Keenan Wynn (who owns the beanery where about 95% of the
film takes place), Whit Bissell, Frank DeKova and Len Lesser (Seinfeld’s “Uncle Leo”) also make
appearances in Shack, a
truly one-of-a-kind film written and directed by Edward Dein. Other than The Leech Woman (1960), a wacky
horror flick starring former noir siren Coleen Gray, I’ve not been exposed to
much of Dein’s oeuvre, though according to the IMDb he was a rather prolific
screenwriter (The Falcon Strikes Back,
Calling Dr. Death, Boston Blackie’s Rendezvous).
Shack Out on 101
was part of a double feature I ran last night (something I’ve decided to call
“Cold War Paranoia Theater”); the second entry being Ladybug Ladybug (1963), Frank
and Eleanor Perry’s follow-up to their critically-acclaimed debut film David and Lisa (1962), Since Perry’s The Swimmer (1968) and Last Summer (1969) are two of my
favorite 60s flicks, I’ve been wanting to see Ladybug for some time now—and got the opportunity via Five Minutes to Live (where I also
purchased Shack). Ladybug
tells a fascinating story of a rural elementary school and its reaction to what
may or may not be an eminent nuclear attack.
As it turns out, the sounding of the “attack” alarm is due to nothing
more than a short circuit, but by the time this is discovered, events have been
set in motion that result in tragedy for one of the students sent home.
There are quite a few familiar TV faces in this movie:
William (St. Elsewhere) Daniels
plays the school principal, and Nancy (Lou
Grant) Marchand is one of the teachers assigned to lead a “patrol” of
students home. Other well-known
character actors include Judith Lowery (Mother Dexter from Phyllis), Richard Hamilton and Estelle Parsons—the latter two
playing the stern parents of one child who’s so freaked out by the experience
that she hides under her bed when she’s refused permission to take shelter in
the basement. Miles Chapin, an actor who
you may have seen in movies like Hair
(1979) and The People vs. Larry
Flynt (1996), plays one of the kids in Ladybug,
as does Alice Playten—an actress known for both her voice work and
participation in various National Lampoon
productions…but for some odd reason, will always be associated (to me,
anyway) as the babysitter in the Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning
classic The Lost Saucer.
Ladybug Ladybug
is reportedly based on an actual event, but of the two films I think Shack holds up better—after all, it’s
essentially an espionage melodrama…and they never go out of style no matter who the bad guys are. But if you grew up in a time when adolescents
were scared shitless of the bomb (and, as the film notes, the adults are just
as nervous) and were drilled endlessly to “duck and cover” at their school
desks, I’m sure it will resonate; it’s definitely worth seeking out.
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