if ever there be a director who should have remain solely a producer it be william castle . though an extremely likable presence in his film ( he cameos a the grocer in this one ) and the lovely man hasn not an ounce of talent a a director . inspire in his choice of project and endlessly innovative in promotion and he be hopelessly at sea when it come to the most basic rudiment of competent film making . his entire career read like a catalogue of ingeniously promise theme ruin by his pedestrian direction and artless execution . shank be no exception . it be so flat and unsophisticated that it be rather hard to believe that this film be release a year after the exorcist . apparently castle fail to learn anything about pace and camera placement or the handling of actor after work with roman polanski on rosemary baby ( one shudder at the thought that for a brief moment william castle actually intend to direct rosemary baby ) . in fact and in castle own memoir he practically admit to be so preoccupy with budget and time constraint on shank that marceau virtually direct himself . the premise of shank be enticingly weird and it too bad another director wasn not at the helm . shank doesn not quite know if it want to be a dark comedy and a horror film or macabre fantasy . fire on all gun and william castle fail to make any of those element gel . it merely a showcase for some very tedious mime antic and sloppy editing ( the death of shank drunken brother be so poorly do that it wouldn not pass muster on youtube ) . budget limitation keep hit you in the face along with the meager talent of the support cast ( what up with the 48 year old marceau be pair with the 16 year old female lead . even a just friends they look pretty creepy together . and really and by 1973 weren not biker gang sort of play out a embodiment of anarchic evil . ) . it lack any semblance of mood or atmosphere . the look be strictly 70 tv movie and the performance be mst3 worthy . i sit through the shank somewhat flabbergast that this be the best that marcel marceau first star role and william castle last directing effort could yield . after wait several decade to see this film ( the ad campaign be more inventive than the film ) i couldn not have be more bored or disappointed . castle waste a great idea and a talented mime and and the time of every viewer . talk about out with a whimper .