“A rich woman deteriorates mentally” is the plot summary provided by the imdb about this film, and those five words do indeed adequately sum it up. The directorial debut of Karen Arthur (who in 1978 helmed THE MAFU CAGE, another female-centered oddity), LEGACY (1975) was an independently made vanity project by the late Joan Hotchkis (1927-2022), who adapted her own one-woman play and stars in the film. Reportedly quite the shocker among the (very) few people who went to see it, LEGACY was handled by the future home video giant Kino (in its first and only attempt at theatrical distribution), and largely vanished from sight until a Scorpion Releasing DVD appeared in 2011.
Joan Hotchkis
The film begins with the fortyish Bissie Hapgood (Hotchkis), whose husband is away on a business trip and her children at summer camp, taking care of her elderly mother. Bissie delights in shocking the old woman by enumerating the difficulties of menstruation. Next she drives home, blathering to herself all the way, and ventures inside her very 1970s upscale house, at which point the film becomes a solo performance piece.
Joan Hotchkis
Bissie’s mental breakdown begins with an extended search for a “shocking pink Christmas ball,” after which she talks on the phone to a couple unseen acquaintances and, in the scene that garnered what little notoriety this film managed to accrue, takes a bath. This entails a great deal of unashamed nudity, and masturbation that involves some deeply odd bodily contortions.
Out of the bath, Bissie ponders how best to pronounce “clitoris” and recalls unsatisfying sexual encounters with her husband (George McDaniel) and other men. This results in sexually tinged flashbacks, one of which involves a man (Sean Allan) having a mid-coitus insulin attack, with Bissie believing he’s dead.
Joan Hotchkis, George McDaniel
Back in the here-and-now, Bissie calls her psychiatrist and reveals that she’s planning on killing herself. She then painstakingly sets the dining room table for nonexistent dinner guests and berates a nonexistent maid, which segues into a succession of outrageously racist rants whose aim is impressively varied (with Blacks, Jews, Puerto Ricans, the Irish and Catholics all getting slammed), and a private funeral for a butter knife.
Regarding this film, one thing is certain: the performance of Karen Hotchkis is impeccable in its dissection of an annoying rich woman with altogether too much time on her hands (it’s hard to tell if Hotchkis and Arthur intended for us to empathize with or criticize this woman). Hotchkis’ ability to modulate her mood, which goes from placid to shrill in mere seconds, is impressive, and not a little frightening. The rest of the cast, alas, doesn’t fare nearly as well; the male protagonists, played by George McDaniel and Sean Allan, are such one-dimensional buffoons it’s impossible to accept them as the patriarchal power-wielders they’re supposed to be.
The filmmaking is likewise nothing to shout about, with director Karen Arthur stymied by the inherent problems in transforming a 90 minute monologue into a narrative feature. Strong though Hotchkis’ acting is, watching her perform mundane tasks in her house is about as exciting as it sounds, and the flashbacks feel intrusive. The low budget, paired with Arthur’s amateur status, ensures that the film never comes close to reaching the heights of REPULSION (the ultimate gut-level example of feminine insanity) or Chantel Ackerman’s JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES, which likewise hailed from 1975, and pulls off what Hotchkis and Arthur were seemingly trying to achieve with LEGACY. I strongly recommend viewing Ackerman’s film (and REPULSION) in its place.
Vital Statistics
LEGACY
Arhtur Prods.
Director/Producer: Karen Arthur
Screenplay: Joan Hotchkis
Cinematography: John Bailey
Editing: Carol Littleton
Cast: Joan Hotchkis, George McDaniel, Sean Allan, Dixie Lee, Richard Bradford III, John de Lancie, Sarah Hotchkiss