1973, 88 minutes

Robert Woodward plays Sergeant Howie, a Scottish police officer come to Summerisle in a small plane to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. What he finds is a free living group of Celtic hippies having group sex and preparing for a Maypole celebration. Woodward gives an excellent performance. As I finally begin to watch movies with some regularity, it has become glaringly obvious that British actors are much better than American actors. Sergeant Howie is an authoritarian Christian—a deacon it seems; engaged to be married and still a virgin.

The lack of cooperation from the citizens of Summerisle is made somewhat pleasant by the presence of the naked and uninhibited Brit Ekland as Willow. If you young guys want to know what really good looking women looked like before rampant obesity, botox, and plastic surgery, check her out.

What really makes The Wicker Man, by way of complimenting Woodward’s performance, is Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle. He, of course, gets the best lines, “A Heathen conceivably, but not, I hope, an unenlightened one.” And “He [Jesus] had his chance, and in modern parlance, blew it.”

The remake with Nic Cage was good. The original was better.