Meet Susan George!
Fans of cult cinema already know this terrific Actress, Producer and Arabian horse breeder – yes, horse breeder!
A woman of many talents, there are a few classic cult films that George has made that are worth re-visting…
The Actress has starred alongside some great Hollywood names – in both action comedy as well as thrillers and a very controversial drama – opposite Charles Bronson!
Twinky!
Yes, Susan and Charles Bronson starred in this film from 1969 – with a very controversial subject matter.
A 38-year-old writer of pornographic novels meets and falls in love with a sixteen-year-old school girl in London. Here is the trailer:
Interestingly, Woody Allen made “Manhattan” in 1979, about a middle-aged man having a relationship with a 17-year old high school student. Hard to imagine that sort of film being made today…
Here’s some interesting trivia: “Twinky” was directed by Richard Donner, who went on to make “The Omen” and “Superman” with Christopher Reeve!
George went on to star in “Straw Dogs” in 1971 – a revenge thriller with a very controversial scene involving the Actress:
Here is the trailer:
Dustin Hoffman stars as a bookish US teacher whose new wife, played by Susan George, convinces him to move back to her small hometown in England…
By far the most controversial scene in the film occurs when George is raped by a former lover…
The film was directed by Sam Peckinpah – and the rape scene was widely criticized at the time for suggesting she enjoyed the act of violence.
It continues to be one of the most polarizing scenes in movie history. Here is a look at some of the other most controversial and shocking scenes from films:
“Straw Dogs” ends with an extended sequence involving Hoffman and George fighting off local thugs – it is also a brutal scene that was very controversial at the time…
When asked in a 2013 interview about working with Hoffman and director Sam Peckinpah , George said:
“I had a love-hate relationship with Sam, but he was a brilliant director and a genius of his time. Dustin was a generous actor to work with, who could be intense at times, but had a great personality and an incredibly mischievous sense of humour. Making the film was a fantastic experience and one that I cherish to this day.”
Sam Peckinpah was the Director of such great movies as “The Wild Bunch” and “Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid” – but he was a wild man – see more here:
https://johnrieber.com/2014/08/05/the-wild-bunch-billy-the-kid-sam-packinpahs-soup-tossing/
That same year, Susan starred in the thriller “Die Screaming, Marianne” – but it was a short time later that she had her biggest success – opposite Peter Fonda…
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry!
This is, without a doubt, one of the best car chase movies of the 70’s – an action-filled romp across America’s back roads – here is the trailer:
DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY, Susan George, 1974, TM and Copyright (c) 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved.
“Dirty Mary Crazy Larry” was a huge hit, and gave George her biggest exposure in the US – and she seemed to love the attention…
As you can see, she was being sold as a sex kitten in these films, but it was her next performance that was perhaps her most notorious!
Mandingo!
1975 saw the release of perhaps her most outrageous film, because it was one of the wildest, most racist films of all time!
The film is everything you think it is and more – and George plays the daughter of a Plantation owner in the deep south who has a fling with one of his slaves – boxer Ken Norton!
See the trailer for this film, and more about the notorious plot, here:
Susan’s film appearances slowed down in the 80’s, and as I said before, she and her husband were horse breeders…
Here is a shot of Susan at a film event from 2007:
Susan George made a number of great films, a few that continue to be controversial to this day – bravo Susan!
