Customer Reviews

Manipulator, The (1971)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let's put THE MANIPULTOR (1971) in proper perspective. It's neither a five star or a 1 star film, but somewhere in-between, based solely on modern standards.

This one's an anachronism: a three-actor leftover of the 60s art craze that, when not being totally repulsive succeeds admirably in illustrating manic psychosis and its accompanying hallucinations. The actress bound to a wheelchair by strips of torn bedsheet and starved to the point of collapse runs through an emotional gamut as she struggles vainly against her restraints. By turn she's plaintive, flattering, cooperative, sullen, numb, outraged, and frightened to death.

Mr. Lang (Mickey Rooney) maintains a tenuous grip on sanity's edges but at times he simply lets go. At these moments his racing mind populates an empty, decrepit movie studio with demonic revelers engaging in a bacchanal of the damned. Whether these nightmarish crowds are self-indulgent or involuntary is never made clear, but in the quiet interludes, Lang "directs" his own distorted version of the 1950 José Ferrer swashbuckler CYRANO DE BERGERAC, with captive Carlotta (Luana Anders) as his own private Roxanne and gentle, stumbling wino 'old Charlie' (Keenan Wynn) surrogate for the poem-wielding swordsman's dozens of victims.

Anyone familiar with Cyrano's story knows its conclusion, thus Lang's demise is a fait accompli. What isn't expected however is that with his death and her own liberation, Carlotta doesn't flee her studio prison but instead acknowledges the plaudits of Lang's imaginary crowd. She is herself in the end either also quite mad or has inherited the demon that dwelt within Lang until that final breath.

Granted, Mickey Rooney's performance is a tour-de-'farce,' but make no mistake: you have never experienced its like before and will never again. THE MANIPULATOR is not for anyone seeking black and white logic. Nor will fans of blood buckets cinema be satisfied, and if you're looking for a pleasant diversion it's also not to be found here, yet thanks to the immensely talented "Mick," what we have ultimately is a graphic depiction of the mania that can be caused by simply being alive.


"The Manipulator" is also available as part of the DRIVE IN CLASSICS 50 MOVIE PACK from Mill Creek Entertainment.

This movie KICKS ASS! I have a fairly large horror movie collection and I have to say, this is TWISTED! Pretty low budget I presume...tiny cast as well. I have to say I think they did a lot with it. It's featured in one of those mill creek 50 packs. The drive-in movie classics, to be exact. I thought this was one of the BETTER ones in there, and way way scarier than any of the nonsense coming out today.

Mickey Rooney is a great actor, but this movie sucks, because it's boring, depressing, and has a silly plot about some crazy guy forcing a woman to act in a fake movie with fake actors and fake crew! IT'S CRAZY!!!

This is the worst film of Mickey Rooney's career; it is certainly one of the worst movies I have ever seen. This film is relentless and nearly unbearable. Rooney plays a washed-up Hollywood makeup artist (Mr. Lang), who kidnaps the starlet Luana Anders (Carlotta) and endlessly makes her rehearse her role (Roxanne) in Cyrano de Bergerac. For clarity Rooney wears a ludicrous nasal appliance, just to be sure we understand what's going on.

Rooney has numerous rantings, normally at the top of his lungs ("I don't know what love is, and I haven't had time to find out!"; "Green is the strongest of all colors!"; and "Fear is the universal disease!", for just a random sampling) and performs many embarrassing song and dance numbers, many in fast motion (think Charlie Chaplin on acid); there are also many surrealistic flashbacks that make absolutely zero sense. Unfortunately, to accentuate your agony, the director thought it would be an excellent idea to add overpowering electronic synthesizer music in no recognizable time signature: think of John Cage's experimental HPSCHD for computer, harpsichord, and synthesizer only less melodious. This all combines tortuously with endless scenes of Anders screaming and failing to get away from Rooney: she gets outside once; how could she not get away from Mickey Rooney, a man not known for his athletic prowess?

Eventually when the movie seems to have nowhere to go, Keenan Wynn makes a surprise and confusing guest appearance as the only likable character in the film, Old Charlie. Old Charlie basically serves as the nicer, less-crazy old coot, who is perceived as a threat by Rooney, and therefore Rooney, in character as Cyrano, stabs him with his fencing foil. This leads to a chase scene through a meat packing plant (really) and into a montage of a very formal party in said slaughterhouse. Clearly the director, Yabo Yablonsky, wanted us to believe this is a high art piece, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

After all the screaming, the pointless surrealism, the chasing, the drama, the dancing with a broom, the most uncomfortable kiss in screen history, and having seen Mickey Rooney in lipstick, blush, and blue eye shadow, all I can say is that this was one of the most vile and unpleasant viewing experiences of my life, and I wouldn't recommend "The Manipulator" to my worst enemy.

The only manipulation here is in getting someone to watch it: don't let it be you.