! Is the same principle advised for movies? Well yes to some degree but much less so. After all, its only gonna take 90mins of your time to watch a movie. So what, right? Today's film is one I watched on account of its poster which I found in an exploitation movie art book, it depicted a somewhat haunting image of a white silhouette of a girl grabbing onto a tree in the dead of night; a distorted image that suggests something is not quite right. So, an eye-grabbing and odd poster, what about the film? Its about a dysfunctional family who experience serious problems when the teenage daughter develops a serious drug problem. Its an effective addiction drama, with a nice cast which includes Eli Wallach as the father. It does have melodramatic tendencies which anti-drug movies often have but that's okay in this case, as its never less than involving. So, a big yay to movie poster art - it makes you check out movies you never otherwise would.

The thing i loved about this movie is the brother of the daughter on drugs is condemned because he had long hair and was in a rock band. He tried to explain that he did not take drugs,much less give his sister any. The dad threw him out any way. The thing I loved was this happened in the late 60s -early 70s. Not all long haired guys were into drugs they just liked the look and the music! At the same time the guy next door was just to clean cut etc. to ever do such a thing as drugs,yet he was the one who gave the girl the drug. This was a common theme back then-long hair rock and roll =drugs.I was 16 at the time with long hair in a small town and could relate! Parents did not want me around their kids. especially their daughters! The police often sit across from our house and just watched. a stake out just for me? Man it was tough! the wild part is my hair was barley over my ears!Would love to see this movie again!

David Greene's obscure THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR is out to prove that a parent, in particular a father working eight-hours and then having a nightcap and sleeping pill to fall asleep, is just the same as a wayward teenager dropping acid... The latter happens quickly as underrated starlet Deborah Winters, after watching brother Stephen McHattie's hippie band rehearsing, winds up in her own closet, seeing God and thus, freaking out... She later attempts spitefully french-kissing dad Eli Wallach, married to chain-smoking Julie Christie, both desperately trying to figure out what makes their drug-fueled, discontented daughter tick... Ironically, Winters would wind up in another LSD-centered cult film, BLUE SUNSHINE, and she always gives an intense performance, visually epitomizing the cute blonde California girl who's miserably unglued, in this case adding much-needed suspense, like anything can happen at any time... And while both her bad acid trip and idealistic tantrums literally peak too soon for an effectively cohesive melodrama of a clashing suburban clan to follow, NEXT DOOR is a semi-worthwhile compromise between an anti-drug exploitation and counter-culture propaganda for the young people themselves... That is, despite the youth-rebel cliches... that Winters successfully rises above despite a somewhat mundane television-style script... which fits since she had co-starred in a 1968 CBS Playhouse (with a different surrounding cast) that this feature was adapted from... So when she eventually takes a backseat to the primary story (while mom and dad deal with their own mundane demons), there's hardly any tale to tell since, after all, a bad trip beats a bummer trip.

A psychedelic-era cult film about a suburban family with problems beneath the surface, headlined by rebellious teenager "Maxie," played by the lovely and talent Deborah Winters who, when not freaking out on bad acid, scrutinizes her parent's shortcomings: like booze and hypocrisy. Eli Wallach is terrific as the drink-after-work patriarch, as are Stephen McHattie as the hippie son and wife Julie Harris, whose hard-nosed lecture to Maxie in a mental institution provides an explosive, and perhaps even effective, climax. But it's Deborah Winters alone, with a brooding reserve as intense as the drug-induced tirades, providing an underlying "vibe" throughout: where anything can happen... at any time.

This is one of those hysterical 70's anti-drug movies made by people who obviously had little or no experience with real-life drug abuse. If you have never seen on of these, I urge you to do so (preferably stoned).The drama begins when the seemingly innocent sixteen-year-old daughter (Deborah Winters) of a middle-class family is found whimpering in her closet and tripping her face off. The cantankerous father (Eli Wallach) quickly blames his long-haired musician older son (Stephen McHattie) and kicks him out of the house, while the mother (Julie Harris) recedes into a kind of a hysterical, walking coma. But like all virginal, middle-class girls in these movies, once she gets her first taste of drugs, the daughter is soon shacking up with a skeezy biker and putting every substance imaginable into her nubile, young body. Meanwhile, the father confides in his doctor friend next door(Hal Holbrook), who seems to have the perfect All-American family in wife ( ) and clean-cut son (Don Scardino), but there's a twist there which you'll doubt see coming from a mile away. I expected this to strictly be a TV movie, but actually it started out as that in 1968 before being remade as this theatrical feature, complete with some mild sordidness, fairly graphic drug use, brief nudity, and actual cursing. Eli Wallach is great as the cantankerous, bigoted father who is almost certain to get some kind of comeuppance. Harris and McHattie are adequate, but don't have a lot to do as most of the scenery around them gets pre-shredded by their fellow thespians. The latter's band actually isn't bad, and that is probably the "hippest" aspect of this generally "square" movie. Hal Holbrook has an interesting role as he starts out playing his usual type (the kindly father figure),but ends up going very much against type. Obscure 70's TV actress Deborah Winters (who isn't remotely believable as sixteen year old) gives a wide-eyed, completely over-the-top performance that will probably provoke more laughter than anything else, but she is very cute and does have a * scene (only brief, but she's all drugged-up and throwing herself at her own father at the time, so. . .). The director of this, David Green, was British and made several interesting theatrical films in his home country like "I Start Counting", "The Strange Affair", and "The Shuttered Room". This was the beginning of his long descent into 70's American television (a similar fate befell other talented Brit directors like John Moxley, Gordon Hessler, and Robert Fuest). This isn't a spot on his earlier theatrical work, but it's much better than his later made-for-TV stuff like "Vacation in Hell". See this with your favorite controlled substance.