Serious Buchanan

HIGH YELLOW-1965-17 year old Cindy (Cynthia Hull) is the new maid for Hollywood producer Harry Langley (Bob Brown), his freaky wife (Anne MacAdams aka Annabelle Weenick), his hip flirty daughter Judy (Kay Taylor) and son George (Warren Hammack), thrown out of college for being a “queer boy”. No sooner does she get there when gardener Major Bates (Bill Thurman) kills a rabbit in front of her. Then Harry and George have a confrontation over George’s “queer-ness” and Harry's war record. The butler/chauffeur Joseph (Bill McGhee) lectures Cindy about her light skin (High Yellow is a Southern term for a light skinned black person; now considered a racial slur) because she believes she could pass for white and then he shows her how to set a table. The family seems more like some decadent out of touch Southern white trash than one living in the heart of Tinseltown. 

Judy takes Cindy to the Disc A Go-Go where everyone frugs violently. She successfully passes for white but again Joseph lectures her. Later George relates in heart wrenching detail to Cindy his run in with a transvestite that labeled a “queer boy”. They have sex. The next morning Judy is found dead. The investigating detective suspects the major and uses Cindy to help catch him. She's nearly killed though. Cindy and George declare their love but Cindy knows they can never be together. She leaves now content with herself. 

This interesting thought provoking low budget black and white drama from writer/director Larry Buchanan is well done and kind of ahead of it's time though it suffers from some preachy dialogue. It's too bad he's mostly remembered for his cheap incompetent direct to TV remakes for AIP.

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Buchanan

THE CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE-1966-More Larry Buchanan madness with John Agar as a geologist looking for oil in the swamps with a trio of crooks. They run into the crazy experiments of Dr. Trent (Tony Houston; also the screenwriter) who is trying to make a fish monster out of a man! He feeds his failures to some stock footage crocodiles. Meanwhile the locals practice voodoo (called “snake worship”). Except for Agar the acting in this is quite comical. Especially Huston, an amateur ham who would make Shatner seem like Olivier! (“My beautiful indestructible fish man”). Francine York is Mrs. Trent and Bill McGhee (Ben in DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT) is a dim-witted servant. Buchanan regular Bill Thurman is one of the crooks and the swamp creature.

Buchanan throws in some interesting camera angles but otherwise it's pretty boring. Agar also starred (with Houston) in Buchanan's ZONTAR: THE THING FROM VENUS the same year!

Thanks for reading!