As Petroleiras

Claudia Cardinale is in my dreamy Top Ten. Cardinale does not disappoint in "The Legend of Frenchie King". Brigitte Bardot is also no slouch. Bardot's all girl gang fills out the rest of the card. Throw in Michael J. Pollard as the marshall and you have all the makings of an enjoyable spaghetti western. "The Legend of Frenchie King" is enjoyable all the way as it builds to the greatest catfight in spaghetti western history. But I have to admit, the dubbing in this movie is ridiculous. They didn't even try to match it up to the lips. I'm guessing they figured nobody would by looking at their lips anyway so why bother. They weren't wrong.

Was blessed to see this gem of a movie in the Local Theater when it was first released. It was titled as 'The Legend of Frenchie King' back then. It is a 'campy, Spaghetti type of Western' that was original in its time for having females in the hero roles. IMHO, this film set the stage for the likes of TV series like Wonder Woman, Charlies Angels, etc. Etc. Be sure that you see the original, uncut version of this film...that is, if you can find it...I had heard a rumor that B. B. had at one time bought up most of the copies and had them destroyed, because she was not happy with the finished release. As was the norm in the 1970s, there was also an LP record release of the film-score, too.

I am one of the few who can actually lay claim to seeing "The Legend of Frenchie King" (1971) during its original UK theatrical release. The theater was not exactly packed for this feature which was yet another of the then endlessly proliferating Spanish westerns. These were characterized by a slightly off-kilter production design and heavily-accented dialogue (considering the bad accents I can't imagine that much of it was dubbed) by the English as a second language cast members.

Apparently Bardot had not learned her lesson with "Shalako" back in 1968, and she inflicted another of these things on herself. Basically the film is what you would get if you combined the plot elements of "The Dalton Girls"(1957) with those of "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) and then tried (unsuccessfully) to give the story a comic quality.

The story is set in 1880's New Mexico, and like "The Dalton Girls" it features an outlaw gang of eyeball scorching girls. In this case there are five of them carrying on the family tradition (they don't have the Daltons as brothers but they have a legendary train robbing father).

The film opens with such a robbery. Disguised as men in black, the girls inflict ultra-violence on anyone who resists them. When she discovers the train robbery loot includes a deed to a local ranch the leader & title character (Bardot) decides they will all go domestic for a while. There is oil on the ranch and the neighboring rancher (Claudia Cardinale) wants to buy them out. She has four brothers. Which sets up a series of confrontations between the two women and a romantic pairing off of the four sisters and the four brothers. This culminates in a nicely staged if somewhat tame catfight. Meanwhile Michael J. Pollard plays his standard C.W. Moss character; this time working as a bumbling sheriff.

Bardot was in her mid-thirties and still looks great, Cardinale was a couple years younger and looks pretty high mileage and a bit chunky in comparison. It does not work to her relative advantage to be playing opposite Bardot. Nor does it help that the four other actresses are drop dead gorgeous.

It is this winsome foursome that makes the film worth viewing. They even manage to insert a little characterization. Patty Shepard plays Little Rain, the one with an Indian mother (note the headband). Teresa Gimpera plays Caroline, the oldest and most sophisticated. Emma Cohen plays near-sighted Virginie. And France Dougnac plays ultra-hot Elisabeth, she makes all the others (including Bardot) look rather plain in comparison. There is a great camera shot where they pan along the four of them standing along a bar which pauses at the end when Dougnac comes into the frame.

The original director was Guy Casaril but he was replaced by a desperate for work Christian- Jaque. The "real" legend of Frenchie King grew out of this change as in was long believed that there were two different films, "Frenchie King" by Christian-Jaque and "Les Petroleuses" by Casaril.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Unusual comic Western romp starring two foreign beauties of the 50's and 60's, Bardot and Cardinale. This certainly isn't a work of art but fun all the same. With Michael J. Pollard (from Bonnie and Clyde) as the sheriff, how wrong can you go? Warring families fighting over land (with catfights).

Wonderful music and an easygoing flowing rhythm, this film should become a camp classic. A 6 out of 10. Best performance = Michael J. Pollard. Good luck finding this one. Bardot's best 70's film (which really isn't saying much), but I had a blast when I saw this as a teenager back in the early 70's. Give it a shot!

This film begins with five female marauders led by a mysterious bandit known as "Frenchie King" (Brigitte Bardot) robbing a train and then riding off with the loot. The scene then shifts to a family of five ranchers led by a woman named "Miss Maria Sarrazin" (Claudia Cardinale) riding into town to acquire some Christmas packages which were due to arrive on that same train. However, when the train doesn't stop at the town like it's supposed to, Maria and her four brothers ride out to catch it. Although they recover their packages from the train, they also accidentally acquire a secret map detailing where a large deposit of oil is located. As it so happens, however, Frenchie King and her four sisters get the title for that very same land, and so the destinies of both Frenchie King and her gang, along with Maria and her brothers, are strangely intertwined. To further add to the confusion the "town marshal" (played by Michael J. Pollard) is not only deeply in love with Maria but also becomes highly suspicious of "Mademoiselle Louisa" (as one of the many names Frenchie King uses) and sets out to investigate all of the strange things going on in his jurisdiction. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will say that the main attribute of this film is the casting of Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale, who were both international sex symbols during this time. There were also a few other beautiful women in supporting roles as well. On the flip side, however, as a Western, this film didn't quite have the same quality as many others in the genre, and a major reason could be the fact that it was intended more for European audiences. In any case, while it wasn't a bad movie for the most part, I thought it should have been much better, and for that reason, I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.