Straight Jacket on Youtube (1964)

Good afternoon!

Sorry to only pop in for a moment again! This blog has been getting later and later, and isn't it a shame! So much drama in the LBC again...but not nearly as much as JC has to put up with in her late career schlock masterwork, Straight Jacket (1964). Did you know it was on Youtube? Did you know it was just what the doctor ordered this afternoon? Take me away, crazy early sixties' horror movie...take me away!

Poor unhinged Joanie is honestly still pretty wonderful as convicted ax murderess Lucy Harbin, trying to put together the pieces of her life after twenty years in an institution for a crime she...possibly didn't commit? I need to change my ringtone to Crawford just screaming "Noooooo" for thirty seconds in the opening scene. It ain't no Mildred Pierce, but you have to admire the picture for a) its full commitment to camp and b) Joan's consummate professionalism even as she's hacking up her adulterous husband in the opening scene, charm bracelet jangling as she delivers the "forty whacks" of the later children's rhyme made up about her (just....directly...lifted from Lizzie Borden's similar tune?). Also, while the wig is bad (though NOT Beyond the Forest Bette Davis bad, to her credit!), the sixties' dresses are on point!

The stills don't really do Joan justice-- in the movie, in spite of the wacky hair and eyebrows, her "movie star" quality still shines blindingly through every scene she appears in. When she's in the frame, you can't look at anybody else!

Some stills from the picture:

After her makeover, wig application, and about ten rounds with the eyebrow pencil...#luhyoujoanie

Did you know this bust was originally presented to JC on the set of A Woman's Face (1941), sculpted by Yugoslavian artist Yucca Salamunich? You can see her in 1941 with the bust here.

Two severed heads in the bed-- about two more than you want to wake up to.

Who makes Joan Crawford ride in the backseat?! Uncomfortable!

But as ye olde Levar Burton used to say, don't take my word for it! The whole film (and a bonus documentary about making the film) is available on Youtube. Watch the first, then watch the second, and see if the afternoon doesn't just fly by.

How I'm cutting my cake this year. Also, dang JC, nice arm muscle!

So! How about you? What kind of mindless entertainment gets you through a wild work week? Do you have a favorite camp horror movie or good-star-in-a-bad-movie that you would recommend? Have you seen Straight Jacket? Let's discuss!

That's all for today, but hopefully I'll be back a little earlier tomorrow for Photo Friday. Have a great Thursday! We'll talk then!