Calvin Lockhart…
The Beast Must Die is one of my favourite werewolf movies.
I first saw it on TV when I was a kid and the fact that the werewolf was a cuddly German Shepherd didn’t bother me one bit. What drew me to the film was the cast (Peter Cushing, Charles Gray and Michael Gambon), the plot (10 Little Indians with a horror twist) and the novelty of watching a movie that paused itself in order to give the audience time to guess the identity of the werewolf.
Not that that is the only fun to be had as I’ve watched the film many times over the years and every time it’s a pleasure. Knowing whodunit spoils nothing.
It’s chock full of great scenes including one that predates a very similar one in John Carpenter’s The Thing, where the suspected furballs are all given a piece of silver to see which one is secretly the monster… this is a great movie and based on a short story by James Blish no less.
And what holds the whole thing together is the lead - Big game hunter Tom Newcliffe played by Calvin Lockhart who gathers together his last best chance at taking down the ultimate predator. It’s a great turn by Lockhart who gives a blaxploitation edge (the film was released in the USA as Black Werewolf) to what otherwise would be simple ham and Hammer. His drive to take down the wolf gets just about everyone killed and the film ends on a great downer. If you haven’t seen it then please track it down - it’s well worth your time.
Calvin Lockhart died a few weeks ago. Most of the tributes I’ve read mention his role in Cotton Comes to Harlem or tiny parts in Predator II, Wild at Heart and Fire Walk With Me with very little mention of his lead in this ‘74 piece of cult class.
Shame.
The IMDB also has him listed twice by mistake as two different actors. Looks like he fell off their radar after working with Lynch, but that’s the same Calvin Lockhart playing a part in Rain earlier this year with CCH Pounder. Someone should fix that.
[Music: Bif Naked]
April 12th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
good film.
good call.