Bad Girls Do Cry

Released in 1965, but clearly shot years earlier, this is an inept little crime melodrama with some inept sexploitation up front. As usual for grindhouse flicks of era, there's a fair amount of undressing and dressing for no reason complemented by lousy music, annoying narration, and awkward editing. The coffee shop scene lays the excruciating groundwork, as we chop back and forth between characters to avoid actually seeing them speak their lines. All we get are reaction shots to the off-screen character's voice! 50s-pretty Misty Ayers strips to her French-cut panties a couple of times before the action gets started. She's accompanied continuously by what is apparently stock music from romantic to western to mother-does-the-dishes, mixed randomly to produce, among other things, the most thrilling cigarette lighting ever captured on film. Watch as he taps it! Watch as he strikes the match! Will he inhale or will he be captured by Apaches? Only time will tell!! The film tells the sordid tale of how Sally gets tricked into working in a whorehouse, falls for a dope, and can't escape. For some reason, we're treated to some of the most bored and boring hookers ever committed to film, literally doing their nails or knitting rather than entertaining the clientèle. Some stupendously lame comedy (boozy dame accidentally drinks milk! Har dee har!) and silent film acting doesn't help. This is one of the worst feature films I've ever seen, even on the Something Weird Video marquee. It's really more of a film curiosity for those interested in the history of cinema--very bad cinema.

Obviously made to show famous 1950s stripper Misty Ayers "acting" talents. Too bad she can't act.

Boring little tale about sweet, innocent Sally Down (Ayers) being drugged and forced into white slavery (prostitution). Then she meets likable Tommy Cole who instantly falls in love with her. He wants to help her escape but can he? You really won't care.

There's no real skin here--Ayers just strips down SLOWLY to her underwear (twice). The rest is just a boring little tale chockful of bad acting, atrocious "comedy" (never thought prostitution was funny but what do I know?) and terrible post-dubbed dialogue. I admit there was a twist at the end I didn't see coming but that's not enough to sit through this. Also Ayers' attempts at acting are hysterical! A real bomb. Avoid.

Bad Girls Do Cry (1954)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Sally Down (Misty Ayers) is your typical small town girl who heads off to Hollywood where she plans on becoming a star. She gets a rude awakening early on when she's sexually attacked and the man also shoots her up with drugs. This leads her on a downward spiral of various evil things.

Ayers was a striptease star back in the day and this ultra low-budget film was obviously meant to cash in on her success. If you're hoping to see her naked then you're going to be disappointed because outside of a few shots of her butt crack there's really not much here. This early exploitation film still features enough naughty moments that I'm sure had "fans" excited back in the day.

At just under a hour, there's really not too much going on here. As you'd expect there's the voice-over narration, which pretty much leads us through the limited story. We get a few very campy and at times hilarious moments due to the bad acting and silly style. This includes the scene where Ayers is attacked. I won't spoil what happens but it's quite silly and funny.

The majority of the running time deals with Ayers looking at herself in the mirror and switching in and out of clothes. The Monroe look-a-like is certainly very attractive but this grade Z production does very little for her quality wise.

First of all, the 1965 date is certainly wrong for this film--1955 is more like it. The title card seems to be taken from a 1960s Doris Wishman film of the same title, but then the rest of the credits are original (was this film issued under another name in the 50s???). Director Sid Melton is best known as a fine comic character actor, famous from his stints on Make Room for Daddy and Captain Midnight, and from his many supporting roles in Lippert films in the 49-52 period, and his starring turn in the fascinating STOP THE CAB from the same period, where he was teamed with the amazing Iris Adrian. I'm surprised he put his name on this film, but it is relatively tame and probably couldn't have hurt his reputation THAT much as it merely features the beautiful Misty Ayres slowly stripping down to her undies a few times. As there are TWO scenes of that in the first ten minutes, I was expecting most of the film would be in that vein (which I could have enjoyed, but that's another story...), but it then evolves into an attempt at a crime drama, with a few comic bits (an ongoing drunk routine, done by a woman who is a moll of the gangster in charge..and another one with a singing telegram delivery boy played by Sid Melton's voice!). Basically, Ayres arrives in the big city, tries to get a job, works as a waitress, is approached by a sleaze who runs a modeling agency, goes out on a job that is actually a front for prostitution, gets beaten up and put on dope... I won't give anything else away. The films plays on the same level as, say, Broadway Jungle, and its main impediment to being accepted by most viewers is that it is shot silent and has non-synced dialog and sound effects. The acting of the bad guys is also on a dinner theatre melodrama level and isn't helped by the flat non-synced dubbing. Films like this have a strange fascination for me, and no doubt there is an interesting story behind this film and Mr. Melton's involvement in it. If you already own Dance Hall Racket, Broadway Jungle, Barry Mahon's "crime-oriented" nudies, Virgin in Hollywood, and other films of that ilk, you should surely appreciate this unique film experience as much as I did. If you don't know what any of those films are, I wouldn't think this would have any appeal for you. Sid Melton fans might also want to check it out, if only to see another facet to this great funnyman.

Although Misty Ayers (burlesque stripper) is certainly attractive as the blonde lead, this flick is just an excuse to let her strip down to her underwear a few times (no nudity in 1954 when this film was made; not 1965).

The guy who hires her to work in a whorehouse resembles Bud Abbott of Abbott & Costello. Most of the other woman are unattractive, and the drunken woman is semi-amusing in a creepy way.

A 2 out of 10. Ms. Ayers has a curvacious physique, but you can't judge any acting talent because the ENTIRE film is post-dubbed. Some of these "exploitation films", usually made later than this one, are interesting in some way, but this is really a bore fest. Sid Melton (MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY) directed. There are some Samurai-like facial expressions and interesting apartments, but there's really NOTHING here.