Outlaw Women

The chicks are in charge!!!

Marie Windsor runs a very successful gambling hall in Las Mujeres, which effectively puts her in charge of the whole town. She has female gunfighters keeping the peace and enforcing her word. Women who pass through town are invited to stay ... and so on.

So ... a bunch of stuff happens. Nice doctor guy Allan Nixon is kidnapped by gunslinging Carla Belinda and brought to Las Mujeres to be the town doctor. Patent medicine huckster Billy House loses all the women in his show to Las Mujeres, so he sticks around to be the bartender and provide comic relief. Gambler and Windsor's ex Richard Rober shows up in town with his gunslinging bodyguard Jackie Coogan (yes, that Jackie Coogan) and threatens to take the whole operation away from her. Outlaw Richard Avonde gets sick of Windsor not cooperating and teams up with even tougher outlaw Leonard Penn to steal her money.

All these plotlines collide in this Ron Ormand B western shot in Cinecolor ... a crude Technicolor imitation. It's pretty much everything you expect ... some action, some romance, some comedy and a few songs. It's pretty damn okay if you know what to expect.

Barely feasible story about outlaws robbing a bank shipment is stretched past the point of interest by film's end. Some interest may be generated, though, by the film's unusual setting -- a frontier town owned and governed by women. Their leader (Windsor) refuses to co-operate with the outlaws, leading the women to consider robbing the shipment to protect their investment.

The audience I saw it with (here in Oakland, CA, where Will "The Thrill" Viharo is one of the only guys in the world who will show movies like this to a live audience) reacted positively to Windsor and her butch right-hand lady (Hart), but mostly with boredom towards the tired story, stilted dialogue, and substandard directing and photography (in Cinecolor, which on this rapidly disintegrating print looks like 1920s 2-strip).

Some points of interest, but nothing exceptional. Pales in comparison to the similarly themed "Johnny Guitar" (which was made by somewhat more ambitious filmmakers).

It's a wacky premise that unfortunately settles into the conventional following a promising start. So, can women actually run an old-West town and keep the men subdued -- talk about reversing the usual gender roles and in a western, no less! Now, If anybody can put the women on top, it's the likes of the great Marie Windsor as Iron Mae McLeod. That name tells you the rest. Then too, was any actress better at foiling men than the imposing Windsor, what with her knowing eyes and sly demeanor. I'll never forget her ruthless put-down of a hapless Elisha Cook Jr In that great 50's heist flick, The Killing. Here, she does her job, but I get the feeling that for whatever reasons she's only going through the motions in a role with so much Windsor potential.

Anyway, once the action leaves Iron Mae's saloon to concentrate on a bank heist, the men take over and the engaging battle of the sexes fades. Maybe the writers weren't sure where to go with their touchy premise. Nonetheless, for laughs, there's bartender Uncle Barney (Billy House) always ready to sell any dry throat his ugly patent medicine instead of a whiskey. On the other hand, for the guys there's plenty of eye candy in a saloon that looks more like modern Vegas than a dry western gulch. But who cares, what with all the bare legs and fancy costuming.

All in all, I'm disappointed the screenplay didn't follow through with that promising premise that still has relevance, given the modern women's movement. And, oh yes, if you're feeling coldish and a funny looking, fat guy offers you a miracle tonic called Blackfoot Balm, don't take it. Please, don't take it.

Considering that there must have been at least 15 million western movies made by Hollywood, it's not surprising that occasionally they tried various gimmicks to set some of these westerns apart. For example, in "The Terror of Tiny Town", all the characters are tiny folks and in "Harlem on the Prairie", everyone is black...including the hero.

While "Outlaw Women" is not an all-women film, it is one where they are in charge of a town and men can only visit if they want to frequent Iron Mae's saloon or if she needs them, such as a young doctor who is brought there early in the film. But some men are out to destroy Mae and they plan on robbing the local bank...the same bank in which Mae has all her money. Then, they hope steal away Mae's saloon and impose male rule! So what is Mae to do? Yep...steal the money first! What's next? See the film...or don't.

This film is one that works provided you don't think too much and just accept it for what it is. In other words, the plot is pretty silly and it's best you just look past this and try to enjoy. And, at least it's in color and looks pretty!

By the way, this film with it's odd feminist message would make a great double feature with "Johnny Guitar"....another film about a female saloon owner who is twice the man of anyone else in the movie!

I mean that when you have seen those westerns starring Barbara Stanwyck such as THE FURIES, CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA, FORTY GUNS, THE MAVERICK QUEEN, all films where she plays a woman with guns and wearing pants instead of a skirt, you will for sure think about her after seeing this one. I agree that you also had other B westerns starring female leads carrying guns, such a DALTON GIRLS for instance and many other ones which I don't remember the titles. I won't speak of JOHNNY GUITAR, that's another matter, nearly a metaphysics movie, and not a pure entertainment film such as this one. Back to this excellent Sam Newfield B picture, compared to the rest of his filmography, it is very surprising and unusual to watch, a pure little gem. Just enjoy it, a good Sam Newfield film is rare enough not to miss it.