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Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726
Published by:
Pif, LLC
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Cul-de-sac (1966)
Reviewed by Nick Burton
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Roman Polanski has made his share of memorable films, from his first feature, Knife in the Water (1962) to his 1965 tale of suburban madness Repulsion and its closely related exercise in horror, The Tenant (1977), not to mention Chinatown (1974) and his underrated 1971 version of Macbeth. Nonetheless, Polanski’s masterpiece is his 1966 Cul-de-sac, a stylish black comedy written by Polanski and Gerard Brach under the influence of playwrights Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. (Indeed, the film’s original working title was Waiting for Katlebach.) Rarely seen at all anymore - it’s not available on tape or disc as far as I know - it has been re-made at least once (The Ref with Kevin Spacey and Dennis Leary). Its story is echoed in Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, and a quick search shows there is even a Web page dedicated to the film, complete with stills and behind the scenes trivia. So why all the attendant cult fuss? |
 Cul-de-sac Starring: Donald Pleasence Directed by:Roman Polanski Not Available on video Not Rated |
Cul-de-sac stars the late Donald Pleasance as George, a manufacturer who has effectively retired from civilization with his earthy, young French wife (played by Francoise Dorleac, Catherine Deneuve’s older sister) in a small castle on a tiny island on the gray English coast (supposedly the castle where Sir Walter Scott wrote Rob Roy). Into George’s refuge from society come two more of its outcasts – gangsters on the lam from a disastrous job. Dickie (Lionel Stander) and Albie (Jack McGowran), bruised and broken, have commandeered a driving instructor's car, which Dickie pushes down the long causeway near George’s castle, and which contains the mortally wounded Albie. Dickie leaves Albie to get help, coming across George’s little corner of the world.
When Dickie arrives, George is giddily playing dress-up with his wife Teresa (whom the audience and Dickie have already seen dallying topless with a local boy), letting her make him up – instantly calling his masculinity into question for Dickie. Gruff and grizzled, Dickie is the epitome of the tough American gangster. While George is instantly fearful, Teresa is not impressed, though she plays along with her new hostage status. Outside, the tide is rising over the causeway where Albie is still stuck. Dickie makes George and Teresa help him get Albie to the castle.
Albie does not last long, though, and it looks like Dickie’s boss, the Godot-like Katlebach, is taking his time to come to his rescue. Dickie buries Albie in the sand near the castle and is joined by Teresa first, and then George. George engages Dickie in a long, drunken confession about his marriage to the younger Teresa. Soon everyone seems at ease with the situation, until visitors arrive, unannounced. Not just any visitors, but friends whom knew George’s first wife. How to explain Dickie’s presence? Teresa makes him James, the butler, and now Dickie has to play the role of servant instead of master.
The guests are hilariously repulsive, complete with a foul-mouthed little boy (who calls Teresa a "fucking bitch" at one point) and fires a shotgun through the stained glass windows of the castle. George finally kicks them all out, but when Dickie tries to reinstate himself as the captor, things come to a head, leading to a final, violent snapping of George’s strained tolerance.
Remarkable in its execution, the black and white photography by Gilbert Taylor (who also shot A Hard Days Night and Dr. Strangelove) is among the best in any film ever made, the jazzy music by the late Krystof Komeda is wonderfully memorable, and the performances are all outstanding. Pleasance, with his shaved head, makes a perfect, if not literal egghead, and the gravel-voiced veteran character actor Stander is brilliant. What gives the film its kick, however, is watching Pleasance - just a guy who wants to be left alone to paint naked pictures of his sexy young and bored wife - react to the situations that test everything within him. When the final burst of violence does come, Pleasance seems as surprised by it as we are, having had to dredge it out from under a lifetime of suppression and denial over his current situation. By turns dark, serious, funny and wonderfully surreal, this is a great film. It represents Polanksi’s most complete look at what may be his favorite topic - the madness that lurks just beneath the surface in us all.
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Nick Burton lives in Newport Beach, California. His fiction has appeared in many small press and web publications, including: Chronicles Of Fiction, Pauper, and of course Pif.