responds with “No,” his own final spoken word reneging upon the social
contract—in marriage and in confession—to equate word with deed. These
violations of spoken and unspoken contractual agreements ultimately
usher in a new, more frightening era for the Corleone family—an era in
which irony reigns, the flagrant disconnection between promise and atten-
dant action.
The efficacy of the ironic in confessional discourse is also the struc-
turing principle of the bizarre, low budget, summer release thriller Night
of the Strangler. Since none of its six grizzly murders involves strangling,
and its narrative is structured as a racial vengeance drama, the film’s
poster title, Is the Father Black Enough? seems a much more appropriate
descriptor. Indeed, the film shares many qualities with the blaxploitation
feature, more noted and successful examples of which this year include
Superfly, The Man, Hammer, Come Back Charleston Blue, and Blacula. The film
begins with university student Denise (Ann Barrett) returning from a term
at Vassar to her home in the deep South, where she proceeds to tell her
brothers that she is pregnant and quitting school, and that she plans to
marry the child’s Black father. The younger brother, Vance (ex-Monkee
Mickey Dolenz), extends his compassion even while he asks Denise to
consider the inevitable social problems she will face; spewing racist invec-
tive, however, the older brother, Dan (James Ralston), threatens the sis-
ter, forbidding her to proceed with her plan. A hired assassin shoots and
kills the Black fiancé as he picnics with Denise, who herself is later forcibly
drowned in her bathtub. The Black priest, Jesse (Chuck Patterson), sub-
sequently returns to the southern town after an extended absence. Shocked
at the news of Denise’s murder, he reestablishes his friendship with Vance
and the less responsive Dan. Jesse tries to intervene in the stand-off
between the brothers, but when Dan’s bride is murdered by the bite of a
venomous snake on their wedding night, and Vance’s bride is later stabbed
through the heart after their own wedding, the feud escalates into a
bloody confrontation that leaves both brothers on the verge of death in
their mansion, still accusing each other of murder. Enter Jesse, who,
standing over the stabbed and squirming Dan, delivers the long and intri-
cate confessional monologue that composes the film’s surprise ending. He
is not really a priest, nor is he Jesse, but instead Jesse’s twin brother who
witnessed the racist killing of his own brother (the real priest Jesse, and
also Denise’s baby’s father), and then plotted his own intricate revenge. It
is the twin brother who killed Denise and the two brides, and who now
secures his triumph by witnessing the death of the racist perpetrator him-
self—to sweeten the victory, the brother twists the knife into the wincing
80 MICHAEL DeANGELIS