City in Fear was an attempt at socio-political commentary by soft-core porno star Cheri Caffaro and her director/husband Don Schain. The film takes place during a heated political campaign, wherein the "race card" is played up for all it's worth. The bigoted whites attack the blacks, the militant blacks attack the whites, and gallons of blood are spilled. Playing the mistress of a candidate, Caffaro is kidnapped and murdered in a particularly repulsive fashion -- and that isn't the end of the film. Originally released as A Place Called Today, this is no more or less than an ultraviolent sexploitationer masquerading as a "statement." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
This attempt at "message movie" fare by the people behind the sexy, sleazy Ginger movies is fascinating for all the wrong reasons. The screenplay is an ungodly combination of hamfisted, downright nihilistic attempts at political commentary with trashy, sex-laden melodrama right out of a Jacqueline Susann novel. Neither element is presented in a convincing style and the fact that all the characters act and react in styles that defy all common sense doesn't help things (simply put, all participants in the romantic triangle that drives the film have no credible reason to be together). The performances are uniformly awful, with everyone either shouting or spitting out lines through clenched teeth for most of the film. Cheri Caffaro is the only one who seems to be having fun with her role here and has a sense of humor that the rest of cast sorely lacks. Director/writer Don Schain handles the unwieldy story in a crass, overblown style that doesn't enhance its appeal and piles on the sleaze in a manner that distracts from the issues the script is trying to explore. The end result is so thoroughly preposterous that it is likely to fascinate trash aficionados because it is rare to see a movie that goes so wrong in every way. In short, A Place Called Today has some historical interest to exploitation films as a curiosity piece but it's likely to baffle all other viewers. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Cast
Timothy Brown; Cheri Caffaro - Cindy Cartwright; Peter Carew - Ben Atkinson; Humphrey Davis - John Higgins; Herbert Kerr - Randy Johnson; John LaMotta - White Construction Worker; Janet Leigh; Richard Smedley - Ron Carton; Lana Wood - Carolyn Schneider; Brian Johnson - Little Boy; David Ross - White Radical
Credit
Dick Ashe - First Assistant Director, Bruno Barreto - Director, Don Schain - Director, Harry D. Glass - Editor, Robert G. Orpin - Composer (Music Score), R. Kent Evans - Cinematographer, Don Schain - Producer, Ralph T. Desiderio - Producer, Chris Newman - Sound/Sound Designer, Don Schain - Screenwriter
