{"id":36266,"date":"2016-02-18T11:32:34","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T18:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=36266"},"modified":"2021-01-31T16:04:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T23:04:01","slug":"pyx-the-1973","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=36266","title":{"rendered":"Pyx, The (1973)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You&#8217;re going to help me achieve a miracle.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Poster-198x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-67492\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Poster-198x300.png 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Poster-676x1024.png 676w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Poster-85x128.png 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Poster-178x270.png 178w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Poster.png 747w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter a woman (Karen Black) is seen falling to her death from a high-rise building in Montreal, a pair of detectives (Christopher Plummer and Donald Pilon) investigate the case while Black&#8217;s life as a heroin-addicted prostitute with a controlling madam (Yvette Brind&#8217;amour) is shown in flashback.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alcoholism and Drug Addiction<\/li>\n<li>Christopher Plummer Films<\/li>\n<li>Detectives and Private Investigators<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Films<\/li>\n<li>Karen Black Films<\/li>\n<li>Prostitutes and Gigolos<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis atmospheric thriller &#8212; featuring Karen Black as both lead actress and singer\/songwriter on the soundtrack &#8212; was directed by Canadian Harvey Hart, perhaps best known by film fanatics for the prison exploitation flick <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3315\"><em>Fortune and Men&#8217;s Eyes<\/em> (1971)<\/a>. <em>The Pyx<\/em> (the title refers to a container for the consecrated &#8220;body of Christ&#8221; in Catholicism) taps into both the nascent heroin-addiction crisis &#8212; chronicled in movies like <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19595\"><em>The Panic in Needle Park<\/em> (1971)<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2987\"><em>Dusty and Sweets McGee<\/em> (1971)<\/a> &#8212; and, as noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mondo-digital.com\/pyx.html\">Mondo Digital&#8217;s review<\/a>, the success of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=8119\"><em>Klute<\/em> (1971)<\/a>, another film about a high-class call girl in trouble. Unfortunately, the film&#8217;s flashback structure &#8212; in addition to &#8220;giving away&#8221; the ending &#8212; makes the timeline needlessly confusing, as we&#8217;re shuttled back and forth between the detectives&#8217; quest to learn why and how Black died, and Black&#8217;s life as a heroin-addicted prostitute. Black turns in a fine performance, but we learn too little about either her or the cult she&#8217;s sucked into to remain truly absorbed. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note: <\/strong>This film&#8217;s more colorful video-release title was <em>The Hooker Cult Murders<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Karen Black as Elizabeth<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Black.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Black.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"849\" height=\"372\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-67495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Black.jpg 849w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Black-300x131.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Black-128x56.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Black-768x337.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Pyx-Black-604x265.jpg 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 849px) 100vw, 849px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Good use of Montreal locales\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, unless you&#8217;re a Karen Black fan. Listed as a Sleeper in the back of Peary&#8217;s book.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0070578\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/horror\/pyx-1973.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=5212&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mondo-digital.com\/pyx.html\">Mondo Digital Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/reviews\/51511\/pyx-the\/\">DVD Talk Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re going to help me achieve a miracle.&#8221; Synopsis: After a woman (Karen Black) is seen falling to her death from a high-rise building in Montreal, a pair of detectives (Christopher Plummer and Donald Pilon) investigate the case while Black&#8217;s life as a heroin-addicted prostitute with a controlling madam (Yvette Brind&#8217;amour) is shown in flashback. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Christopher Plummer Films Detectives and Private Investigators Flashback Films Karen Black Films Prostitutes and Gigolos Review:&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=36266\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36266"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67496,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36266\/revisions\/67496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}