Rock's Cheapo Theatre of the Damned

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Another Day, Another Man (Wishman, 1966)



I'd been less than eager to get to this movie as I understood that it used a fair amount of footage from Bad Girls Go to Hell and My Brother's Wife, and the latter I hadn't been a fan of. I'm glad I held off for a bit, as I don't think I would have gotten as much out of it if I hadn't been immersed in this mode of Wishman's work for the last few weeks as I've been working through the Moonlight Years box set put out by Something Weird / AGFA / Vinegar Syndrome. (I just have two movies left unseen in the set: The Hot Month of August and Passion Fever, two Greek imports that I understand Wishman re-edited and spiced up with additional footage. I suspect those will be a challenge from a Wishman auteurist lens, but I'm hoping I can find enough of her distinct touch.)

I think Wishman's sense of irony is particularly pronounced here. There's been a good deal of that in her movies from this period, which depict a number of not very nice things happening to women, often with the camera leering at their nude bodies while they're sexually assaulted or otherwise mistreated. Intentionally or otherwise, they're interrogating the intersection between our empathy for the heroines and our prurient interest in the material. But I think of a scene where a heroine lies about her new job as a prostitute, telling her bedridden husband she got a secretary gig and has to work late to type up manuscripts, all while the camera leers at her form in a body stocking. I think even the more charitable Wishman admirers wouldn't call her a particularly sophisticated director, but there is something undeniably pointed in this scene's presentation.

As always, Wishman lays on the narration thick, and the most compelling section has a gruff-voiced pimp describe in detail how he goes about manipulating oblivious and vulnerable women into working for him. The long-windedness of the narration merits some laughs, but the dissonance between the cold, businesslike detail of his explanation and the sleaziness of what he's admitting to I found quite unsettling. And even the street scenes, which are a reliable source of enjoyment in Wishman's work for their documentary qualities, play with a certain poignancy as the heroine provides downbeat narration about her predicament. This is not positive, let alone nuanced depiction of sex work, but Wishman's tunnel vision around the subject provides the movie a certain charge. When the camera starts on a maddening tilt with a character's guffaw, we're along for the ride.

That being said, there are grace notes, intentional or otherwise. Wishman shows off her decor as usual, and there are jarring cuts to potted plants during a number of nude scenes. And no movie with the Bennett sisters and Gigi Darlene can be all bad, especially a movie where they get to groove in their underwear, and especially a movie where a character suffers the horrifying fate of being pounced on by both Bennett sisters at the same time. Scary stuff, amigos.




I can confirm that Lady Terminator rules on the big screen with a properly enthused crowd. I can also confirm that it’s much better as an action movie than I remembered, and in fact rules in general.

Imagine a 24 hour line-up where that movie comes on at around midnight and then at 4 am, Raw Force comes on. Because that happened once. Unfortunately I didn't start attending those things until the following year.


I would eventually see those two again as part of a double feature, but without the mystery and everyone else having already seen both, just not the same energy.

ETA: I couldn't help but notice LT was back in stock on Diabolik's catalog a few days ago. This surprised me, because I thought it was one of those OOP DVDs at this point. You seeing it on the big screen makes me wonder if something is up and a Blu-ray is on the way.

But that's me speculating wildly and am not positive of what the DVD status used to be after getting my own years ago.



They played a 35mm print, but it seemed to be in pretty good shape. But yeah, would be nice if it got a Bluray release.



Upon further investigation, Titties is the last name of the main character. ☹️



That must be the absurdist humor part
I don’t like that this movie is making fun of me. ☹️



Tried to find a Chesty Morgan gif to respond with, and uh… none of them are SFW.



Just as a heads-up, I spoke with Rock and he said he might not return to this forum. Whether he wants to list his reasons or not is up to him, but I figured I'd let you all know. Mr Minio, I'm counting on you to discuss pornographic films more to make up for his absence.



Victim of The Night
Just as a heads-up, I spoke with Rock and he said he might not return to this forum. Whether he wants to list his reasons or not is up to him, but I figured I'd let you all know. Mr Minio, I'm counting on you to discuss pornographic films more to make up for his absence.
Yeah, I half-heartedly tried to talk him out of leaving/convince him to return sooner rather than later, but half-heartedly because I understood and respected his feelings.
I will miss him.



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
Mr Minio, I'm counting on you to discuss pornographic films more to make up for his absence.
__________________
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.