THE SENTINEL (1977)

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 11:52am

Maybe its the fact that I had a cold and was a little out of it while watching this one, but this is the perfect pizza movie. Hardly a classic of 70's horror, but lots of fun and a reminant of a time when the horror genre still could make some bank at the box office.

Its got everything: Uber-Catholicism, fashion models with overbites, cameltoe, the most beautiful house in Brooklyn Heights available for only $500--no, $400--a month, spontaneous suicide attempts, spontaneous public masturbation, an all-star cast with name actors who keep popping up in minor roles, quaint homophobia, and a scene in the middle that actually shocked me (Dick Smith did the makeup effects).

Good fun, reminiscent of an Italian giallo.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 11:54am

Haven't seen this in years! Love that film!

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 6:46pm

I actually bought the DVD last Halloween. I love it for all the reasons Borstal mentioned.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 8:28pm

Let us not forget sweet kindly Burgess Meredith summoning up the minions from hell - real side show freaks.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 4:46pm

The Sentinel lobby cards

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 8:17pm

I have it in my Netflix queue based on memories of seeing it on HBO when I was a teenager. Between the Sylvia Miles accent ("It's wather wude to eat and wun.") and the...ummm...nose, it was a guilty pleasure even back then.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 6:35am

I saw it first on HBO, several decades ago, long before I bought the DVD last Halloween ...

... and I swear I don't ever remember seeing that lesbian masturbation scene with Sylvia Miles and Beverly D'Angelo. I was shocked when it was playing on the DVD!

I read somewhere that it was cut not long after the film opened, due to so many objections from theatres and moviegoers. It's definitely a freaky scene, and D'Angelo goes so far over the top with it, it's pretty brilliant in an "OMG, did she really just do that?" way.

To the best of my recollection (and I only saw it once or twice), that scene was new to me on the DVD.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 11:46am

The cast was just bananas!

Chris Sarandon, Cristina Raines, Martin Balsam, John Carradine, Jose Ferrer, Ava Gardner, Arthur Kennedy, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, Deborah Raffin, Eli Wallach, Christopher Walken, Jerry Orbach, Beverly D;Angelo, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Charles Kimnrough.

Grant you some of these actors wer not household names when they made this but they are now (more or less) and it's fun watching this film and seeing who's going to turn up next.

And just what the heck happened to Cristina Raines?

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 12:04pm

Her (leading) part was originally offered to Kate Jackson, who turned it down.

Kate also turned down Kramer vs. Kramer ... yes, the Meryl Streep part.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 12:17pm

Yes I knew that.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/2/12 at 3:55am

yep, it's on yootoob

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 10/4/12 at 3:43pm

Just wanted to let people know that they're going to be showing The Sentinel at the Landmark Loew's in Jersey City as part of their Halloween Fest. It's showing on Saturday 10/27 at 10:40. They will be showing other horror movies all weekend.
For those that haven't been, the Landmark Loew's was built in the 1920's and has been beautifully restored by volunteers. The films are projected on a giant screen and it's cheap! Popcorn only costs $1.00 It's right across the street from the Journal Square PATH stop so it's easy to get to as well.
Landmark Loew's Jersey City

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/4/12 at 6:08pm

My first time viewing The Grapes Of Wrath was sitting in the Jersey a few summers ago. Beautiful theater. To bad St George is no longer up in the clock tower.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/4/12 at 8:01pm

LOL @ MrMidwest and his consistent YooToob links...thanks bro, much appreciated!