Musings on the Big Cube

Recently I watched the 1969 American and Mexican film The Big Cube. I didn't think it was a particularly good film. I did, however, think it was an interesting film. It seemed to me, as I was watching The Big Cube, that the best way to categorise the film is as a rare example of an Acid Noir film. In the film, Johnny (George Chakiris) is what, I suppose, we might call a narcissistic homme fatale. Johnny, you see, is using LSD not only recreationally but also as a weapon, as a means to drive the step mother,  Adriana (Lana Turner), of the woman he wants to marry, Lisa (Karin Mossberg), mad so that she can inherit the wealth of Lisa's rich recently deceased father and he, Johnny, can become rich. As is often the case in genre films Johnny gets his comeuppance at the end of The Big Cube as he is driven mad thanks to taking way too much acid one one delirium tremens night. As for Adriana, she is saved just in the nick of time from a life of forgetful madness by Lisa and Adriana's playwright friend, Frederick (Richard Egan), who Adriana, of course, marries at The Big Cube's happy end.