Customer Reviews

The Agony of Love/The Girl With the Hungry Eyes

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The talents of Pat Barrington and the late actor/director William Rotsler are on display in this latest Something Weird double feature, with Barrington making the greater impression. She's perfectly cast in "The Agony of Love" (1966) about a lonely housewife who takes to hooking while her neglectful husband is away at work--sort of a low-rent "Belle du Jour." Barrington looks appropriately classy when she needs to, and when her clothes come off she looks sensational. She's definitely got presence. Barrington even does a halfway decent job of projecting her character's inner turmoil, which is a bit more acting skill than I would've expected from her. (OK, I wasn't expecting any acting skill at all.) Too bad the post-dubbed dialog makes everyone sound like they're in cheap cartoon. "The Agony of Love" is also director Rotsler's best movie, or at least the best one I've seen so far. Unlike many of his other films ("Mantis in Lace," or this disk's second feature) this one seems less padded. His script allows for some character development (not that they're incredibly deep characters, but still...), and the continuity errors that pepper his other movies are minimal. He appears in the movie as well (billed as Shannon Carse), as Barrington's "beatnik" lover who slaps her around.

Rotsler's writing and directing skills take a nosedive on the second feature on this disk, 1967's "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes." Reportedly this was Rotsler's attempt to cash in on the success of Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" While "Hungry Eyes" features vicious lesbians, large breasts and fast cars, Rotsler forgot the other elements that made "Faster Pussycat" so much fun, namely the un-flagging action and the total outrageousness. "Hungry Eyes" has a promising opening in which snarling lesbian Tiger Cat and her girlfriend Kitty give a ride to a guy stranded on the roadside. Kitty offers the guy a different kind of ride, and this doesn't sit too well with Tiger Cat, who soon bashes his head in with a rock. Kitty (played by Vicky Dee) gets over the shock of seeing a man murdered before her very eyes by taking a shower. A very looooong shower, long enough to include 20 minutes of Vaseline-on-the-lens flashbacks to her more heterosexual past. Director Rotsler appears on screen (again under his Shannon Carse moniker) as the true love of her life, and we know he's her true love because they spend five full minutes wandering around a park, looking at trees, looking at a bubbling brook, kissing, then checking out those trees again.... Pat Barrington perks things up when she appears at Kitty's all-lesbian birthday party, treating the girls to a bit of topless go go dancing. This, too, ends in tragedy, with Kitty running away and director Rotlser throwing continuity to the wind. He even recycles a few snippets of film from "The Agony of Love" to help pad out this movie's final act. In fact, much of "Hungry Eyes"'s running time is padded out, stretching what should have been an hour-long movie, tops, into a patience-trying 80 minutes.

Extras include a couple shorts featuring Pat Barrington (this time as a blond), as well as another short billed simply as "A Lesbian Hooker Turns a Trick." There are also trailers for such movies as "Cool it, Baby," "Venus in Furs," "Diary of a Swinger" and "Free Love Confidential," as well as the two movies featured on this disk. I'd recommend this disk for "The Agony of Love" alone, or to any hardcore Pat Barrington fans.

Buxom Pat Barrington looks amazingly like Elizabeth Montgomery, when she's playing "Serena," Samantha's mischevious, dark-haired cousin on "Bewitched." But "The Agony of Love" is no sitcom. Pre-dating Luis Bunuel's "Belle Du Jour" by a couple of years, "Agony" centers around Barrington, a housewife who never got enough attention from her father, and whose husband is too busy at the office. Desperate for affection, she starts turning tricks to make herself feel wanted. This is a gritty, tension-rich film which is both a straight-up good film (for Barrington's acting) and pure exploitation B-movie (for the prolonged nudie shots and sex scenes, and for some of the really bad acting, mostly by Pat's husband and shrink). "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" is definitely a Russ Meyer rip-off, obviously stealing from Meyer's "Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!" with the man-hating, hot rod-driving Tigercat character. But if you can forgive the film for being such an obvious copy, it's quite enjoyable. Vicky Dee, who appeared in Meyer's "Common Law Cabin," works quite well as the innocent girlchild who can't decide between Tigercat and all the men who want to be with her. Pat Barrington appears in the middle of the film and almost steals the whole show, with her gyrating belly-dance/striptease she perfroms at a lesbian party. But it is Cathy Crowfoot, as Tigercat, who really makes this film go. These are two of the best Something Weird films I've seen as yet, and I've watched a ton of them lately. Pat Barrington doing a wild dance for her boyfriend while they both trip on LSD is just one of the treats included in the bonus features.

the "agony of love" showcases pat barringtonn to great effect. who knew they did such great implants in the 60's. she is to die for as she runs around with her rock hard breasts and flat stomach in nothing but panties; and as an added bonus for you foot fetish types, she has her long tapered toes licked and fondled a lot in this movie. that alone is worth a look.
and she is the only thing worth watching "the girl with the hungrty eyes" for. as she preforms a 20 minute strip tease and dance.

