"Stanley" was a 1972 Crown International release that has gained quite a cult following despite its many TV prints shorn of much violence, all of which is decidedly un-PC (the 70s were a fearless decade). Director William Grefe was a Miami-based filmmaker responsible for numerous cult titles from the 60s and 70s: "Sting of Death," "Death Curse of Tartu," "The Wild Rebels," "The Hooked Generation," "Impulse," and "Mako: The Jaws of Death," who saw the box office returns of 1971's "Willard," about a young man using rats to avenge himself against his enemies, and believed that 'animal horror' was the trend to follow, dreaming the entire plot of "Stanley," using rattlesnakes instead of rodents. Given a five month deadline to write, cast, film, edit, and have the film ready for the drive-in trade, he first needed all of his ideas put into script form over a single weekend, and hired writer Gary Crutcher, whose resume included just three other titles, and cast locals from the Miami area for nearly every role. The lead villain, Alex Rocco, just happened to be present on a promotional tour for his just completed "The Godfather," while top billed star Chris Robinson was living in Miami, a longtime TV veteran who had never before worked with snakes. Robinson had made his movie debut in Roger Corman's 1959 South Dakota-lensed "Beast from Haunted Cave," creating and playing the Beast, and after "Stanley" directed two drive-in features himself in Florida, "Charcoal Black" and "Thunder County." Interiors were done at the famous Ivan Tors facility, the site of TV shows like GENTLE BEN and FLIPPER, while the swamp scenes were shot mere minutes away from the studio. Singer/songwriter Jack Vino contributed two lovely nature-based theme songs that lent a great deal of stature to the unpleasantness caught on camera (no longer possible today), produced by co-star Steve Alaimo, a past hitmaker in the music industry. Grefe, Crutcher, Robinson, and Alaimo all appear on screen to discuss various aspects of the production, and its timely release in April 1972, where it did as well as Alex Rocco's better known "The Godfather," making back its cost practically overnight. At 43 minutes this documentary never wears out its welcome, and succeeds in conveying the sense of fun involved in low budget movie making, normally expected to be a nerve wracking experience, Grefe's best story being the ultimate fate of the on screen Stanley, who became a wallet! It has been said, but remains accurate in this case, they just don't make 'em like this anymore.
2 Reviews
An excellent and informative retrospective documentary
Woodyanders30 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This nifty retrospective documentary covers a lot of ground on the making of the low-budget early 70's killer snake horror opus "Stanley." Director William Grefe reveals that he first got the idea for the premise from reading about the box office success of "Willard" in the show business trade paper Variety and dreamed the whole story. Writer Gary Crutcher admits that he penned the script in a few days while flying high on pills. Star Chris Robinson not surprisingly was very cautious about working with poisonous rattlesnakes. Co-star Steve Alaimo discusses how he relished playing a bad guy and talks about how the water for the scene in which his character drowns in quicksand was freezing cold. Moreover, we also learn that Alex Rocco just happened to be in Florida doing a promotional gig for "The Godfather" at the same time the movie was being filmed (Grefe's anecdote about Rocco's reluctance to jump into a swimming pool full of live snakes is absolute gold), the hospital location was at Ivan Tors Studios, how Grefe's easygoing nature made the experience of making "Stanley" fun for everyone on the set, snake wrangler Frank Weed was a total madman who abused the snakes and other animals, and that the movie was a big hit for Crown International Pictures despite receiving excoriating reviews from critics. Recommended viewing for fans of the film.
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