Wednesday, January 13, 2010

rain in the sky, make the world fly, into time, beg me your time

A drug exploitation film from 1969, The Big Cube stars Lana Turner as former stage actress Adriana Roman, who is unknowingly ingesting LSD by her bitter stepdaughter following the death of her husband. Her stepdaughter Lisa (Karin Mossberg, whose thick accent explained by the fact her character was shipped off to Swiss boarding schools at a young age) is a spoiled and naive young woman who quickly falls in with a hard-partying group of attractive LSD users, her best friend being Bibi, a ditzy and rather promiscuous redhead who gyrates her way onto the screen and does a complete striptease within the first half-hour of the film. Lisa quickly catches the eye of Johnny (George Chakiris, good in his role but not quite the same without the Puerto Rican accent and dancing with Rita Moreno and Russ Tamblyn), a playboy med student who takes a quick liking to Lisa's wealthy way of life.
After Lisa's father is killed in a boating accident, Johnny convinces her to give Adriana pills full of LSD to get 'revenge' and drive her to insanity, therefore speeding up the inheritance so that Johnny and Lisa can be wed. As their plan goes into action, Lisa's wardrobe changes from white minidresses and pearls to dark navy sweaters and military style coats. The film is a delightfully campy film in the way that the hippie generation is portrayed as spoiled evil children out to destroy their parents and ultimately themselves. But they dress so fabulously when doing so!
Whether it is the drug 'Queen Bee' in a black-and-yellow midriff top and bell bottom ensemble with pink eye pasties to match, or Bibi running across screen in a crystal bandeau top with thick white suspender-type straps connected to a short white miniskirt, or Lisa's see-through sleeves on her wedding dress that is only rivaled by her teased hair (similar to International Velvet or the entire cast of Valley of the Dolls).

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