***SLIGHT SPOILERS** Granted, I haven't seen this peculiar oddity in the 31-years since it was given a quick American release by Avco-Embassy, who quickly yanked it into apparent oblivion. After 31 years, "Road to Salina" still haunts me with its ravishing, anamorphic cinematography, weird plot, and the astoundingly raw performances by Rita Hayworth (in her next-to-last role, the Sex Goddess of the 1940s looks ravaged, but still astoundingly sexy); Robert Walker Jr.(the image of his talented late father. Walker Jr. was an uncanny replica of his dad, and a a terrific actor in his own right--so where is he now?), and the glorious Mimsy Farmer (the blonde sexpot who lusted after James MacArthur in "Spencer's Mountain," wisely then headed for Rome, where she was typecast as '70s Eurotrash--and wbatever happened to HER? The plot, as I recall, takes place at a desolate Mexican/bordertown/motel, where drifter Walker shows up and is immediately hired by its owner, Ms. Hayworth, who is convinced the sexy stranger is her long-lost son. No problem for nympho Mimsy, who, after drooling over him in the outdoor shower, quickly introduces him to the joys of skinny-dipping (a bold display of frontal nudity; no big deal in the early '70s, now a cause for alarm for the increasingly blue-nosed MPAA_ and rollicking in the altogether in her boudoir. Ed Begley Sr. portrays Hayworth's queasy-geezer companion, and the scene of them doing the frug is a mind-blower! Seething with an undercurrent of carnal desire, plus the appearance of Bruce Pecheur (another handsome traveler who checks into this cursed roadhouse--and is brutally murdered--in the film as in real life two years later). "Road to Salina" is a gorgeously photographed souvenir of '71 (actually 1969, when it was filmed). "Road to Salina" is a hypnotic, dazzlingly photographed, unjustly forgotten (or critically panned) movie of its time. It concluded the careers of two veteran actors (Ms. Hayworth, Ed Begley Sr.), while simultaneously featuring a quartet of talents primed for stardom. Marc Porel whose death in flashbacks nails the real killer (and you will be surprised) died at age 32. "Road to Salina" can easily function as an exercise in morbidity. But enjoy it as audiences did in 1971, and what awaits you is a hypnotic, lusciously-colored, insidious and wickedly mesmerizing psychodrama.
The Betamax copy I bought of this film in the late '70s has long since disappeared. High time for a restored, letterboxed version on Cable-TV or DVD. P.S. POSSIBLE SPOILER: If you want to know the identity of the psycho-killer, look no further than Dario Argento's "FOUR FLIES IN GREY VELVET"!
The Betamax copy I bought of this film in the late '70s has long since disappeared. High time for a restored, letterboxed version on Cable-TV or DVD. P.S. POSSIBLE SPOILER: If you want to know the identity of the psycho-killer, look no further than Dario Argento's "FOUR FLIES IN GREY VELVET"!