Escape to Passion

Escape to Passion (1970)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Leo (Leonard Shoemaker) is a low-life, wannabe hood who doesn't have much going on in his worthless life. His apartment walls are covered with photos of Bogart, Cagney and Robinson as he wishes he could be something more. Soon he falls in with a gang and they plan a heist that will put them on the big time.

ESCAPE TO PASSION was the third film from director James Bryan and it's certainly a letdown from the somewhat notorious THE DIRTIEST GAME. This film here starts off well enough with a catchy opening sequence but outside of this there's very little here to recommend until we get towards the end but more on that in a second. If you've read Stephen Thrower's NIGHTMARE USA then you'll know some of the behind-the-scenes stories but even if you haven't read that book you can look at the film and see the low-budget issues.

There are countless issues that you'd expect from a film with this budget including some choppy cinematography, a pretty bland flow of the story as well as some really lame performances. The biggest issue with this movie is the fact that it just doesn't pack much of a punch and there's no energy to be found anywhere. The film moves extremely slow and the 84-minute running time drags really bad. None of the characters are all that interesting and in the end the film just doesn't have much going for it.

The most entertaining and outrageous scene comes at the end when an obese Coleman Francis (director of THE BEAST FROM YUCCA FLATS) takes his clothes off and two women smear him with Crisco. This scene expands to him covering the women in the grease and another guy joins. What does this scene have to do with the rest of the movie? I'm really not sure but it appears the actors are having a good time with it.