''The Werewolf of Washington'' is a 1973

horror comedy Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and sp ...

film written and directed by

Milton Moses Ginsberg Milton Moses Ginsberg (September 22, 1935May 23, 2021) was an American film director and editor. He was noted for writing and directing '' Coming Apart'', a 1969 film starring Rip Torn and Sally Kirkland, and ''The Werewolf of Washington'' starri ...

and starring

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

. Produced by Nina Schulman, it satirizes several individuals in the

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

administration.

Plot summary

Jack Whittier (

) is the press secretary for the White House and for the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

; while on assignment in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, he is bitten by a

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

who actually turns out to be a man. When Jack tries to report it, he believes it is the work of

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. He then meets a gypsy woman who tells him it was her son and he needed to die to be saved. She then gives him a charm and tells him to be careful now that he may suffer the same effects. When he returns to

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, he is assigned to the President (

Biff McGuire William "Biff" McGuire (October 25, 1926 – March 9, 2021) was an American actor. Best known as Inspector Kramer in ''Nero Wolfe'' (1979). Early years McGuire attended Hamden High School and the University of Massachusetts, where he studied agr ...

); he has also been having an affair with the President's daughter Marion (Jane House). Jack suddenly starts to feel different changes about him whenever the moon is full. Numerous murders suddenly occur all over Washington, all related to the President's staff. Jack is now convinced that he is a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...

; when he tries to explain this to his superior, Commander Salmon (Beeson Carroll), the latter does not believe him. Jack then presents a pattern of where the murders have happened in the shape of a

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...

; he convinces him (Salmon) to lock him in his apartment and restrain him and also to be documented. The President needs Jack for a special interview with the Chinese prime minister; however, Jack starts to change into a werewolf and he attacks the President. He then leaves for Marion, who then shoots him with a silver bullet, thus killing him and changing him back to his human form. Many witnesses decide to cover up the act saying Jack bravely came into the line of fire. In audio over the

closing credits Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a ...

, the President addresses the nation. At the very end, he starts to change into a werewolf.

Cast

as Jack Whittier * Katalin Kallay as Giselle * Henry Ferrentino as Beal *

Despo Diamantidou Despoina "Despo" Diamantidou ( el, Δέσπω Διαμαντίδου; 13 July 1916 – 18 February 2004) was a Greek actress. She appeared in more than seventy films from 1949 to 2003. She played Tatiana in Alan King's summer replacement sitcom, ' ...

as Gypsy Woman *

Thayer David Thayer David (born David Thayer Hersey; March 4, 1927 – July 17, 1978) was an American film, stage, and television actor. He was best known for his work on the ABC serial ''Dark Shadows'' (1966–1971), and as the fight promoter Miles ...

as Inspector * Nancy Andrews as Mrs. Margie Captree *

Clifton James George Clifton James (May 29, 1920 – April 15, 2017) was an American actor known for roles as a prison floorwalker in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond films '' Live and Let Die'' (19 ...

as Attorney General *

as The President * Jack Waltzer as Appointments Secretary * Ben Yaffee as Mr. Captree * Jane House as Marion * Beeson Carroll as Commander Salmon * Michael Dunn as Dr. Kiss *

Harry Stockwell Harry Bayless Stockwell (April 27, 1902 – July 19, 1984) was an American actor and singer. Stockwell made his film debut in the 1935 film '' Here Comes the Band''. However, his claim to fame came in 1937, when he provided the voice of The Princ ...

as Military #2

Release

The film was originally released theatrically in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

by Diplomat in 1973. On VHS and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, the film has been released by various labels over the years with questionable legitimacy to the rights and subpar presentations. It was also released on DVD as part of the Elvira "Movie Macabre" series, hosted by

Elvira Elvira is a female given name. First recorded in medieval Spain, it is likely of Germanic (Gothic) origin. Elvira may refer to: People Nobility * Elvira Menéndez (died 921), daughter of Hermenegildo Gutiérrez and wife of Ordoño II of Leó ...

, played by Cassandra Peterson.

References

External links

* * *
The Werewolf of Washington
at

Google Videos Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

The Werewolf of Washington in Elvira Movie Macabre App
{{DEFAULTSORT:Werewolf Of Washington, The 1973 films 1970s comedy horror films American comedy horror films American independent films American satirical films Films set in Washington, D.C. American werewolf films Films about fictional presidents of the United States Cultural depictions of Richard Nixon American supernatural horror films American exploitation films 1973 comedy films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films

Plot summary

Cast

Release

See also

References

External links