Three in the Attic

Three in the Attic (1968)

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Paxton Quigley is simultaneously dating three women. They discover his infidelity, lure him into a dormitory attic, and punish him by having continuous sex with him until he is physically destroyed.

THREE IN THE ATTIC (1968) was American International Pictures' highest-grossing film of the decade, which says something about both AIP and the decade.

Much of it was shot at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; AIP told the chancellor the film was a "social satire." A local reporter was denied entry to the set and filed a story claiming they were filming a "skin flick" on campus. Letters poured into the chancellor's office. The director wrote a formal apology.

The screenplay started as a student script called Paxton Quigley's Had the Course, which won a Writers Guild of America award for best student screenplay in 1964. The writer, Stephen Yafa, couldn't sell it. So he turned it into a novel. AIP turned the novel into a film. Yafa then publicly disowned the film.

It was released on a double bill with Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily?, which is perhaps the most 1968 sentence it is possible to write.

The dean in the film delivers the line "Non-swimmers should never leap bare-assed into the sea of love. My dear, the sea of love is full of squid." This film contains multitudes.

Fun fact: Quentin Tarantino put it on a marquee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Physical Media

DVD

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VHSFoothill VideoUnited States

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About the Film

Some men are starved for love... Paxton Quigley's problem was completely the opposite!

Directed By
Richard Wilson
Runtime
90 minutes
Released
December 20, 1968
Certification
R
Country
United States of America
Starring
Christopher Jones, Yvette Mimieux, Judy Pace, Maggie Thrett, Nan Martin
More Credits
Genres
Drama, Comedy
Language
English
Origin
US
Studios
Hermes, American International Pictures
Written By
Stephen Yafa
Produced By
James H. Nicholson, Richard Wilson, Samuel Z. Arkoff
Cinematography
J. Burgi Contner
Also Starring
Reva Rose, John Beck, Richard Derr, Eve McVeagh, Honey Alden
Box Office
$5

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