OUTLAW WOMEN

Richard Avonde and Marie Windsor

OUTLAW WOMEN (1952). Directors: Sam Newfield; Ron Ormond. In Cinecolor.

"Six-gun sirens that shoot to thrill!"

Dr. Bob (Allan Nixon) is shanghaied to the town of Las Mujeres, which is run by women, particularly the tough and feisty "Iron" Mae McLeod (Marie Windsor), owner of the Paradise saloon and casino. The bartender has succumbed to pneumonia before he can arrive, but Bob sticks around on account of pretty Beth Larabee (Carla Balenda), although her prettier sister Ellen (Jacqueline Fontaine) also makes a play for him. Others in Las Mujeres include crook Frank Slater (Richard Avonde) and the mysterious Woody (Richard Rober), who is almost always in the company of Peyote Bill (Jackie Coogan). Mae finds herself beset on all sides by men who want to "deal" with her: Woody wants to take over the Paradise and make her a mere employee and Frank wants to rob the bank -- where most of Mae's money is. But she may have a plan to outwit them all ...

"cat-fight!"

Outlaw Women is a fun, morally-ambiguous western with some colorful action -- including a nifty "cat fight" -- and performances. Despite the fact that she isn't exactly on the side of the angels, you may find yourself rooting for Mae, who had to take over because the chauvinistic men in her life wouldn't exactly play fair. Windsor is as snappy as ever, and the other women, especially Fontaine (introduced in this picture although she'd appeared previously in The Daltons' Women and others) are fine. Most of the male actors were generally limited to "B"s or TV shows, no harm in that. Lyle Talbot, Billy House [Naked Gun], and Tom Tyler are also in the cast and the Four Dandies sing a peppy version of "San Francisco Bay." From Lippert Pictures. 

Verdict: Scrappy Windsor is always fun to watch. ***.

THE BIG CHASE

THE BIG CHASE (1954). Director: Arthur Hilton. 

Peter Grayson (Glenn Langan of The Amazing Colossal Man) is a new police officer and his wife, Doris (Adele Jergens of Blonde Dynamite) is expecting their first baby and fears complications to her pregnancy. Pete's buddy, Lt. Ned Taggert (Douglas Kennedy of Rockabilly Baby), hopes that his pal will try to become a detective but he has other plans. Meanwhile Brad Bellows (Jim Davis) is planning a payroll robbery before he even gets out of prison. When the day comes for the attack on an armored car, Bellows is accompanied by his wife (uncredited), Kip (Lon Chaney Jr.), and others. Just as Doris goes on the operating table, Pete and his partner are off in pursuit of Bellows and his confederates. This results in a chase sequence that is certainly not as exciting as the film's poster would indicate (someone jumps out of a copter at one point, but no one falls to their death). 

The Big Chase looks cobbled together from TV outtakes, and the two storylines -- Peter and his wife, and the robbery -- never quite jell. The acting is fine, however, and the pace is swift enough so that the running time -- less than an hour! -- doesn't seem padded. Lon Chaney hasn't a line of dialogue and his scenes -- along with half of this movie -- were lifted from an earlier film, a color 3D short entitled Bandit Island. Joe Flynn, the exasperated commander from McHale's Navy, plays a reporter to whom Kennedy tells the story. Langan and Jergens were married for many years in real life. 

Verdict: Not much to recommend in this soggy suspenser. *1/2. 

THEY WERE SO YOUNG

Johanna Matz and Scott Brady

THEY WERE SO YOUNG (aka Mannequins fur rio/1954). Written and directed by Kurt Neumann. 

In a prologue, a young woman's body is found washed up on the beach. Then we meet Eve Ullmann (Johanna Matz), who has emigrated from Germany to South America, and winds up working for a fashion house in Rio. It isn't long, however, before she realizes that she and the other women will have to do "favors" for male clients, and that they won't be able to leave their employ no matter what. After an initial disagreement with mining engineer Richard Lanning (Scott Brady), Eve comes to him in desperation for help. Richard takes Eve to the estate of Jaime Coltos (Raymond Burr of Bride of the Gorilla), for whom he works, for safekeeping, but later Lanning discovers that he may have tossed Eve out of the frying pan and into the fire ... 

Raymond Burr and Scott Brady

They Were So Young downplays the prostitution angle but makes it pretty clear that the bad guys in this are running a white slavery racket. The lead actress Johanna Matz, was Viennese and made virtually all of her movies in Germany, including Otto Preminger's German-language version of The Moon is Blue, in which she played Maggie McNamara's role. Matz is cute and charming in this, and plays well with Scott Brady, who offers one of his most winning and charismatic performances. Unfortunately, although the film has a modicum of suspense, the promised climax never quite materializes, and the story is wrapped up quickly and without much excitement. Burr was saved from movies like this by being signed to star in Perry Mason, but he plays Coltos with just the right amount of restrained menace. The premiere of this film did not lead to Matz having any kind of American career, but as the film was released by bargain basement Lippert Pictures, it probably was never intended to. Gert Frobe plays a henchman in this but I didn't spot him, probably because his signature title role in Goldfinger was ten years later. 

Verdict: Low-budget film noir of sorts has an interesting cast but never really catches fire. **1/4.