Made in the time when the drive-ins ruled entertainment, during the golden age of sexploitation smut, "The Agony of Love" is a real standout among many of its competitors of the era, not the least of which is due to that luscious 60's silicone siren, Pat Barrington.

The basics of the plot are pretty much typical of what you can expect to get from a film of this kind and from this period. But while lacking in anything resembling originality, it still manages to give you the goods. Pat Barrington plays a neglected housewife, who hooks on the side, not for the money or the thrills, but to feel loved and desired. While the subject matter might have been consider almost taboo in the 60's, by today's standards it's not really all that shocking. Still, this is certainly no film meant for children.

Pat's obvious physical "talents" are one of the things that separates her from many women in this genre. More than ample, she has probably some of the the nicest body curves of the times. Unlike her physical form, though, her acting abilities are negligible, at best, since her emoting and delivery of dialog is very flat. Yet, in this film, which is one of the few times she ever got a starring role, that seems to work to her (and the film's) benefit. Her monotoned vocal range, when she speaks, as well as the vacant look behind her eyes, is very befitting to the "damaged goods" kind of character she is playing here. Whether more by accident than design, or the director simply playing to her weaknesses and making them a strength, this is most likely the best performance of her career, bar none.

This is William Rotsler's first time out as both writer and director of a film, as well as the first of several times he'd work with Pat Barrington over the course of the decade, but it is easily his best work. The use of some nice camera shots, puts this a step up from other like films of the era. And one scene, where Pat's character discusses a dream with a psychiatrist, is shot with an almost psychedelic flair. It was very much in keeping with the "trippy" 60's vibe, but gave this film something a little extra against its compatriots. Also, the twist ending is one you might not see coming. Rotsler does drag a bit on some of the sexual scenes (which showcase several kinds of fetishes), even though Pat's form is very nice to look at, which feels more like a directorial excess than anything else, but over all it is certainly one of the best shot sexploitation films I've ever seen (and I've watch quite a few).

This would be the last starring role of Pat's career (in which she only had two or three in total). And when the 60's came to a close, she disappeared from the world of film and never returned. Still, she certainly made her mark as one of the most voluptuous vixen of the decade and shown that even a drive-in "skin-flick" could actually be entertaining, for more than just the obvious reasons. It is actually difficult to rate films of this kind, as the standards of them are usually extremely low, but this one has a little something special to it, beyond what you might come to expect of this brand of film. If you are a fan of this film genre, you'd do well to check it out.

"The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" isn't as good, as it doesn't have the artistic egde of the lead feature. It's more a typical example of the grindhouse sexploitation films of the era. On top of that, Pat Barrington only has a smaller supporting role. While it isn't a horrible piece, it didn't really do much for me on any entertainment level. Really, it is the lead fature and the exquisite curves of Pat Barrington that are the the main attraction here. Easily one of Something Weird Video's best offerings.

During the Victorian age the most erotic part of a woman's body was her ankles. That's because men never got to see them.These two SOMETHING WEIRD
gems show just about everything a woman's body can show but some how erotica got left out.Not intentionally I'm sure. With Pat Barrington on display the director had something in mind.It just didn't arrive.The story line with both movies were lame.That's okay if something else makes viewing fun. These two movies weren't fun. The Agony of Love was the better of the two. Pat B. played a neglected wife who turned to prostitution for solace and companionship. Her big line "now that you have bought me what can I do for you".The problem was even with Pat bare except for her panties there's something about a man laying next to a naked woman thrashing around simulating sex with out touching her better parts and with dress pants on.It was probably sleaze for the sixties but it looked down right rediculous.That was pretty much the entire movie.A little supprise at the end which probably everyone figures out before hand.
THE GIRL WITH THE HUNGRY EYES was just weird.A lesbian lover who went crazy when ever she saw her lover with a man. Crazy enough to kill.The lover spent a big share of the movie dreaming or visioning a man and being with him.However, these sequences were viewed from what looked like the bottom of a soda pop bottle with a small hole drilled in it.Totally distracting.Okay give the director a C- for trying to create art.If you can say watching Pat B. dancing for a group of lesbian lovers in only panties swaying her two wonderfuls around worth the price of admission then you got a winner. If not watch this movie when you're very sleepy.
As is usually the case SOMETHING WEIRD DVD's have a lot of extras. The extras are probably better than the two movies.
Amazon.com has been only charging ten bucks for a lot of The SOMETHING WEIRD DVD's lately.For that price this set isn't bad.