The Legend of Frenchie King (1971)

Outlaw sisters in the old West inherit a ranch and try to settle down and develop relationships with neighboring family of lots of brothers.

Directors:

Christian-Jaque, Guy Casaril (uncredited)

Writers:

Marie-Ange Aniès (screenplay), Jean Nemours (screenplay)

Stars:

Brigitte Bardot, Claudia Cardinale, Michael J. Pollard

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brigitte Bardot	...	Louise / Frenchie King
Claudia Cardinale	...	Marie Sarrazin
Michael J. Pollard	...	Le Shérif
Micheline Presle	...	Tante Amélie
Marie-Ange Aniès	...	Constance
Georges Beller	...	Marc
Henri Czarniak	...	Le docteur Miller (as Henry Czarniak)
Oscar Davis	...	Matthieu
Raoul Delfosse	...	Le Cornec
France Dougnac	...	Elisabeth
Teresa Gimpera	...	Caroline
Leroy Haynes	...	Marquis
Valéry Inkijinoff	...	Spitting Bull (as Valery Inkijinoff)
Jacques Jouanneau	...	Letellier
Emma Cohen	...	Virginie

Storyline

The story takes place in Texas in the 1890s and begins with a train robbery staged by Louise (Brigette Bardot) and her four sisters. Among the loot is the title to the Little "P" ranch, which just happens to be located on a field of unexplored oil next to the property of Marie Sarrazin (Claudia Cardinale) and her four brothers. Louise and her sisters decide to give up the life of crime and settle down on the Little "P' ranch, but are harassed by Marie and her kin who is determined to force them out and acquire the old-rich property for herself.

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Plot Keywords:

euro western | female gunfighter | catfight | spaghetti western | woman hits a woman | 

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Taglines:

The West Ain't No Place for a Man

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Little P. Ranch was built specifically for this film, but it remained standing after filming was completed and would go on to appear in the following movies: '¡Viva la muerte... tua! (1971)', 'La banda J. & S. - Cronaca criminale del Far West (1972)', 'Il mio nome è Shangai Joe (1973)', 'Uno, dos, tres... dispara otra vez (1973)', 'The Spikes Gang (1974)' and 'Il bianco il giallo il nero (1975)'. The ranch burned down in an unknown year, leaving only the chimney standing. It remains so as of January 2017.

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Goofs

When Maria shoots at Louise in the saloon, she fires nine shots from a revolver.

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Alternate Versions

West German theatrical version was cut by ca. 2,5 minutes. The DVD release by e-m-s is uncut.

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Connections

Featured in Trailer Trauma (2016)

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Soundtracks

Prairie Woman
(uncredited)
Music by Francis Lai and lyrics by Francis Lai and Hal Shaper
Sung by Claudia Cardinale (Maria Sarrazin)

User Reviews

We Like France Dougnac!!

I am one of the few who can actually lay claim to seeing "The Legend of Frenchie King" (1971) during its original UK theatrical release. The theater was not exactly packed for this feature which was yet another of the then endlessly proliferating Spanish westerns. These were characterized by a slightly off-kilter production design and heavily-accented dialogue (considering the bad accents I can't imagine that much of it was dubbed) by the English as a second language cast members.

Apparently Bardot had not learned her lesson with "Shalako" back in 1968, and she inflicted another of these things on herself. Basically the film is what you would get if you combined the plot elements of "The Dalton Girls"(1957) with those of "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) and then tried (unsuccessfully) to give the story a comic quality.

The story is set in 1880's New Mexico, and like "The Dalton Girls" it features an outlaw gang of eyeball scorching girls. In this case there are five of them carrying on the family tradition (they don't have the Daltons as brothers but they have a legendary train robbing father).

The film opens with such a robbery. Disguised as men in black, the girls inflict ultra-violence on anyone who resists them. When she discovers the train robbery loot includes a deed to a local ranch the leader & title character (Bardot) decides they will all go domestic for a while. There is oil on the ranch and the neighboring rancher (Claudia Cardinale) wants to buy them out. She has four brothers. Which sets up a series of confrontations between the two women and a romantic pairing off of the four sisters and the four brothers. This culminates in a nicely staged if somewhat tame catfight. Meanwhile Michael J. Pollard plays his standard C.W. Moss character; this time working as a bumbling sheriff.

Bardot was in her mid-thirties and still looks great, Cardinale was a couple years younger and looks pretty high mileage and a bit chunky in comparison. It does not work to her relative advantage to be playing opposite Bardot. Nor does it help that the four other actresses are drop dead gorgeous.

It is this winsome foursome that makes the film worth viewing. They even manage to insert a little characterization. Patty Shepard plays Little Rain, the one with an Indian mother (note the headband). Teresa Gimpera plays Caroline, the oldest and most sophisticated. Emma Cohen plays near-sighted Virginie. And France Dougnac plays ultra-hot Elisabeth, she makes all the others (including Bardot) look rather plain in comparison. There is a great camera shot where they pan along the four of them standing along a bar which pauses at the end when Dougnac comes into the frame.

The original director was Guy Casaril but he was replaced by a desperate for work Christian- Jaque. The "real" legend of Frenchie King grew out of this change as in was long believed that there were two different films, "Frenchie King" by Christian-Jaque and "Les Petroleuses" by Casaril.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Details

Country:

UK France Italy Spain

Language:

French English

Release Date:

16 December 1971 (France)

Also Known As:

The Legend of Frenchie King

Filming Locations:

Cascajares de la Sierra, Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

FGL Productions, Copercines, Cooperativa Cinematográfica, Films EGE

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1