classicsoncall Review of Waterhole #3

Waterhole #3 (1967)

"It kind of makes your tongue coat up, don't it?"

[6/10 · 4 April 2017]

Maybe this is a movie Hitchcock saw before directing his 1972 picture "Frenzy". In that film, there's a scene of a businessman discussing the story's 'necktie murders' which also involve rape, and he says "I suppose it's nice to know every cloud has a silver lining", as it relates to a victim who was raped before being killed. I couldn't believe it then and I can't believe it with this movie, the attitude taken by the screen writers and director in taking an approach that brushes the subject off as just one of those things. OK, I can understand the parody aspects to the picture as it moves along, but that message of tolerance for a despicable act unnerves me even as I write about it. And to see such talented actors as James Coburn and Carroll O'Connor involved in the denigration of Sheriff John's (O'Connor) daughter was a bit hard to take. Granted, 1967 was a half century ago and I don't mean to go totally PC about it, but it did a lot to detract from this viewer's enjoyment of the picture. Not to mention the way it tarnished the actual comedic moments in the story.