The Film
Porn producer Michael Thevis needed to diversify his adult empire in 1975; the king of underground pornography, X-rated theaters and peep show booths (his machines would show up on 42nd Street in Times Square) was under investigation by the FBI for the murder of an associate and decided to branch out into legitimate filmmaking which included funding for one of Oliver Stone's first movies, Seizure (1974).
Thevis ran afoul of the FBI again in 1973 when it was alleged that he murdered an employee who asked him for a raise. It would take an additional three years before Thevis would end up in prison (he was worth over $100 million when he was arrested); which he subsequently escaped from in 1978. In 1980, the "Scarface of Porn" was sentenced to 28 years to life. When he entered prison, his adult empire controlled 40% of the porn market and he was earning $100M a year from his ventures. One of his few legitimate ventures was the cult classic, Poor Pretty Eddie.
Thevis hired director Richard Robinson and gave him a budget of $1.2 million to work with. Clearly, it wasn't spent on award-winning visuals or a decent script. Robinson took notice of the success of Deliverance and went from there, offering a backwoods location (rural Georgia), demented rednecks, and the mandatory rape sequence.
What makes Poor Pretty Eddie so unique is that it starred two-time Oscar-winner, Shelley Winters, Slim Pickens (Dr. Strangelove), Michael Christian (Peyton Place), Leslie Uggams (yes, the same Leslie Uggams from Hallelujah, Baby!), and Ted Cassidy (Lurch from the Addams Family). According to Christian (Eddie), Winters had her salary delivered to the set each week in a suitcase (the porn world always preferred to deal in cash) and drove her fellow cast mates crazy with her erratic behavior.
Uggams sticks out like a sore thumb (can't imagine how a black singer wouldn't feel welcome in a redneck town in Georgia surrounded by racist, perverted white people) when her car breaks down and ends up at a rural inn owned by Winters; a bitter and aging former burlesque star. Winters has been shacking up with young Eddie, an Elvis-wannabe who takes an instant liking to Uggams. When the snotty black singer rejects Eddie, he explodes in a fit of rage and rapes her; turning her into a traumatized zombie. Pickens plays the idiotic small-town Sheriff who is more interested in raping Uggams himself than prosecuting Eddie for his crimes. It's an ugly film that ends (spoiler alert!!) with Cassidy shooting everyone (minus Uggams) in a scene that reeks of Peckinpah; a bloody slow-motion shootout. If you can handle the subject matter, you're a glutton for punishment.
The Picture
Black levels are not terrible, but its hard to make out a lot of detail in darker segments of the film. The overall image is quite soft, but that's faithful to the original film. It may not be Blu-ray quality, but it is the best this film has ever looked -- minus a few green scratches that are quite noticeable during the final scene.
The Sound
The packaging of the film states that the Blu-ray has a 5.1 surround track, but there isn't one to be found; the package is limited to a Dolby Digital 2.0 track with more audible holes than a piece of swiss cheese. The soundstage is confined to the space between your loudspeakers and is very thin sounding in the midrange. The top end gets a tad hot in certain scenes; nails on a chalkboard hot. Dialogue isn't that hard to discern, but there are a few moments where the levels drop and you may feel the need to boost the volume -- or lower it as what the actors are saying makes little sense anyway.
The Extras
Unlike Dementia 13 which didn't come with any meaningful bonus content, Poor Pretty Eddie has a surprising amount that is ultimately more interesting than the film itself. A historical essay has been provided which details why the film was made and how the cast was able to deal with Shelley Winters. The history of the film's distribution is also thoroughly explained and it all makes for an interesting read.
The best part of the bonus material is an audio commentary with Director of Photography, David Worth, who provides a lot of anecdotal information about the film and its crazy cast. The pacing could use a shot in the arm, but the content is preferable to the terrible script.
Final Thoughts
Poor Pretty Eddie isn't a great movie, but its popularity as a fixture of the grindhouse genre pretty much guarantees that a certain segment of moviegoers will always find this type of film appealing. It is certainly not the worst of the exploitation films and it looks about as good as one could possibly expect on this Blu-ray transfer considering how terrible the source was. Is it worth buying? For no other reason but nostalgia. And because it has Lurch from the Addams Family.
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