The Girl in Lovers Lane

I saw this film as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as chances are I would have never even known it existed without it. Not that it was all bad, it was pretty typical of a lot of films of the era. Of course, most of the ones I have seen have been episodes of Mystery Science Theater. The film was one of the ones they did that featured more of the whole struggle of youth type episode rather than science fiction or a horror which is the stuff the normally riff. These types of films usually are pretty good too though. They normally run from being youths that want to be violent or youths trying to figure things out that get caught up in some craziness. This one is more the latter, though the lead guy is rather older. He is a mentor who helps a young man who is trying to figure things about his own life, but he seems to do a lot of running.

The story has a young man named Danny being chased in a train yard from two guys who are out to get his wallet. Well poor Danny manages to ditch his wallet, but he ends up taking one hit and falls right out. Thankfully, a wise traveler named Bix puts him in the boxcar and soon he and Danny are riding the rails. Bix agrees to help Danny and be a traveling companion, while Danny provides some cash. They soon stop at a town and if you thought this was a traveling film where our new found friends were going to have different adventures in different towns and cities you are going to be disappointed. Yes, they stay in the town throughout the duration of the film, but it sure is a strange town. Depicted as very small, but at the same time it has one very large brothel in it. It also has a shady pool hall where every person in it is willing to beat up a person for their money. At the same time it is such a peaceful town that a young couple can stroll its streets at night. Well Bix falls for a girl who has an incredibly obvious stalker that also has his eyes on her! Things take a turn for the surprising and a bit depressing.

It made for a rather funny episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This one did not have a short and from the looks of it, I do not see this one being as edited down as other episodes either. I think you can get a full sense of the picture without seeing the whole thing. The film is entertaining enough to make it a good episode too. I think that some of the truly awful films that are boring make for poor riffing material. My least favorite episode of MST3K is the one featuring that German Hamlet as it was done so minimally and it was just labored. This one has lively characters that can at times make you feel a little sympathy and a less dreary episode of the show.

So in the end, it was not anything I would want to watch without the aid of the gang of the satellite of love, but it was not as bad as other things they have made fun of. The movie moves along about like other films and it is better made than say an Ed Wood film or Coleman Francis movie that were also being made at this time. Nothing really stands out except that crazy eyed dude who was so obviously insane. Oh no, he is just harmless. Yep, the type of thing people say about psychos after they kill! Along with kept to themselves.

A young man, named Danny, has run away from home and meets a drifter, named Bix, who agrees to tag along with Danny and watch out for him... and his money. They end up in a small town where they meet Carrie - a shy, naive girl working in her father's diner. Bix starts seeing Carrie but he plans on leaving soon (because he's a drifter, see? He's no good! Understand?). Meanwhile, the town creep, Jesse (played by a perfectly casted Jack Elam), keeps showing up at the diner and bothering Carrie. Danny keeps inadvertently picking up whores left and right (because he's loaded with money – he has almost a hundred dollars!) whom Bix has to constantly chase away (there are a lot of ambiguously gay overtones between Danny and Bix in this flick). Eventually, Bix and Danny decide to leave town but trouble is a-brewing, due to Jesse the creep.

My review of the movie itself: a terrible, dated "Troubled Youth" flick from the '50s.

My review of the MST3K version of the movie: I've got to say that this is one of the best episodes of MST3K ever. The riffing is dead-on, all the time. Except for the somewhat downbeat ending, this movie is easy material for Joel and the Bots, especially Danny's constant screw-ups that Bix has to rescue him from. The host segments are pretty good too, especially the segment with the `Train Song.' Hopefully, Rhino releases this episode to home video one day.

This one is one of those classic B movie following the exploits of 2 hobos. It's done really cheesily and Big Stupid running off one-liners like a cardboard cassanova. But Jack Elam steals every scene he's in as the creepazoid Jesse (now Jerome!). My favorite scene is the lynch mob and the dad's voice going up 10 octaves ("You loved her?"). Danny, Big Stupid's protege, is surprisingly stupider, but not as loathsome as our lead star. There's also a quaint scene of a guy pimping at the diner. Joyce Meadows is the sweet, naive nice gal and probably the least annoying. And those yellow ruffles (RAWR!). Oh, and booze is evil according to Mr. Stupid.

This movie's a hoot. Watch the MST cover of this and Crow's terrific Elam homage!

I have noticed that a lot of films that have been featured on "Mystery Science Theater" have received a tons of low ratings on IMDb. However, a few of the films featured on the films weren't that bad and it's not fair to rate a film that's been given the "MST" treatment--with the hosts making funny comments during the film. Now I am NOT saying that "The Girl in Lover's Lane" is a great film, but it's not nearly bad enough to merit its current IMDb score of 2.1.

The film begins with Bix and Danny meeting. Bix is a veteran drifter and Danny a younger guy who seems to have no particular reason to be wandering about the country. Once they blow into a small town, Bix needs to rescue Danny again and again because Danny is quite naive--a nice way of saying he has the intellect of a tomato.

Along the way, something happens to the self-assured Bix--he finds a nice young lady and finds the lure of staying put pulling at him. And, in an odd subplot, Jack Elam plays a super-creepy sicko who wanders the town scaring the crap out of everyone--yet oddly, the police don't seem to take much notice nor does anyone on their own do anything about him. Ultimately, however, when Elam puts the moves on a girl who Bix is falling for, things come to a full boil.

Overall, while not at all a great film, there were many interesting plot elements in this film--enough to merit a score higher than 2.1. The biggest negatives are a simplistic conclusion to the mystery that occurs near the end as well as the total stupidity of Danny one time too often. Considering the minuscule budget, however, it's a watchable little film.

For years, when MST3K fans have been polled about which riffed films were "not completely terrible," this movie has come up (along with the Godzilla and Gamera movies). It's easy to see why - unlike complete train wrecks like Space Mutiny and Manos the Hands Of Fate, you can tell that this could have been a halfway decent film if it had a little more of a budget - better sets, better costumes, a competent script editor to fix the problematic ending. The acting isn't terrible, some of the characters are actually likable, and Jack Elam's villain is genuinely creepy. It made for a very underrated MST3K episode - one of the funniest of the later Joel era. (The show's writers reported being genuinely traumatized by the film's ending - and you just KNOW that it was a rare film that could get that crew to genuinely care about the characters).