Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Hal Hopper | ... | Sidney Brenshaw |
Antoinette Cristiani | ... | Hannah Brenshaw | |
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John Furlong | ... | Calif McKinney |
Rena Horten | ... | Eula | |
Princess Livingston | ... | Maggie Marie | |
Lorna Maitland | ... | Clara Belle | |
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Sam Hanna | ... | Injoys |
Stuart Lancaster | ... | Lute Wade (as Stu Lancaster) | |
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Nick Wolcuff | ... | Sheriff Abel |
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Frank Bolger | ... | Brother Hansen |
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Lee Ballard | ... | Sister Hansen |
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Michael Finn | ... | Thurmond Pate (as Mickey Foxx) |
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Fred Owens | ... | Milton (as F. Rufus Owens) |
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Wilfred Kues | ... | Lynch mob (as W. Kues) |
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Charles Felix |
It's 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition. Calif, a stranger with a past walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He hires on with Lute Wade to earn some travelling money, but gets entangled in a bad family situation: Lute's daughter is married to Sidney, a good-for-nothing drunk that frequents the rural equivalent of a whorehouse and beats his wife and is just waiting for Lute to kick the bucket to get his money. When Sidney and a local wacko preacher begin orchestrating a smear campaign against Calif, he finds it difficult to conceal his past and his growing affection for Sidney's wife. Written by Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>
Drama takes place in Missouri during the Depression (though that adds little to the story). Drifter Calif McKinney (John Furlong) comes by a small town looking for working. He finds it at the Wade farm run by Luke Ward and his niece Hannah (Antoinette Christiani) and her alcoholic abusive husband Sidney (Hal Hopper). Calif starts to fall for Hannah--Sidney sees that and doesn't like it. He gets the town and the local preacher (Frank Bolger) to rally against Calif. Also there are the two beautiful, huge-chested sisters (Lorna Maitland and Rena Horten) who are in the local cat house...It all leads to two near rapes, violence, murder and tragedy. But it does (in a way) have a happy ending.
Sleazy (in a good way) and enjoyable Russ Meyer drama. He ignores the campy dialogue he had in his previous features and gives us a straight forward drama. The script is good and it's well-directed with some beautiful black and white cinematography. The acting was (surprisingly) pretty good--especially when you consider all the women were hired for their bodies not acting ability. Furlong and Christiani give good performances but Hopper screams all his lines and Bolger is hopeless.
There is nudity on a few occasions but it's pretty tasteful. No great shakes but right up there with "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" as one of the best Russ Meyers film.