Trailer
Plot summary
Dennis Pitt is a troubled arsonist who has come out of a mental institution and is on parole under Morton Azenauer, his parole officer. He becomes attracted to Sue Ann Stepanek, a high school cheerleader, and wants her to take an interest in him, so he tells her that he works for the CIA. She accepts the story and joins him on the outings he calls missions. Sue Ann lives with her mother, Mrs. Stepanek, who does not approve of Dennis. He tells Sue Ann that the CIA has ordered him to sabotage a factory, and the two of them set out for it.
Cast
- Tom Gormanas First Detective (uncredited)
Show all 20 cast
- Paul Larsonas Mrs. Stepanek's Boyfriend (uncredited)
- Dan Morganas Man at Police Station (uncredited)
- Jay Barneyas (uncredited)
- Timothy Callahanas Plainclothes Cop (uncredited)
- William Fortas Cop (uncredited)
- Maurice Ottingeras Highway Policeman (uncredited)
- George Ryanas Drillmaster (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Pretty Poison (1968)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Fox opened it without critics screenings, which they do with very bad pictures, on 42nd Street in a semi-porn theater; Pauline Kael and Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern went to see what movie was so terrible Fox would not let them see it, and Kael then seriously over-praised it.
- It was the first film Perkins made in Hollywood since Psycho. Black cast him after seeing him on stage in The Star-Spangled Girl, saying he wanted the young Tony of Friendly Persuasion and Fear Strikes Out, not Psycho, although commentators made the Norman Bates comparison anyway.
- Weld called the movie her least favorite, remembering constant hate, turmoil and dissonance, not a day without a fight, and director Noel Black telling her before a scene to think about Coca-Cola, until she said he should just give the directions to Tony Perkins.
- Lorenzo Semple Jr. was hired to write the screenplay and, when Fox would not pay the $17,000 he wanted, he wrote the script on spec on the understanding that they would split all monies from it.
