Complete credited cast: | |||
Karl Malden | ... | Archie Lee Meighan | |
Carroll Baker | ... | Baby Doll Meighan | |
Eli Wallach | ... | Silva Vacarro | |
Mildred Dunnock | ... | Aunt Rose Comfort | |
Lonny Chapman | ... | Rock | |
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Eades Hogue | ... | Town Marshal |
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Noah Williamson | ... | Deputy |
Living in Tiger Tail County, Mississippi, middle aged Archie Lee Meighan and nineteen year old "Baby Doll" Meighan née McCargo have been married for close to two years. Their marriage is not based on love, but each getting what they want from the other. Their marriage agreement has them consummating their marriage on her twentieth birthday, which is in three days, the act to which Baby Doll is not really looking forward. But she does taunt him and other men with her overt "baby doll" sexuality, the baby doll aspect which she fosters by sleeping in their house's nursery in a crib. Baby Doll's now deceased father allowed the marriage on the stipulation that Archie Lee provide Baby Doll financial security as displayed by the most resplendent house in the south. They currently live in a dilapidated mansion with her Aunt Rose Comfort, and although Archie Lee is making some renovations on it, he no longer has the financial means to make it what Baby Doll wants as his cotton ginning ... Written by Huggo
A leering, absurd comedy-drama set in good ole' Mississippi in the mid-1950's, "Baby Doll" is full of the hardscrabble rural raunch that Tennessee Williams always managed to grow his best crops in. A sultry Carol Baker plays the child-bride of blustery ever-distracted blow-hard Karl Malden, who's business rival (expertly played by Eli Wallach in his film debut) turns up the heat after he suspects Malden of torching his cotton mill.
Wallach's character is bent on receiving satisfaction, regardless of what form it takes. The acting is, at times, enjoyably over-the-top, and the entire cast is undeniably watchable. Baker and Wallach ignite more than their share of mutual sexual tension, to the point where one would gain some understanding as to why this film was so famously condemned when it was first released over a half-century ago. Although less smutty by today's standards, it positively sweats!