An aging horror star questions his place in modern Hollywood, while a disturbed young man goes on a shooting spree.An aging horror star questions his place in modern Hollywood, while a disturbed young man goes on a shooting spree.An aging horror star questions his place in modern Hollywood, while a disturbed young man goes on a shooting spree.
- Awards
- 1 win
- Marshall Smith
- (as Monty Landis)
- Waiter
- (as Tim Burns)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBy the time this film was made (between November 1967 and December 1967), Boris Karloff was 80 years old and in extremely poor health, was suffering from both advanced emphysema and rheumatoid arthritis (it was pneumonia, however, that would be the cause of his death on February 2, 1969), had only one-half of one lung that was still functioning (both the other half of it and all of the other lung had already been removed due to lung cancer (Karloff had been a heavy smoker for most of his adult life)) and spent the time between takes confined to a wheelchair and wearing an oxygen mask that was connected to a mobile oxygen unit in order to breathe. He also wore braces on both of his legs and had difficulty walking or even standing up without his cane; the weakness of his legs is clearly visible in some scenes in the film. Fortunately, Karloff lived long enough both to see the finished film and to enjoy the well-deserved accolades that he received for his performance in it.
- Goofs(at about one hour and 28 minutes into the film) At the very end of the film, the drive-in theater is empty the next day, except for the killer's car. This is illogical, since the victims' cars should be there, too.
- Quotes
Byron Orlok: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'd like to leave you with a little story to think about as you drive home through the darkness. Once upon a time, many, many years ago, a rich merchant in Baghdad sent his servant to the marketplace to buy provisions. And after a while, the servant came back, white-faced and trembling, and said, "Master, when I was in the marketplace, I was jostled by a woman in the crowd, and I turned to look, and I saw that it was Death that jostled me. And she looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Oh, Master, please, lend me your horse, that I may ride away from this city and escape my fate. I will ride to Samara, and Death will not find me there." So the merchant loaned him the horse, and the servant mounted it and dug his spurs into its flank, and as fast as the horse could gallop, he rode towards Samara. Then the merchant went to the marketplace, and he saw Death standing in the crowd, and he said to her, "Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?" And Death said, "I made no threatening gesture. That was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him here in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samara."
- Crazy creditsThe film's original theatrical prints began with a written title card that read, "Why gun control? Why did a lunatic sniper kill or maim 11 innocent victims in Texas on June 3, 1966? Why were over 7,000 Americans slain or wounded by gunfire in 1967? Why in 1968 after assassinations and thousands of more murders has our country no effective gun control law? This motion picture tells a story that sheds a little light on a very dark and a very deep topic." This title card was added by Paramount Pictures only as a result of the then-recent assassinations of both Doctor Martin Luther King and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, but it was not approved by the film's director, Peter Bogdanovich at all and, as a result of this, it was removed from all later releases of the film, including those for home video.
- Alternate versionsThe film was cut for a "GP" rating only once, mainly for a 1971 re-release of it in order to capitalize on the success of Peter Bogdanovich's then-recent hit film, The Last Picture Show (1971). Later releases of it on home video were all uncut.
- ConnectionsFeatured in 100 Years of Horror: Boris Karloff (1996)
- SoundtracksGreen Rocky Road
(uncredited)
Written and performed by The Daily Flash (Don MacAllister, Steve Lalor, Jon Keliehor and Doug Hastings)
- austex23
- Jan 19, 2001
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $130,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1