Common Law Wife (film)

Last updated
Common Law Wife
Directed by Larry Buchanan
Eric Sayers
Written byGrace Nolen
Produced byFred A. Kadane
Distributed byCinema Distributors of America
Texas Film Producers
Release date
  • 1963 (1963)
Running time
81 mins
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Common Law Wife is a 1963 American exploitation film shot in Texas.

Contents

Plot

Shug, a rich old man, has been living with his mistress Linda for five years. He kicks her out and replaces her with his niece, Baby Doll, a former stripper in New Orleans.

Cast

Production

The film began as a movie called Swamp Rose made in 1960 by low-budget director Larry Buchanan. The existing footage was sold to producer Michael A. Rapps who hired Eric Sayers to shoot new footage and changed the title to Common Law Wife. [1]

Buchanan later said the film began "as an artistically inclined, naturalistic romance, shooting in 16MM color around Caddo Lake. But the sleaze merchants got hold of it blew it up to 35MM in black and white, and changed the title... The delicacy of our photography was lost and so were any serious intentions we might have had for the film." [2]

Reception

In The Films of Larry Buchanan: A Critical Examination, Rob Craig points out, "Ripps and company decided to retain the main character from Buchanan's opus, but replace the actress who played her. Thus, the lead character in this disorienting backwoods fable changes indiscriminately from one person to another, in some cases quite obviously, lending the finished product a certain schizophrenic air. As one might imagine, Common Law Wife comes across as a choppy and confusing experience, which is not helped by the fact that a great deal of the footage seems to have been shot silent and overdubbed hastily afterwards." [3]

Psychotronic Video wrote called it "similar in some ways to the rural dramas Russ Meyer was about to make, with good dialog (written in this case by a woman), but minus the comedy" and said Lacey Kelly "is great as the sarcastic, wild beauty who uses the (married) sheriff and “Bull” out in the swamp to get what she wants and plots murder. Linda fights back and the ending is outrageous! I liked all the twisting in the club too. Mike shadows are visible." [4]

Tim Lucas of Video Watchdog said:

Sayers had nothing of Buchanan's ability, so Common Law Wife "crosses the line" like crazy, and the old and new footage cuts back-and-forth with absolutely no sense of rhythm - but as an example of what can sometimes happen to a film to make it "more commercial," it's a fascinating diversion for cinephiles. You see, Sayers was able to retain the services of some erstwhile cast members like Anne MacAdams and George Edgely, but Lacey Kelly was no longer available for reshoots. Therefore, the all-important role of "Baby Doll" is played in the final cut, with Buchanan's color footage dumbed-down to grainy black-and-white, by two completely different women. Ms. Kelly's unnamed replacement is disguised in some early shots with sunglasses and a series of preposterous hats, but it's ultimately a fact impossible to cover up. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Mars Needs Women</i> 1968 television film by Larry Buchanan

Mars Needs Women is a 1968 independently made American made-for-television science fiction film from Azalea Pictures. The film was produced, written, and directed by self-proclaimed schlock artist/auteur Larry Buchanan, and stars Tommy Kirk, Yvonne Craig, and Byron Lord. The film was released in first-run syndication by American International Pictures without a theatrical release.

Larry Buchanan, born Marcus Larry Seale Jr., was a film director, producer and writer, who proclaimed himself a "schlockmeister". Many of his extremely low-budget films have landed on "worst movie" lists or in the public domain, but all at least broke even and many made a profit. Most of his films were made for television and were never shown theatrically.

<i>Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry</i> 1974 film by John Hough

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry is a 1974 American road crime drama film based on the 1963 Richard Unekis novel titled The Chase. Directed by John Hough, the film stars Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, and Vic Morrow. Although Jimmie Haskell is credited with writing the music score, the soundtrack contains no incidental music apart from the theme song "Time ", sung by Marjorie McCoy, over the opening and closing titles, and a small amount of music heard over the radio.

Timothy Ray Lucas is an American film critic, biographer, novelist, screenwriter and blogger, best known for publishing and editing the video review magazine Video Watchdog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Queen Victoria</span> Fictional pub in the television series EastEnders

The Queen Victoria is the Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20.

<i>Swamp Women</i> 1955 film by Roger Corman

Swamp Women is a 1956 American adventure film noir crime film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Carole Mathews, Beverly Garland, and Marie Windsor, with Mike Connors and Ed Nelson in small roles.

