Many times, if I'm watching an Ed Wood movie and something inexplicable comes across the screen, I can usually take a deep breath and say to myself, "Well, at least I can see what he's *trying* to say." But when I was bludgeoned with an old Vaudvillian sketch in the middle of "Jail Bait" for seemingly no reason, I was speechless. This little nugget of racism, complete with Old-Tyme-White-Guy-In-Blackface-Talking-Like-A-Retarded-Bill-Cosby, took me completely by surprise. As if that weren't enough, he ends the bit by doing a shuffling Uncle Tom-ish song and dance number while wiggling a cigar up and down in his mouth in a very disturbing manner. Finally, I had seen something in and Ed Wood movie that I couldn't explain.
This scene is probably a good reason this film never ended up on MST3K. Though I must say that if it were cut from the film, it wouldn't change anything at all, except the audience would only have its intelligence insulted. Now, I'm not saying Ed Wood was a racist, but this scene does make it hard to recommend this movie to friends. Even those who enjoy bad movies.
This scene is probably a good reason this film never ended up on MST3K. Though I must say that if it were cut from the film, it wouldn't change anything at all, except the audience would only have its intelligence insulted. Now, I'm not saying Ed Wood was a racist, but this scene does make it hard to recommend this movie to friends. Even those who enjoy bad movies.