Psycho From Texas (1975)
Directed by Jack Collins & Jim Feazell
Paragon Video VHS
THE FILM
Wheeler and Slick kidnap Mr. Phillips, retired oil man, and do a really half-assed job of the whole thing. Slick's a little slow. He spends the first third of the movie chewing on something. It might be a match but, I don't know, he really gets into it. I kept worrying about splinters. Wheeler is our Psycho From Texas, although the film takes place in Texas so it's not as if he's a psycho traveling the country. He's close to home.
Wheeler has the occasional flashback moments (close-up of his face, synths sliding around) that show his Mom having sex with a guy and then Wheeler standing by a bed with a murdered woman in it. So, he is crazy. His haircut seems to belie that but he definitely has his wacky moments. The true fun of this movie, however, doesn't really come from the characters or their very casual kidnap plot. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ruin most of the movie in order to tell you why I like it.
Here goes...
It's a little over a half-hour into the movie and Wheeler & Slick have taken Mr. Phillips to a cabin in the woods. Wheeler goes back to town, ostensibly to report to the Kidnap Ringleader that the job is done. But, once he's done that, he decides to spend the afternoon just hanging around with 100 bucks he got from Phillips. Slick stays at the cabin...and immediately falls asleep. Mr. Phillips escapes. A rather arduous chase begins, through the woods, through the mud, through the river, through the bogs...And, here's why I like Psycho From Texas...
Wheeler, full of confidence, goes into town. He hangs around. He spends some cash. He buys some KFC. He goes to Mr. Phillips's house to harass his daughter. He ends up killing the daughter of the Sheriff when she comes to visit. And, after that, he goes to a bar and makes Linnea Quigley strip and pours beer on her. The whole time that this goes on the Kidnap Attempt is falling apart. As Wheeler hangs out with the daughter, Slick and Phillips run all through the woods. They run almost a half hour. And, the film keeps cutting from the chase, which I really did not know the outcome of, to Wheeler being a psycho.
Then, Phillips kills Slick and the kidnapping is over. The cops are called in. The man who arranged it is caught by a cop played by the lead man from .357 Magnum. And, the world is, more or less, put to rights. But, Wheeler is still in town, hanging out, with absolutely no idea that the whole plan has collapsed. The movie ends as he is driving back to the cabin and meets up with the Sheriff.
Sorry to ramble on there but the best part of this film is that structure. So much so that, in the last 20 minutes, when they reverse it and the cop is chasing the Kidnap Ringleader while we intercut with Wheeler in the Quigley bar, things slow down. I really didn't know how the Phillips/Slick chase would end but I knew that the cop would catch the bad guy. (It's the guy from .357 Magnum for God's Sake!) As Wheeler goes about his Psycho business, the tension of whether or not Phillips will get away keeps the film going. But, after that hefty chase, I wanted the film to reach its conclusion a little quicker than it did. it's not really a problem because I wanted to know what was going to happen to Wheeler but I definitely felt the last 20 minutes.
Good God. That's the most blab I've written about a movie in some time. Let's not go crazy, though. The film has its troubles (the discovery of the Kidnap Ringleader is a bit garbled, the last 20 minutes, as I mentioned, are slightly draggy and Wheeler's psyche isn't quite as well explored as the film seems to think) and, if it wasn't called Psycho From Texas (and I don't believe it actually is), I would have watched it as a straightforward drama. The title made me think it was horror. It isn't. Not counting the flashback murder, there are four killings. Wheeler kills the Sheriff's daughter for the first one. The other three are the members of the kidnap team. That does seem strange as I think about it.
And then, there's Linnea Quigley. Even at this young age, she's not afraid to be completely nude for long periods of time. And, to be honest, I wasn't afraid either.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
The audio was fine on my very old Paragon VHS tape. The picture was a touch on the hazy side but I loved it. My tape had one problem: The housekeeper in Phillips's house opens a cabinet. Then, my tape stopped and rewound. I could not get it to play about 10 seconds of the film. The next moment I could watch was the screaming housekeeper running through the dining room. So, I never actually saw the body of the person Wheeler kills. I thought it was a strange place for my tape to burp like that.
EXTRAS
Nothing. A very misleading and spoiler-filled photo is on the back of the VHS case. So, don't look.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It's a well-made, interestingly structured piece that feels like it could have worked perfectly as an hour-long episode of an anthology program, maybe starting with the kidnap and the chase. The filmmakers do do a decent job of making it all interesting, though. It does feel a little underdone in spots (as if, once they hit on the chase idea, it exhausted their creative energy for the film) but I'd watch it again.
I'll meet you in Texas. Ask for Slick. That's not his real name. That's just what folks call him. (They're making fun of you, Slick.)
— Dan Budnik, 10.07.10 |
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