<i>Blood Bath</i> 1966 American horror film by Stephanie Rothman and Jack Hill

Blood Bath is a 1966 American horror film directed by Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman and starring William Campbell, Linda Saunders, Marissa Mathes, and Sid Haig. The film concerns a mad painter of weird art who turns into a vampire-like man by night, apparently as a result of a family curse, and believes that he has found his reincarnated mistress in the person of an avant-garde ballerina.

<i>Dementia 13</i> 1963 film by Francis Ford Coppola

Dementia 13, known in the United Kingdom as The Haunted and the Hunted, is a 1963 independently made black-and-white horror-thriller film produced by Roger Corman, and written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars William Campbell and Luana Anders with Bart Patton, Mary Mitchell, and Patrick Magee. It was released in the United States by American International Pictures during the fall of 1963 as the bottom half of a double feature with Corman's X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.

<i>The Eye Creatures</i> 1967 television film by Larry Buchanan

The Eye Creatures is a 1967 American made-for-television comedy horror science fiction film about an invasion by a flying saucer and its silent, shambling alien occupants.

Queen of Blood is a 1966 science fiction horror film produced by George Edwards and Samuel Z. Arkoff, directed by Curtis Harrington, that stars John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper, and Judi Meredith. The film is based on the screenplay for the earlier Soviet feature film Mechte Navstrechu. Director Harrington also reused special effects footage from that film, as well as footage from the Soviet science fiction film Nebo Zovyot.

<i>Under Age</i> (1964 film) 1964 film by Larry Buchanan

Under Age is a 1964 black-and-white film written and directed by Larry Buchanan and starring Annabelle Weenick, Judy Adler and Roland Royter. The film was shot in Dallas, Texas.

<i>Five Dolls for an August Moon</i> 1970 film directed by Mario Bava

Five Dolls for an August Moon is a 1970 Italian giallo film directed by Mario Bava. It concerns a group of people who have gathered on a remote island for fun and relaxation. One of the guests is a chemist who has created a revolutionary new chemical process, and several of the attending industrialists are eager to buy it from him. Business problems become moot when someone begins killing off the attendees one by one.

<i>The McCartney Years</i> 2007 video by Paul McCartney

The McCartney Years is a three-DVD set featuring music videos, live performances and other rare footage from Paul McCartney's solo career and Wings. The set spans the years 1970 to 2005. It was released by Warner Music in the UK on 12 November 2007, and by Rhino Entertainment in the United States the following day.

It's Alive! is a 1969 American monster movie directed by Larry Buchanan and distributed by American International Pictures. The story concerns a mad farmer who tries to feed a stranded couple to a dinosaur he keeps in a cave.

Curse of the Swamp Creature is a 1968 American-made for television horror science fiction film directed by Larry Buchanan. Although Buchanan was producing low-budget 16mm color remakes of American International Pictures sci-fi movies for television distribution around this time, he claimed this was an original even though it bears more than a few striking similarities to the 1957 AIP film Voodoo Woman.

<i>A Night to Dismember</i> 1983 American film

A Night to Dismember is a 1983 American slasher horror film, produced and directed by Doris Wishman. The film stars pornographic actress Samantha Fox as a psychotic young woman, recently released from a psychiatric institution, who is driven to kill by an ancestral curse. It was the first and only foray into the horror genre for Wishman, who mainly directed and produced sexploitation films.

<i>A Bullet for Pretty Boy</i> 1970 film

A Bullet for Pretty Boy is a 1970 American action film from director Larry Buchanan. It stars Fabian Forte as gangster Pretty Boy Floyd and co-stars Jocelyn Lane in her final performance before retiring from acting in 1971.

Naughty Dallas is a 1964 American film about a small town girl who arrives in Dallas determined to become a stripper. The movie was directed by Larry Buchanan.

Comanche Crossing is a 1968 Western film directed by Larry Buchanan. Buchanan worked on the film in 1967–68 with Tony Huston. It was shot in Big Bend Country near the US-Mexican border, with Cynthia Hull as a Native American and Huston as a Comanche warrior. The film was never released.

Mistress of the Apes is a 1979 film from Larry Buchanan.

References

  1. 1 2 Lucas, Tim (9 October 2017). "Something Weird Video's BACKWOODS DOUBLE FEATURE Reviewed". Video Watchdog.
  2. ↑ Price, Michael (1997). "Larry Buchanan The Life and Times of a Hungry Visionary". Psychotronic Video. Vol. 24. p. 52.
  3. ↑ Craig, Rob (2007). The Films of Larry Buchanan: A Critical Examination. McFarland & Company. pp. 20–21. ISBN   978-0786429820.
  4. ↑ "Review of Common Law Cabin". Psychotronic Video. No. 15. Spring 1993. p. 50.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.