STRAIT-JACKET – Joan Crawford

Strait-Jacket (1964)

Direction: William Castle. Screenplay: Robert Bloch. Cast: Joan Crawford, Diane Baker, Leif Erickson, Howard St. John, John Anthony Hayes, Rochelle Hudson, George Kennedy

"From the director of Homicidal, the author of Psycho, and the co-star of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" reads the by-line for producer-director William Castle's thriller Strait-Jacket. Although I've seen this movie dozens of times, I still go back to it whenever I want a "post-Baby Jane" fix. In that category, Strait-Jacket and Berserk! are the only two that I appreciate.

For Strait-Jacket, Castle jumped at the chance to lure a real movie star into one of his commercial exploitations. As everyone knows (or should know), Joan Crawford plays Lucy Harbin, an ax-murderess released from an "insane asylum" after twenty years. (And once again, Crawford is saddled down with a rotten daughter.) Without giving the plot away, I'll just say that this is kind of like Lizzie Borden with a twist.

Crawford incarnates the dowdy, gray-haired Lucy with plenty of pathos and sincerity, but when she gets all dolled-up in sundresses, black wig, and cheap dangling jewelry rattling loud enough to wake the dead, she goes way over the top. For in Strait-Jacket Crawford gets to mug like crazy — flirting, dressing sexy, striking a match on a record playing on a phonograph — while displaying Pepsi-Cola cartons everywhere.

Unfortunately, I've never understood her character's motivation for suddenly turning from a shy, reclusive old woman into a seductive sexpot. But then everything in Strait-Jacket feels contrived. In other words, it's best not to take it all that seriously. If you just go with it, you'll enjoy the crazy ride.

© Danny Fortune