william m
Few reviewers seem to understand the depth of this movie. It is NOT a gentle movie about race relations. It is a powerful movie about not only race, but also humiliation and domination. The scene where the prim, proper, respected and brilliant teacher swallows all her pride, and utterly and completely humiliates herself by crawling on hands and knees to her lover, completely submissive in response to his commands, is extremely powerful and incredibly erotic.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
Perhaps the most bizarre exploitation melodrama ever produced, Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff's often jarring transitions between graphic sexual content and sober examinations of midcentury racial and social politics is truly a curious sight to behold.
And while director Marvin J. Chomsky could have chosen to leave out the more explicitly erotic scenes, his decision to include such shocking images as Anne Heywood burning her bare breasts on a steaming hot radiator while engaging in rough intercourse with John Lafayette, transforms the movie into its own twisted cinematic animal.
Not only does the white virgin Miss Wyckoff undergo a sexual and emotional awakening in 1950s Kansas after carrying on a sadomasochistic and demeaning affair with the younger black janitor that raped her, she regards this unhealthy relationship as both "inevitable" and not regrettable.
Controversial even by today's standards, one can only imagine the number of jaws that dropped during its original 1979 theatrical run!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This film is so horrible that it's wonderful.
While the filmmakers might have had earnest intentions, "Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff," is an unintentional comedy. This little-known gem is perfect for a party with your film-buff friends; give everyone a pad to keep a list of "things gone wrong" with this film. Problems range from bad acting and poor directing to scenes that are just blatantly offensive. The person with the longest list wins – and that will be a very long list.
This 1979 movie is based on a book by William Inge, who also wrote Picnic and Bus Stop. Miss Wyckoff is a school teacher in 1956 Kansas. She experiences menopause at age 35. She's also a virgin. To curb her emotional instability, her doctor recommends she find a man. And while she does exactly that, this is where the film goes from bad to insanely bad.
Poor Miss Wyckoff is raped. She is raped by a student. An African-American student. She also seems to fall in love with the student and so goes to him for more. Again. And again. (That happens after every rape, doesn't it?) The repercussions might not be pleasant for a woman in 1950s Kansas, and she knows that. So she keeps it secret.
As Miss Wyckoff, 47-year-old Anne Heywood does a decent job of minimizing her British accent. Yet, despite her headstrong approach to the role, she is convincing neither as a woman 12 years her junior, nor as a Kansas schoolteacher, nor as a virgin.
The rape scene in itself shows everything that is wrong with the entire film. While it tries to appear on the side of moral righteousness, it also tries to keep the scene titillating. The camera makes sure we see her ample breasts. The camera also lingers lasciviously on the. . . well, let's just say this isn't a movie to watch with your family. It's as if Mr. Inge's original script was hijacked by producers who really just wanted to make a porn flick.
Worth noting is some astonishingly bad acting from Robert Vaughn, Miss Wyckoff's physician. It's hard to imagine any woman letting a doctor this menacing go anywhere near her private parts. Which is what we see him do. Conversely, some scenes are saved by the (post-Addams Family) Carolyn Jones – frighteningly believable as a bigoted, spinsterish Kansas schoolteacher. Her nastiness seems closer to the core of what Mr. Inge had wanted us to see in his original book.
In one of the most stupefying film scenes of all time, a horrible note is put on Miss Wyckoff's classroom door. The students are gathered and Miss Wyckoff must push through them to see what's been written. Yet the extras playing the students are silent and their faces are blank: These inexperienced background extras were not told how to behave, and so they're just hanging out silently, waiting for… Godot? Some are not even facing the direction of the shocking note. To stretch credibility more, Miss Wyckoff hangs her head in shame, opens the door, and enters – without even pulling down the vicious note which remains for each student to read as they follow her one-by-one. This one scene deserves an award for having the most people "asleep at the wheel" when assembling a film…
Watch it. Invite your friends over, and give them each a pad and a pen. When you compare lists you'll see more and more things "gone wrong." You might even want to re-watch parts, as did I, when you ask "Did that thing in that scene really happen?"
Yes, it did
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
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