Terminal Island (film)

Terminal Island
Directed by Stephanie Rothman
Produced by Charles S. Swartz
Written by Stephanie Rothman
Charles S. Swartz
Jack Barrett
Starring Phyllis Davis
Marta Kristen
Ena Hartman
Don Marshall
Barbara Leigh
Randy Boone
Tom Selleck
Music by Michael Andres
Cinematography Daniel Lacambre
Distributed by Dimension Pictures
Release dates
  • June 1973 (1973-06)
Running time
 88 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Terminal Island, released theatrically in the UK as Knuckle Men, is a 1973 American action–drama thriller film directed by Stephanie Rothman.[1] It features an early screen performance by Tom Selleck. Although an exploitation film, it has been treated with much serious discussion by critics and academics over the years.[2] It is regarded as a cult film.[3]

Plot

A TV news program does a segment on Terminal Island, an off shore island established after the abolition of the death penalty. First degree murderers are shipped off to spend the rest of their days fending for themselves.

Carmen is dropped off Terminal Island. The first prisoner she meets is a former doctor. She comes to realise there are two main factions on the island. A civil war breaks out.

Cast

Release

Rothman later said that she was asked to have a rape scene in the film but could not bring herself to shoot it. "I would not want to be responsible in any way for showing how it could be done," said Rothman.[4]

She elaborated:

in a film like Terminal Island [1973], practically the whole film involves violence because the subject matter is violent people. I accepted that. I recognized that if I was going to make films, and I was going to make them for the market, I was making them for it. I wanted to make films very much and that's what I needed to do. What I needed to do was try to refine that and give it some meaning beyond the violence itself, or beyond the nudity itself. In that sense, I tried very hard to not make it exploitative. [5]

The film was originally more violent but scenes had to be cut out. Rothman was uncomfortable with the violence that she did show. "I was unhappy with the movie and still continue to feel so," she said in 1981.[6]

Film critic Roger Ebert rates Terminal Island with one star out of four, dismissing it as "the kind of movie that can almost be reviewed by watching the trailer."[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Terminal Island". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  2. ↑ Henry Jenkins, 'Exploiting Feminism in Stephanie Rothman's Terminal Island (1973)'
  3. ↑ Erens, Patricia (1 March 2009). "Film Industry in the United States". Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "How They Handle Controversial Issues: NUDITY", Los Angeles Times (1923–Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 12 Feb 1978: p 35
  5. ↑ http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/stephanie-rothman/
  6. ↑ Tony Williams, 'Feminism, Fantasy and Violence: An Interview with Stephanie Rothman', Journal of Popular Film & Television 9. 2 (Summer 1981): 84.
  7. ↑ Ebert, Roger. Chicago Sun-Times


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