Wish I’d never watched Two Gentlemen Sharing on Amazon Prime if this is the kind of “recommendation” its algorithms throw up. It would be easy enough to dismiss it as the kind of rubbish that American International was famed for – it turned into their biggest hit in a decade – except I’ve a sneaky feeling that it’s the kind of rubbish that could get greenlit these days and sold as a feminist revenge drama.
The fact that it is just so badly made doesn’t help even with a leavening of decent middle-range stars like Christopher Jones (Privilege, 1967) and Yvette Mimieux (Dark of the Sun / The Mercenaries, 1968). It is full of montages, jump cuts, voice overs, slow-mo and any other technical experimentation that might liven up the dross rather than going to the effort of writing scenes that explore character.
The stars might well have carried it except the plot defies belief. College lothario Paxton Quigley (Christopher Jones) has three girls on the leash – middle class Tobey (Yvette Mimieux), teacher Eulice (Judy Pace) who yearns to be a chic biker chick, and way out artist Janet (Maggie Thrett). Paxton has sex with each of them twice a week on rotation and spends his spare time boasting to his pal Jake (John Beck).
The girls find out about his triple dealing and decide to take their revenge. How? By throwing all his clothes out into the street? Smashing up his Yamaha? Mixing him up a concoction that’s going to put him in bed for a week? Taking a sledgehammer to his private parts?
Nope. They reckon the best revenge is to “give him a taste of his own medicine.” Which is to lock him up in an attic and force on him non-stop sex?
So, setting aside the element of kidnapping, coercion and female rape, wearing a guy out by subjecting him to what he loves doing seems bizarre in the extreme. This could only be the kind of notion dreamed up by a guy (step forward screenwriter Stephen Yafa, whose screenplay had won a competition). It’s like one of those old-fashioned parental discipline notions where your old man makes you smoke a cigar till you’re sick after he’s caught you taking a puff of a cigarette as a teenager.
It’s just too coarse for words. Sure, Paxton initially has commitment issues, Tobey trying to hustle him too quickly into an apartment-share.
Honestly, I’ve no idea how anybody got talked into making this. Directed by Richard Wilson (Invitation to a Gunfighter, 1964). There’s a Tarantino connection if you’re interested.
Hellish.
Info on this successful dud:
“3 in the Attic marked Stephen H. Yafa’s screenwriting debut. Originally titled Paxton Quigley’s Had the Course, the screenplay won Yafa a “Best New Writer” award from the Writers Guild of America (WGA), as noted in the 22 Jan 1968 DV. The script was later novelized under the title Paxton Quigley’s Had the Course, and published by J. B. Lippincott & Co. (Philadelphia, 1968).
An item in the 24 Nov 1967 LAT announced that American International Pictures (AIP) and producer-director Richard Wilson’s Hermes Productions would co-produce 3 in the Attic, which would begin shooting in early 1968. Two months later, the casting of Christopher Jones in the lead role of “Paxton Quigley” was reported in the 22 Jan 1968 DV. On 21 Feb 1968, a DV brief stated that principal photography would begin on 26 Feb 1968 at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill, NC. A production chart in the 1 Mar 1968 DV confirmed that start date.
While in Chapel Hill, producers coordinated with UNC’s film department to provide “open sets, lectures, specialty classes, [and] debates,” as a show of thanks for the school’s cooperation, according to an 18 Mar 1968 DV item. Richard Wilson, Christopher Jones, actress Yvette Mimieux, film editor Richard C. Meyer, and gaffer Milton Moshlak were said to have participated in the program. Several months after the shoot had been completed, the 4 Nov 1968 DV reported lingering rumors that the filmmakers had brought “California money” into North Carolina in an effort to influence a local election.
On 1 Apr 1968, DV stated that cast and crew had recently returned to Los Angeles, CA, after shooting at UNC for five weeks. Shortly after, the 18 Apr 1968 LAT noted that Jones, who had earned a “bad boy” reputation as the star of the television program The Legend of Jesse James (ABC, 13 Sep 1965—5 Sep 1966), was rewarded for his good behavior on 3 in the Attic with a “two-week, all-expenses paid vacation in New York.”
Dick Newman was named as the unit publicist in a 23 Feb 1968 DV item. DV casting announcements published between 5 Mar 1968 and 10 Apr 1968 listed the following actors as cast members: Lyn Clark; Patrick Ryenn; Gwen Lindahl; and Susanne Deas.
A world premiere was initially scheduled to take place in early Jun 1968 at the Hemisfilm 68 festival, part of the 1968 World’s Fair (a.k.a. Hemisfair 68) in San Antonio, TX, as noted in the 1 May 1968 Var. However, the premiere was delayed until 20 Dec 1968, when the film was set to debut at Chicago, IL’s Oriental Theatre, according to the 25 Oct 1968 DV. That same week, the picture was also released in Grand Rapids, MI; Milwaukee, MN; Eugene, OR; and Toronto, Canada, the 6 Feb 1969 DV reported. Following the Los Angeles opening on 31 Jan 1969, and the New York City debut on 26 Feb 1969, a soundtrack was set to be released by Tower Records on 1 Mar 1969, according to the 17 Feb 1969 DV.
In a negative review published on 20 Dec 1968, DV claimed that screenwriter Stephen H. Yafa had “disowned” the picture, which was described as a “crudely made sexploitationer” with poor technical elements, especially sound quality. The 27 Feb 1969 NYT review dismissed the film as “stale,” and pointed out that, of Jones’s three love interests, African American actress Judy Pace was hardly ever shown kissing him, an oddity that suggested filmmakers were averse to interracial kissing scenes. Regardless of critical backlash, 3 in the Attic went on to become AIP’s most successful picture, to date, as noted in the 30 Jul 1969 Var. By spring 1969, a 30 Apr 1969 Var box-office chart reported a cumulative domestic gross in select U.S. markets of $2,132,040. The 5 Feb 1969 Var stated that Yvette Mimieux was poised to benefit from the film’s commercial success, since she owned ten percent of the picture.
On 14 Jan 1970, DV announced that AIP would make a “titular sequel,” also set on a college campus, titled Three in the Cellar. The follow-up, which also starred Judy Pace, was released as Up in the Cellar in 1970.”
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Amazingly, this made a lot of money.
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