No one else could portray neurotic young men quite as well as Anthony Perkins. From Fear Strikes Out to Psycho and beyond, Perkins specialized in playing guys who, despite being burdened with major psychological problems, could still engage an audience’s sympathy — even after committing murder in a spooky old motel.

Though getting a little long in the tooth for such roles by 1968 (he was 36 that year), Perkins remained up to the task for director Noel King’s Pretty Poison. Perkins’ performance in this hard to pigeonhole character study can be enjoyed at 8:30 pm on Friday, August 24th, when the film makes a rare repertory appearance as part of Pacific Film Archive’s annual (and free) sculpture garden lawn screening.

Dennis Pitt (Perkins) is a parolee ready to re-enter society. Having accrued a good record during his confinement (for what is not immediately clear), Pitt makes a misstep with sympathetic case officer Azanauer (John Randolph) by joking – we think! — about the secret course he’s recently taken in interplanetary navigation. The overworked Azanauer has arranged accommodations and a job for him at a lumber mill, and doesn’t want to hear about Dennis’s dreams of piloting the first manned flight to Venus. … Continue reading »