IMDb RATING
6.8/10
6.7K
YOUR RATING
After a twenty-year stay at an asylum for a double murder, a mother returns to her estranged daughter where suspicions arise about her behavior.After a twenty-year stay at an asylum for a double murder, a mother returns to her estranged daughter where suspicions arise about her behavior.After a twenty-year stay at an asylum for a double murder, a mother returns to her estranged daughter where suspicions arise about her behavior.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Vicki Cos
- Carol Harbin - Age 3
- (uncredited)
Patricia Crest
- Stella Fulton
- (uncredited)
Laura Hess
- Second Little Girl
- (uncredited)
Patty Lee
- First Little Girl
- (uncredited)
Lynn Lundgren
- Beautician
- (uncredited)
Lee Majors
- Frank Harbin
- (uncredited)
Robert Ward
- Shoe Clerk
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFeature-film debut of Lee Majors, who plays the small role of Lucy Harbin's (Joan Crawford's) husband in the flashback scene. He got the part when his good friend Rock Hudson asked William Castle to please find a job for the 23-year-old actor.
- GoofsThe steering wheel of the car in which Joan Crawford and Diane Baker are riding is a dark color. When they get out of the car, a white steering wheel can be seen through the windshield.
- Quotes
Carol Harbin: Their first mistake was thinking that the child was asleep. The second mistake was that the wife had decided to come home that night on the train.
- Crazy creditsThe Columbia Pictures logo at the end of the film has the Torch Lady's head chopped off and placed at her feet, and her torch light extinguished.
- ConnectionsEdited into Battle-Axe: The Making of 'Strait-Jacket' (2002)
- SoundtracksThere Goes That Song Again
(Written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn)
Written for the film Carolina Blues (1944) (1944) and performed by Harry Babbitt and Kay Kyser's orchestra.
Featured review
She Was All Woman...And Knew It
And so with those words begins this wacked out slasher film/murder mystery that shows Joan Crawford lopping off the heads of her husband and his girlfriend while they lie in post-coital repose -- and that's before the opening credits have even started!
"Strait-Jacket" has the look and feel of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and all of those other exploitative films from the 1960s that put once-great declining actresses in campy schlock and let audiences howl at them. But somehow, this movie doesn't feel exploitative. If Joan Crawford had delivered a bad performance, it would have. But she tackles the role with such seriousness and commitment that she single-handedly ends up selling the film to you, and making you genuinely care about her character and what happens to her. Joan Crawford may have been hell to live and work with in her personal life, but it takes an actress with a unique skill to make a film like this not only competent, but almost fascinating.
As for the movie itself, it's laughably predictable. I called the "surprise" ending about fifteen minutes into the film, and then talked myself out of it because I thought it would be too obvious. Well, I should have stuck to my guns, but it didn't much matter -- by the end I was no longer watching the film for the ending -- I was watching it for Joan, which is the only reason (albeit a damn good one) for watching this film at all.
Grade: B
"Strait-Jacket" has the look and feel of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and all of those other exploitative films from the 1960s that put once-great declining actresses in campy schlock and let audiences howl at them. But somehow, this movie doesn't feel exploitative. If Joan Crawford had delivered a bad performance, it would have. But she tackles the role with such seriousness and commitment that she single-handedly ends up selling the film to you, and making you genuinely care about her character and what happens to her. Joan Crawford may have been hell to live and work with in her personal life, but it takes an actress with a unique skill to make a film like this not only competent, but almost fascinating.
As for the movie itself, it's laughably predictable. I called the "surprise" ending about fifteen minutes into the film, and then talked myself out of it because I thought it would be too obvious. Well, I should have stuck to my guns, but it didn't much matter -- by the end I was no longer watching the film for the ending -- I was watching it for Joan, which is the only reason (albeit a damn good one) for watching this film at all.
Grade: B
helpful•175
- evanston_dad
- Sep 7, 2006
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $550,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $124
- Runtime1 hour 33 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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