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...

If you are the type who is stupid enough to do drugs, you may even be stupid enough to like this cheap, silly U.S.-Mexican production, The Big Cube. It finds fading, scandal-plagued sex symbol Lana Turner at the absolute bottom of her career, fallen in with a bunch of young, mod, hipster, druggies and a lot of just plain old bad actors.The plot had some promise, at the first anyway. One of those "let's drive mommy wacko" thrillers. But about two-thirds of the way through, it does a complete turn about to a "let's save poor old mommy from the loony bin", psychodrama. Sounds like a horrible muddle, huh? Is that. A strange creature by the name of George Chakiris leads the bad acting brigade, but he gets a lot of help from a gaggle of young hipsters so repulsive, you may find yourself wanting to bash their alleged brains out with a fondue dish. On the adult side Richard Egan, wooden even in the action parts for which he was best suited, is simply embarrassing here, miscast in a role where he has to act sensitive-like.This movie is a serious stinker. Only for die-hard fans of Lana Turner, desperate insomniacs, and those wishing to check out the 1960's counter-culture for reasons known but to themselves and God. Others should avoid The Big Cube as if it were a big bubonic plague bacillus.

Stage actress Adriana Roman (Lana Turner) quits her career to marry rich widower Charles Winthrop (Dan O'Herlihy). However his daughter Lisa (Karin Mossberg) hates Adriana with a passion. She is romanced by amoral Johnny Allen (George Chakiris) who wants her for her money. When Charles dies in an accident Johnny pushes Lisa to drive Adriana insane with LSD so she gets everything.Sounds pretty terrible but I actually enjoyed it. The script is OK when it deals with Turner, O'Herlihy and the other adults. However it falls apart when dealing with the 20s somethings. These "kids" say hilariously stupid things--Bibi, a friend of Lisa says "Let's call half a dozen guys and have an orgy"!!! They're always taking drugs and acting in what is (supposedly) an amusing manner. At a wedding two of the guys (purposedly) drive their motorcycles into a pool and all the other idiot kids jump in. Oh those wacky kids! Whenever they're on screen we get lousy dialogue, bad music and tons of casual drug taking. To make matters worse Mossberg is a lousy actress (she understandably never made another movie) and has a serious accent--but her father has none! Also Pamela Rodgers as Bibi gives Mossberg a serious run for her money in the bad acting department. Her mild striptease might please some viewers (only her chest is shown). Of all the "kids" only Chakiris gives a good performance. Turner is excellent and looks fabulous. This may have been a low budget Mexican movie but she gives it her all. Old pros Richard Egan and O'Herlihy are also good.So this is a strange combo of a 1960s exploitation film and a serious drama. I was honestly never bored and it DOES carry a strong anti-drug message at the end.

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 ****