Review: Synanon (1965)


Given the direness of its subject matter, Synanon, aka Get Off My Back, is a compelling watch that mostly avoids tedium. Named after a famed L.A. rehabilitation facility, Synanon offers refuge and recovery for substance abusers and addicts of all stripes. The film stars Chuck Connors, Stella Stevens, Eartha Kitt, and Alex Cord as recovering junkies who are overseen by a stern Edmond O'Brien, a believer in tough love and accountability. For a 1965 film, things are brutally candid; we observe the unvarnished use of hard drugs (one actor injects a needle into his arm and it isn't a visual effect or prop syringe--you see the skin tearing) and the harm that results from addiction. Another character has resorted to prostitution to feed her addiction. Even the poster features a character shooting up, but with a small black square covering the needle to protect the delicate sensibilities of the mid-sixties, but it's clear that the times, they were a-changing. Synanon is the unflinching progenitor of every junkie movie as we know it today. This could all be heavy stuff, but director Richard Quine and screenwriters Ian Bernard and S. Lee Pogostin have crafted a tale that feels human and relatable, rather than stiff. 

The movie filmed in the actual Synanon facility located in Santa Monica. This means that we're also treated to a time capsule of bayside life as it existed in 1965, complete with shots on the Santa Monica pier and surrounding beaches and lifeguard stands, now famous from Baywatch. Rounding things out is a jazzy score and crisp black and white cinematography by Harry Stradling that gives the story a pseudo-documentary feel.

I approached Synanon with some trepidation. After all, a film like this could not only be too heavy to be entertaining, it could also be preachy and self-righteous. Thankfully, the film is focused on characters trying (and sometimes failing) to kick their addictions and be the best versions of themselves rather than wagging a finger. There's also plenty of sex, drugs, and violence to draw us in and make us feel like flies on the wall, watching things we aren't supposed to see. Synanon is an obscurity that is worth seeking out. 
The film makes a worldwide Blu-ray debut thanks to Imprint Films. 

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