The Big Cube
The Big Cube
PG | 30 April 1969 (USA)
The Big Cube Trailers

A young woman and her drug addict boyfriend plot to drive the woman's stepmother insane with LSD in a plot to secure an inheritance.

Reviews
Tockinit not horrible nor great
Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict
Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
wes-connors After a well-received performance, popular platinum blonde actress Lana Turner (as Adriana Roman) announces she is retiring from the stage to start a new life with silver-haired millionaire Daniel "Dan" O'Herlihy (as Charles Winthrop). After the wedding, Ms. Turner gets to know heavily-accented step-daughter Karin Mossberg (as Lisa), who begins a romance with handsome medical student George Chakiris (as Johnny Allen). As it turns out, Mr. Chakiris is quickly revealed to be an LSD-peddling playboy. Chakiris introduces Ms. Mossberg to a psychedelic lifestyle, which irks her parents. After as boating mishap, Chakiris decides to use LSD to drive Turner crazy and gain control of the family's fortune...Chakiris explains, "There are ways of dealing with cats like her," adding later, "Maybe there's no perfect murder, but I think we've figured a perfect freak-out." Possibly extending Anthony Perkin's "Psycho" performance, Chakiris is sometimes impressive. His efforts, however, are clearly wasted in this production. A long-time friend longing for Lana, Richard Egan (as Frederick Lansdale) hedges his bets and does little which can be criticized. In the other co-starring role, Mossberg is forced to walk the acting plank. Others try to act trippy. With generous close-ups, Pamela Rodgers does a dance in her panties...Generally, contemporary filmmakers were unable to capture the 1960s counterculture, if they tried. Most of the films look like unintentional bad parodies. "The Big Cube" falls into this category. When a golden age movie star is added to the cast, the effect became even more ludicrous. Clueless about how to play her character, Turner sounds like both a girlish teenager and a melodramatic matron – even before they plan to drive her crazy. Decked out with outrageous hair and make-up (even for bed), she manages to look good and garish at the same time. After this trip, Turner found her footing again in "The Survivors" (1969-1970), an appropriate evening serial which unfortunately could not support its cost with high ratings.** The Big Cube (4/30/69) Tito Davison ~ Lana Turner, George Chakiris, Karin Mossberg, Richard Egan
rokcomx Lawdy, I just now finally got to see the infamous "Lana Turner trips out on LSD" 1969 freakout flick The Big Cube - nothing I've heard about it could have prepared me! Cross Riot on Sunset Strip with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, the Trip, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, and an episode of Laugh In, and that's The Big Cube! Hippie orgy, LSD club called the Trip with psychedelic bands and acid-soaked sugar cubes, a ton of hysterical hallucinations, and the most UNhip dialogue ever to come out of the mouths of purported hippies! And Lana, wow, just...wow.Real gone, baby. Like, wildsville. Gotta cube those squares, man, cube 'em up big time...
jbarnes-10 I recently purchased "The Big Cube" which has finally been released on DVD. The Picture quality is fantastic, clear, crisp and looks like new. The sound quality is also much better than I expected. It is presented in it's original widescreen format and it's a joy to watch. The music is pretty good,the sets and cinematography are well done. You already know the premise from the other reviewers so I will comment solely on the movie as a whole.This movie is not that bad. Lana looks great in her hip Travilla wardrobe and Karin Mossberg is not that bad of an actress. Mossberg was a very big fashion model in Europe in the late 1960's. Her accent is a bit off putting but she tries to give it her all. The supporting cast looks like they really had fun going to Mexico to make a movie. This is a total camp movie experience, but if you like "Beyond The Valley of The Dolls" you will love "The Big Cube"
moonspinner55 Mexico-U.S. co-production is misguided, if still entertaining, mishmash of the old and the new. Lana Turner (looking sadly aged, even in softened close-up) plays a retired stage actress who has married a wealthy financier, only to have him perish in a boating accident; meanwhile, Turner's straight-laced step-daughter wants to marry a handsome cad, but Lana's objections over the union are keeping the young woman from receiving her full inheritance. The couple attempts to drive Lana crazy by putting the psychedelic drug LSD into her sedatives--and then goading her into committing suicide! Interesting solution to the mental problems Lana ends up having (reenacting her traumatic events on the stage) nearly makes this ridiculous plot worthwhile; unfortunately, director Tito Davison ends the picture with an extended freak-out sequence, complete with George Chakiris crawling on the floor talking to an ant. Davison has some good ideas (and the film's optical effects and cinematography are good), but he needed a judicious editor to eliminate the "modern" excesses which have now turned the film into a camp-fest. ** from ****