It’s great to see Something Weird branching out and working with other labels. This double bill of Hicksploitation has the legendary psychotronic imprint partnering up with the new kid on the block and my personal new favorite boutique label Film Masters and reissuing a previous DVD release in glorious HD. Hicksploitation as a sub-genre is essentially the name for regional films made for the south, which in the 60s/70s had an vibrant drive-in culture, that along with their own product would show the same offerings from the northern grindhouse circuits to round out some of their double bills. Since I hail from the south originally, I will never pass up on the opportunity to witness some hillbilly hijinks, the only problem here is sometimes these stereotypes are just, that for a reason.
Both of these films are very interesting examples of the “child bride” trope you see in the genre, but from two very different approaches. Common Law Wife (1961) is definitely the sleazier of the pairing, in this this film we have Shug (George Edgley), a well to do old man, “living high on the hog” if you will, looking to replace his long time mistress Linda (Annabelle Weenick), who thanks to the length of their relationship (5+ years) has become his common law wife. Her replacement, digging into another stereotype is his much younger stripper niece from New Orleans he calls “Baby Doll” (Lacey Kelly). This obvious nod to the Tenneseee Williams play gives us a character that thinks she’s there to take care of her dying uncle for a short stint and possibly some hanky pinky, to simply inherit his money. But Shug is in fact fine and is simply looking for a younger woman for the long haul.
This film’s trajectory follows Linda, who once was with Shug just for the money, but now is fighting for her man whom she’s since fallen in love with. The performances in Common Law are more camp than anything else, and since Hollywood was still under the code, this allowed this film’s script to deliver the salacious goods they couldn’t get elsewhere. One thing I didn’t pick up until digging into the film’s extras was another shared thread between the two films was they both essentially started out as one thing and became something else. For Common Law Wife, the film started out as Swamp Woman, and later that unfinished film was taken and incorporated into Common Law. This bit explained a lot from the obvious changing of film stock to watching actors swapped out in various parts.
A bit of a cultural aside, getting Married isn’t cheap, and being from the south Common Law Marriage is a very real thing and common thing, it also holds the same weight as husband and wife in most social circles. This practice is also due to the general distrust of the government and authority, which is pretty common once you pass the Mason Dixon line. I happen to know a bit about this, because to further reinforce a stereotype – my parents were actually common law married. In fact I didn’t know they weren’t married, married, until much later in life, when they separated. This is the other advantage of the common law marriage for southern folk, divorce is a court-less affair and can be dissolved quickly and usually without government intervention.
The next film up was 1968’s Jennie: Wife/Child directed by Robert Carl Cohen and James Landis, like Common Law, this film had a bit of a troubled production. This film started its life as Tendergrass a two hour southern melodrama, once again taking a page from Babydoll telling the story of Jennie (Beverly Lunsford) a “Child Bride”, who is stuck in a loveless marriage with the double her age senior farmer Albert Peckingpaw (Jack Lester). When distributors thought they could get more mileage for the film on the drive-in circuit than theaters, the film was overhauled to amp up the sordid and comedic bits and downplay the more dramatic pieces. That said, this was definitely the stronger of the two on the set for me, with solid performances and characters that felt a bit more fleshed out than the previous film.
This all rests on the capable shoulders of both the film’s lead blonde bombshell Beverly Lunsford, who had roles on the likes of Leave it to Beaver and My Three Sons, and her onscreen husband Jack Lester who also hailed from the small screen with credits for Gunsmoke and Bonanza under his belt. While dipping its toes in the “Child Bride” trope the film is very clear on the fact Jennie was 20 when she was paired up with Albert. Jennie also isn’t quite as infantilized as you might expect in the genre, while she does spend the bulk of the film seducing the farm’s handsome yet infantile farmhand, we see this desperation and loneliness come from a place of frustration and love, rather than simply boredom. She is also the aggressor and this gives her character a bit more agency than if she was simply a prize to be won since her emotions come from a very real place.
The pair of films not only do an excellent job at showing two different takes of similar themes, but they do so in a way that thanks to the commentaries and extras educates the viewer on context and the production on both. Given the rarity of both titles I definitely had to watch both with and without their respective commentaries to get more info on both. Aside from the commentaries that do an amazing job digging into these films, there’s a nearly hour long doc simply on Hicksploitation, that I found did a impressive job at sort of taking someone unaware of these kinds of films and explaining where they came from and the audience they were intended for. Of special note here was these restorations weren’t done from the same weathered prints as the original Something Weird releases, but were sourced for different elements. Personally I like a little print damage on my transfers and you get that organic film print feel here with both transfers.
Once again Film Masters comes through with another solid release that highlights two hidden gems that I completely dug, along with dealing out plenty of extras to educate as well as entertain. I also applaud their philosophy on restorations and retaining their film look and grain. I know some labels try to smooth out the grain to better contemporize films like these, but in my opinion those aren’t the kinds of collectors picking up these titles. I’m also glad that Something Weird is branching out a bit and working with other labels, opening up their library and giving other distros a chance to release films that they’re interested in. If you’re looking for an easy entry point into Hicksploitation, this is definitely it, also if you’re a fan of those regional delicacies, you’re also in luck.
