It starts off as a sexual-romantic melodrama but with hints in the background that there’s a thriller plot here that will eventually kick in.
Robert (John Savage) is a young man who has been away for a couple of years, finding himself or finding America or finding something or other. Now he’s returned to his parents’ home.
He finds that his sister-in-law Joanna (Anne Saxon) has moved in with his parents. Joanna is getting a divorce from Robert’s big brother Edward, because Edward has moved in with his girlfriend Deborah.
There’s an obvious and immediate attraction between Robert and Joanna. We get the feeling that Joanna doesn’t like to be without a man for too long. It’s obvious that within a very short time these two are going to be sharing a bed. That might not be too much of a problem except for one thing. Edward decides to return to his parents’ home as well, and he brings his new girlfriend with him.
Things become more than a little tense.
Edward doesn’t want Joanna any more but his pride is a bit wounded by her obvious sexual hunger for his kid brother. Edward is very tightly wrapped and there’s an edge of violence and nastiness in his makeup. He gets a bit aggressive towards Robert.
While this is happening Joanna has noticed the way Robert and Deborah are looking at each other. Joanna doesn’t like what she sees. She doesn’t like it one little bit. Her pride took a bit of a knock when Edward dumped her for Deborah. She is most definitely not going to let Deborah steal Robert from her as well. If she has to fight to keep Robert then she’ll fight, and Joanna is not the kind of gal you want as an enemy. She’s feisty and a bit crazy.
Predictably Joanna and Deborah come to blows (in a reasonably good swimming-pool catfight scene).
Robert has Joanna if he wants her but now he wants Deborah as well. He’s a crazy mixed-up kid.
Edward has other things to worry about. He’s involved in business dealings with some pretty shady characters. In fact they appear to be out-and-out gangsters. Edward thinks he’s a tough guy but these guys play in the major leagues and as tough guys go Edward is very much a Little Leaguer. He’s out of his depth and he’s too stubborn and arrogant and conceited to admit it.
Gradually the thriller elements start to dominate and the other characters are drawn into Edward’s ill-advised criminal enterprises.
The romantic-sexual melodrama and thriller elements make an uneasy combination. As a thriller it’s at best OK but nothing at all special. As a melodrama about sexual deceit and game-playing it’s much more interesting and it might have been better for the movie to have concentrated on that element.
There is a lack of sympathetic characters. Edward is a jerk and he’s dumb. Robert is a whiny self-pitying brat. Deborah doesn’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain. That leaves Joanna as the only sympathetic character. At least she’s not dumb or whiny. She has more complex motivations than the other characters. We’d like to know more about what makes her tick so it’s disappointing when the focus shifts away from her. The emotional entanglements are not satisfactorily resolved. They’re just quietly forgotten. That’s a pity because they were potentially really interesting. Not just a romantic triangle but a romantic quadrangle with multiple levels of betrayal and deceit and jealousy.
This could have been a very good movie looking at the shifting and confusing sexual mores of the 70s.
As it stands it’s a movie that doesn’t quite make it. Its biggest asset is Anne Saxon’s enigmatic but fascinating performance as Joanna. There’s plenty of topless nudity and a few reasonably steamy sex scenes that are made interesting by the fact that the motives of the participants are so tangled and murky. The Sister in Law is tentatively recommended but it does lose its way.
This movie is included in the excellent 32-movie Drive-In Cult Classics DVD boxed set. The Sister in Law gets a good anamorphic transfer. The set includes some great drive-in movies - Trip With the Teacher (1975), The Babysitter (1969), Cindy and Donna (1970), The Pom Pom Girls (1976), the excellent Malibu High (1979), Van Nuys Blvd. (1979) and Pick-up (1975). All of which are very much worth watching. Even the lesser movies in this set like The Teacher (1974) and Hot Target (1985) are worth a spin.
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