Strait-Jacket (1964)

Lucy (Joan Crawford) is sent to an insane asylum after catching her younger husband in bed with another woman. She caught them with an axe. Twenty years later, she is released and stays with her daughter (Diane Baker), who witnessed the murder as a small child. Lucy has difficulties adjusting.

Baker is quite charming as Lucy’s daughter. She would appear in the Hitchcock film Marnie the same year. A young Lee Majors plays the philandering husband in his first credited role. His role was short and got shorter. Us oldies remember him fondly as Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. We can rebuild him, so long as we find the head. At 85, the dude is still acting. Maybe he really is bionic. George Kennedy pays a farm hand.

Two years after What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, Joan must have known she had no business being in this low budget schlocky thriller. But she had reinvented her career twice before by switching genres, so kudos to her for taking chances. Not sure it worked out all that well for her this time. She would appear in only four more feature films, ending with the amazing train wreck Trog.

And Crawford didn’t miss the opportunity to pitch product. A six-pack of Pepsi is conspicuously visible in one scene and the role of the asylum doctor went to Michael Cox, Vice President of Public Relations for Pepsi-Cola. It is his only screen credit.

Strait-Jacket is no better of a production than any other William Castle film, but lacks the playful nature of his earlier work. Crawford puts in a full effort, but the material lets her down. And if you didn’t guess the twist during the first act, you weren’t paying attention. AMRU 2.5.