Strait-Jacket (1964)

- written October 20th, 2011

Summary: Lucy Harbin has been in an asylum for 20 years after axing her husband and his mistress during a crime of passion, witnessed by her young daughter, Carol. While trying to renew ties with Carol, who is now a young woman about to be married, heads begin to roll again. Is Lucy repeating her past?           Overall: It’s a pretty standard William Castle film and frankly once you hear about all the behind the scenes issues, you sorta lose some respect for Joan Crawford. Just an old aging woman who wanted to control everything hoping men still wanted her. Castle had a decent enough script but Joan had much of it re-written including the ending. The original storyline for the movie was to end at the scene in the Fields' home after Lucy Harbin has exposed her daughter Carol who is seen ranting and raving about how she had planned everything, but Joan Crawford pushed for an additional scene which showcased her explaining everything to her brother, thus having the movie end with the audience's last impression being of Joan Crawford.           The movie is silly 1960’s fare. Nothing special and not very scary or atmospheric. Skip it.           Comparison: Psycho meets Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

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