Born Reckless

Amateur night at the rodeo. As barroom singer Jackie Adams, sort of a fashion-plate cowgirl (her western hat tilted to one side), Mamie Van Doren is dressed to kill, peroxided and puckered for a kiss that never comes. This lady knows her way around a photogenic pose but, unfortunately, she has no personality; when asking someone a simple question, she squints her eyes and quivers her lips as if trying to comprehend the theory of relativity. Van Doren is so stilted on-screen that she's hardly even a presence, yet the drooling cowboys in her path don't seem to notice. Mamie hitches up with a hunky rodeo cowboy and his grizzled cohort, but the so-called screenplay isn't interested in the (often crooked) rodeo circuit. What the filmmakers really want to do is get their sexy starlet into compromising positions (which she then squirms her way out of). Joseph F. Biroc's cinematography is compromised by poor stock shots of rodeo crowds (which must have pained him), and every performance leans toward the extreme: extremely wooden or extremely hammy. Either way, the picture is extremely awful. * from ****

Mamie has about five good Country song and dance numbers while worrying about her man, Kelly Cobb, a rodeo champ who has been drawn into the clutches of another woman (Carol Ohmart) Bland and polished with the big studio budget as they come. It's curious why an A grade studio like Warner Brothers decided to run with such a slim B grade rodeo opera. Without James Dean, they were no doubt trying to repeat Fox's success with Marilyn Monroe. Nice rodeo riding tricks help pad the time of a predictable show with a rather tame story book ending. One rock n roll number might have you laughing quite a lot..

Kelly Cobb (Jeff Richards) is a cowboy who travels the rodeo circuit. This All-American hunk might resemble Clark Kent, but he knows his way around the ladies. Jackie Adams (Mamie Van Doren) is a trick rider who finds time to sing in the dance halls of the cow-towns on the tour. With her platinum hair and her voluptuous figure, she attracts men even when she is not trying--frequently requiring Kelly to rescue her.

With its rock and roll music and its obligatory fistfights, "Born Reckless" might be another vehicle for Elvis Presley. Although most of the music is performed by someone "on stage", note that Van Doren sings one ballad (backed by an orchestra and choir) on a front porch, lamenting the fact that it's difficult to be patient when a girl is waiting for her man to settle down. So, this film has some elements of a musical.

It also has rodeo stock footage, a lame ending, and a plot as predictable as a poolside fight. Ostensibly it's a story about dreams for the future, but it's mostly a chance for viewers to ogle the two stars. The story is not compelling, but--surprisingly--Mamie's voice sounds pretty good in a couple of her numbers.

Born Reckless (1958)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Rodeo star Kelly Cobb (Jeff Richards) and singer Jackie Adams (Mamie Van Doren) team up to head across the country getting into various rodeo contests to win money. Usually Cobb takes a beating by not only the bulls but the various men who are constantly trying to get their hands on the sexy Adams. If you're looking for high art then BORN RECKLESS certainly isn't going to be for you but if you're looking for some fun, cheap "B" movie stuff then there's quite a bit here to enjoy. The screenplay really doesn't have too many brains working for it because we've basically got a ten-minute movie that just keeps repeating itself over and over and over again. In fact, we basically have the same thing happen meaning that Cobb and Adams arrive in a new town, he tries to win money, she gets hit on and he has to fight the guy hitting on her. This here is basically the entire movie and it's funny that the screenplay didn't try anything but instead just kept this format going throughout the picture. I really didn't mind the repeat business because it was rather funny seeing all of these guys putting their hands all over Van Doren who would then try to get away only to have to be rescued. I'm sure some might see this as rather sexist entertainment but it's at least got some campy charm to it. Richards and Van Doren don't offer excellent performances but they're good enough for a film like this. The two of them share some nice chemistry together, which helps keep the film moving. Arthur Hunnicutt nearly steals the picture as the sidekick who always has something funny to say. The soundtrack includes a decent song from Tex Williams and Van Doren also gets to do about four different numbers but none of them are memorable. BORN RECKLESS isn't a classic but I think fans of the actors should enjoy it even with all the silly stock footage.

I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining Born Reckless was. The on screen chemistry between lead actor Jeff Richards and Mamie Van Doren was obvious. The film reminded me a bit of the earlier 1956 film Bus Stop which also starred three main characters being the sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, and the veteran actor Arthur O'Connell. In Born Reckless the resemblance of the three main stars being Jeff Richards, Mamie Van Doren and veteran actor Arthur Hunnicutt to the earlier successful film Bus Stop was no mere coincidence.

Mamie Van Doren was not only nice eye candy to watch but she could really sing and she showed us how good her singing lungs actually were by singing several entertaining numbers throughout this romantic musical. There certainly was a lot of teasing going on between Jeff Richards and Mamie Van Doren but we can all relate to our significant others appearing jealous from time to time now can't we?

Jeff Richards is a rodeo star named Kelly Cobb trying to make just enough stake money to settle down and purchase his own ranch and raise cattle but Mamie Van Doren who plays Jackie Adams one of Kelly's love interests is worried that Kelly will stay in the rodeo game too long and end up a cripple as other rodeo stars had not known when enough was enough.

This is a fun movie that is well acted, with some entertaining tunes, and of course with Mamie Van Doren being the one belting out the hit songs, who wouldn't enjoy this film? I give it a 7 out of 10 IMDB rating. I will be looking to watch it again on TCM sometime soon too!