Bobbie Jo

This movie was endlessly played on cable in the early days of CINEMAX, along with some rather distastefully misogynistic gore-fests. CINEMAX cornered the market on flicks where women got burned with cigars and urinated on (very graphically). But I digress. The producers apparently could only convince Ms. Carter to bare her impressive chest but once. So- they edited in the exact same scene TWICE! Once in the first half, and again in the second half of the movie! Double your pleasure indeed. More like quadruple. But I must say that almost 30 years later I remember them vividly, and they were spectacular.

I watched this movie back in the days of disks (not DVDs) where we rented the player and the movie together most times. This was supposed to be a more contemporary run at "Bonnie and Clyde" but failed to have the plot or personnel essential to carry it off. Two big, big reasons to see this film and file it for history--and Lynda's got both of them. Yeow!!

I am a fan of the drive-in movies American-International Pictures made, so I wanted to see this particular effort, and it took me a long time to track down a copy. However, after watching it, I felt kind of underwhelmed. Some people will probably be confused by this, because the movie certainly makes an effort to deliver the goods. There's sex, there's nudity (including Carter), several car chases and wrecked vehicles, and there are a lot of machine-gunned victims (whoever provided the bloody squibs for this movie probably comfortably retired after this movie.) Despite all of that, I didn't particularly care for this movie. I think the problem I had was that the central characters of the movie are (1) unlikable, doing stuff like gunning down innocent people, and (2) not interesting in their unlikable behavior. Also, the movie takes a LONG time to get going with the main plot, over a half hour. I admit there are probably some people who will like this movie, but don't count me among them.

Actress Lynda Carter, a.k.a. TVs' 'Wonder Woman', makes her film debut alongside the legendary Marjoe Gortner in this sleazy and pleasing trash flick. She plays Bobbie Jo Baker, a carhop who hooks up with Gortners' easygoing charmer Lyle Wheeler. She has ambitions of being a country & western singer, he's a self styled loner who idolizes Billy the Kid. Soon after their meeting, they start to get involved in a series of crimes that spiral out of control. Along for the ride are Bobbie Jo's spunky older sister Pearl (Merrie Lynn Ross), her boyfriend Slick Callahan (Jesse Vint), and Bobbie Jo's sweet best friend Essie (Belinda Balaski). Producer / director Mark L. Lester, working from a screenplay by Vernon Zimmerman, keeps the action moving and makes great use of the assorted New Mexico locations. Zimmerman's script has a sometimes episodic nature; for one example, there's an interlude with Lyle, Bobbie Jo, and Essie where they gather in a lake and feast on mushrooms with an aged Indian. It also has an in-joke here and there, such as a portly deputy named Abel Gance. There are enough glimpses of Lyndas' left breast to tantalize the viewer while also making them wish there could have been some real nudity. Still, there is a grim and gritty quality to the movie, a refreshing sense of humour at times, and some scenes of bloody gunshot violence. The principal actors are all extremely easy to watch: Gortners' inherent likability shines through, Carter is lovely as always, Vint is engaging while his character also shows an impulsive and deadly side, Balaski is adorable, and Ross (who takes a co-producer credit) adds irresistible sex appeal. Gene Drew is a typical hick sheriff who's coldly determined to stop our protagonists, Peggy Stewart is Bobbie Jo and Pearl's alcoholic mother, Gerrit Graham has a fun cameo as commune leader Magic Ray, "Devil Times Five" screenwriter John Durren plays the ill-fated Gance, Virgil Frye is a service station attendant who makes the fatal mistake of challenging Lyle on his quick draw abilities, James Gammon plays an amiable leather salesman, and future director Chuck Russell, who's production supervisor and second assistant director here, is one of Drews' deputies. Stanley Wright and Gil Hubbs do the sunny and slick cinematography, Barry De Vorzon composes the score, and there are two very nice songs to hear: Bobby Bare sings "Those City Lights", and Carter herself performs the beautiful "Are You Lonely Like Me" written by J.C. Crowley. All of these elements make "Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw" fun, as well as the kind of downbeat ending we can often expect in this sort of thing. Eight out of 10.

Does a good job of showing why the Marjoe phenomenon was so brief and the Lynda Carter craze more ample.