Ruby *** (1977, Piper Laurie, Stuart Whitman, Janit Baldwin, Roger Davis) – Classic Movie Review 12,674

Piper Laurie brings some considerable extra colour to Curtis Harrington’s already colourful, gory and just plain weird 1977 supernatural chiller film Ruby.

Piper Laurie brings some considerable extra colour to Curtis Harrington’s already colourful, gory and just plain weird 1977 supernatural chiller film Ruby, starring as Ruby Claire, a sometime gangster’s moll, who may have had a part in the gangster’s untimely demise years earlier. In 1951 Florida, Ruby now runs a drive-in theatre in the backwoods near her home, where bizarre supernatural occurrences plague her staff of ex-mobsters, as well as her mute 16-year-old daughter, Leslie Claire.

Janit Baldwin plays the daughter, who now wants to know the truth of whatever happened to daddy. Back in 1935 Florida, in the swamp-ridden backwoods, mobster Nicky Rocco (Sal Vecchio) is betrayed and he is executed while his pregnant gun moll Ruby Claire watches on. Rocco swears vengeance with his last breath, and she goes into labour.

Nowadays in 1951, Ruby oversees the drive-in and recalls her days as a lounge singer, while Leslie lives at home with Ruby, her lover and henchman Vince (Stuart Whitman), and Jake Miller (Fred Kohler Jr), a blind, wheelchair-bound former mobster who had his eyes cut out.

It is a tremendous set-up, and the film could have been a real contender, but with the way this storyline runs it’s not great, though cult director Harrington still manages to keep it on the rails, with its weirdness being its main asset. The three-time Oscar nominated Piper Laurie was probably wondering what she was doing in this $600,000 low-budget shocker, but she gives it her all anyway. The film is an attractive, fascinating curio.

The main cast are Piper Laurie, Stuart Whitman, Janit Baldwin, and Roger Davis.

It runs 85 minutes.

Ruby (1977, Piper Laurie).

Principal photography began in Los Angeles in September 1976 under the working title Blood Ruby.

The film playing in the drive-in is the revered 1958 cult classic Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

Ruby was released in the US by Dimension Pictures on 29 June 1977. It was a hit, grossing $16 million.

The film was long available on video in the US only as a re-edited version for TV, omitting the R-rated violence and adding new dialogue scenes, apparently re-shot by director Stephanie Rothman. The DVD was released on 26 June 2001 in the original theatrical version in widescreen, but with co-writer/producer Steve Krantz’s abrupt, horror ending rather than Harrington’s intended romantic one.

Ruby is directed by Curtis Harrington, runs 85 minutes, is distributed by Dimension Pictures, is written by George Edwards, Steve Krantz and Barry Schneider, is shot by William Mendenhall, is produced by George Edwards and Steve Krantz, and is scored by Don Ellis.

The cast are Piper Laurie as Ruby Claire, Stuart Whitman as Vince Kemper, Roger Davis as Dr Paul Keller, Janit Baldwin as Leslie Claire, Sal Vecchio as Nicky Rocco, Paul Kent as Louie, Len Lesser as Barney, Crystin Sinclaire as Lila June, Jack Perkins as Avery, Eddy Donno as Jess Littinger, Fred Kohler Jr as Jake Miller, Rory Stevens as Donny, Raymond Kark as 1st Man, Jan Burrell as 1st Woman, Kip Gillespie as Herbie, Tamar Cooper as A Woman, Patricia Allison as Pickup Man’s Wife, Stu Olson as A Man, Mary Margaret Robinson as Sheriff’s Wife Maybelline, and Michael Alldredge as Sheriff’s Wife’s Date.

Curtis Harrington also directed Games (1967), How Awful About Allan (TV, 1970), Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971), What’s the Matter with Helen? (1971), The Killing Kind (1973), The Cat Creature (TV, 1973), and Killer Bees (TV, 1974).

Piper Laurie (born Rosetta Jacobs on 22 January 1932) died in Los Angeles on October 14, 2023, aged 91, after a lengthy illness. Though Oscar nominated as Best Actress for The Hustler and Best Supporting Actress for Carrie and Children of a Lesser God, she did not win an Oscar.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,674

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