A Gene Roddenberry Movie That Looks Nothing Like Star Trek
Pretty Maids All in a Row is the Star Trek creator’s only major theatrical screenplay—and the last title most fans associate with the Star Trek creator legacy. Released in 1971 and adapted from Francis Pollini’s 1968 novel, it’s a leering high school dark comedy, a murder mystery, and a coming‑of‑age story smashed into one unruly package. Roddenberry, working for hire and badly in need of work, reportedly viewed the novel as a “vulgar book” and hoped to turn it into an over‑the‑top satire with “some meaning and some statement about the world around us today.” Instead, critics and historians now frame Pretty Maids All in a Row as a dirty, careless, but undeniably curious cultural artifact that sits in stark contrast to the humanistic optimism and measured sensuality of Star Trek. For anyone interested in Star Trek history, it’s a jarring detour off the usual warp trail.
Sex Farce, Serial Killer, High School: Inside the Film’s Baffling Tone
The plot of Pretty Maids All in a Row centers on Michael “Tiger” McDrew, a high school football coach played by Rock Hudson, who is seducing and murdering female students. Around this grim premise, Roddenberry’s screenplay stacks a Graduate‑style storyline in which anxious student Ponce de Leon Harper falls into an affair with glamorous substitute teacher Miss Smith, played by Angie Dickinson. Meanwhile, Police Chief Surcher, portrayed by Telly Savalas in full detective mode, investigates the rising body count. Directed by Roger Vadim of Barbarella fame, the film leans heavily into exploitation: lingering shots of students, locker‑room ogling, and a pervasive lecherous tone that infects nearly every male character. The result is a Roddenberry film analysis that finds the movie suspended between parody and participation, unsure whether it is mocking sexist tropes or indulging them for titillation.
Why This Bizarre Artifact Clashes with Star Trek’s Progressive Image
Star Trek has long been celebrated for its progressive ideals—diverse crews, aspirational diplomacy, and a generally respectful treatment of sexuality. Pretty Maids All in a Row, by contrast, presents authority figures who abuse power, objectify students, and turn education into a hunting ground. Roddenberry’s letters suggest he wanted to indict corruption in public institutions, especially locker‑room sexism, but on screen the satire is muddled. Practically every man seems complicit, and the camera rarely feels critical of their behavior. Where Star Trek uses suggestive costumes and romance to signal liberation and equality, this film’s eroticism feels predatory and nihilistic. That jarring difference is why modern critics view the Gene Roddenberry movie as a counterpoint to his later reputation: it seems to undermine the enlightened, future‑forward ethos fans associate with him, even as it circles some of the same themes of power, hierarchy, and desire.
Sex, Power, and Hierarchy: Connecting Pretty Maids to Star Trek Themes
For all its clumsy exploitation, Pretty Maids All in a Row does echo Roddenberry’s recurring obsessions. Star Trek often explores how people behave within rigid chains of command—starship captains, admirals, and alien hierarchies wrestling with power and responsibility. In Pretty Maids, those structures are transposed to a high school, with a charismatic coach at the top of an informal hierarchy, surrounded by adoring students and oblivious colleagues. Sexuality functions as a currency and weapon, not unlike how desire and temptation occasionally test Starfleet officers. The difference is moral framing: Star Trek tends to interrogate abuses of authority and reaffirm ethical boundaries, while Pretty Maids treats the coach’s predatory behavior as fodder for farce and only intermittently as horror. That contradiction complicates the Star Trek creator legacy, suggesting Roddenberry’s instincts about sex and authority were more conflicted—and sometimes less progressive—than the franchise he helped launch.
How Modern Star Trek Fans Might Watch It Today
Viewed today, Pretty Maids All in a Row plays like a time capsule from a more permissive and less self‑aware era of studio filmmaking. For Star Trek devotees, it is probably best approached as a curiosity and a cautionary tale. Knowing that Roddenberry himself allegedly warned a friend not to see the film, blaming the director for not pulling off his intended satire, sets expectations: this is not a lost masterpiece, but a fascinating misfire. Yet it can still be a productive lens. Seeing how easily his critique of institutional corruption collapses into straight exploitation may prompt viewers to re‑examine certain Star Trek episodes, especially those that sexualize characters under the banner of liberation. Rather than cancel Roddenberry, Pretty Maids invites a more nuanced reading of his work—how a creator’s blind spots and evolving ideas can coexist with the visionary elements fans continue to celebrate.