Common Law Wife

Originally shot as Swamp Rose a few years earlier, then chopped up and added to new film shot by a different director and even featuring 2 different actresses playing one character - somehow strange forces intervened and created this booze-soaked trashfest of enjoyability. Baby Doll is coming to town to stay with and "take care of" her Uncle Shug, but unfortunately he's having a problem getting rid of his common-law wife who refuses to leave (played by the ever overacting, always entertaining cult star Annabelle Weenick). Baby Doll is played by 2 different actresses, but I didn't notice until after I read it - and is a beautiful atrocious monster who you just can't take your eyes off of. Trashy fun with a great ending.

Another in the so-bad-it's-good barrel, Lacey Kelly is the K-Mart Anita Ekberg in this fun, totally trashy backwater potboiler. It has all the pedigree of the best (if there is such a thing) Russ Meyer productions, which were being churned out around the same time. Great bad acting, with editing to match, sexy jazz score, and gowns by Orry-Kelly (just kidding).

When old Uncle Shug tires of his live-in girl (Annabelle Weenick), he plans to replace her with his gold-digging stripper niece, Baby Doll (Kelly), but she aint abut to go without a fight. While Shug is trying to work out the details, Baby Doll has lots of time to sample the local male cuisine, and she's got quite an appetite. What could possibly go wrong? Make some popcorn and find out!

Common-law Wife is a sleazy exploitation drive-in movie that is so awful it's good. The story is about a cheap dancer named Jonelle--nicknamed Baby Doll--who returns to her small southern home town to shack up with her aging, wealthy Uncle Shug, who has just kicked out his longtime live-in girlfriend Linda. Unfortunately for Baby Doll, Linda claims she is Uncle Shug's "common-law wife," and she refuses to leave. While Uncle Shug tries to straighten things out at the mansion, Baby Doll has sexual encounters with her brother-in-law Sheriff Jody, and with a swamp-livin', moonshine-makin' bruiser named Bull. The ending is unexpected and memorable. Great fun!

There's histrionics galore in this stark, trashy melodrama that should do the trick for hicksploitation aficionados. Annabelle Weenick stars as Linda, the live-in girlfriend for miserly old coot Shugfoot Rainey (George Edgley), who's made his fortune in oil. Shug is about to kick the over the hill Linda to the curb in favor of his own niece Baby Doll (Lacey Kelly), a stripper from New Orleans. Linda isn't about to go quietly - Hell, she isn't about to go at all, once she learns that according to Texas law, she is Shugs' common law wife. But the nasty, conniving, trampy Baby Doll is equally determined to lay claim to Shugs' money.

"Common Law Wife" was begun as a color feature by Texas based schlock purveyor Larry Buchanan (of "Mars Needs Women" fame) in 1960, under the title "Swamp Rose". Eventually, it got recut, and supplemented by new footage shot by director Eric Sayers, with the final film completely shown in black & white. It's basically fun, but the unaware should know that for a movie running just over 76 minutes, it IS padded to a degree. (Lots of cutaways to ducks in this thing!) It also isn't quite as interesting when it starts exclusively focusing on Baby Doll, and the way that she plays up to a moonshiner named Bull, while also making time with Jody the Sheriff. (And he's already married.) Still, Kelly, a stripper in real life as well, is compulsively watchable, especially when she does a steamy dance routine.

This may be a somewhat rough slog for some viewers, seeing that the principal trio of characters are not exactly nice people, but this will only add to the experience for others. The performances suit the material, with Weenick - to eventually gain her greatest fame in S.F. Brownriggs' "Don't Look in the Basement" - making the most of her starring film debut.

Worth a look for those that dig regional exploitation features from decades past.

Seven out of 10.

I rented this DVD because the auteur of crap, Larry Buchanan ("Zontar: Thing From Venus" and "Mars Needs Women") made part of the film. Originally, Buchanan started a project named "Swamp Rose" but ran out of money. And another bad movie maker incorporated this into his film "Common Law Wife".

"Common Law Wife" is a super-low budget film--made with a minuscule budget, no-name actors and lots of strippers--strippers that show practically nothing. It's a lot of tease and no please--the sort of crap-fest that was relatively common in sleazy drive-ins in the 1960s.

The film begins with a nasty old rich guy telling his live-in girlfriend to get lost. According to this old rogue, she's seen better days and he intends to bring his very sexy stripper niece to move in with him. Wow...an old pervert looking for a good 'ol case of incest! Talk about your family-friendly plots! However, the old girlfriend (who looks a LOT like Rose Marie from "The Dick Van Dyke Show") is not about to just wander off and die. She consults a lawyer who informs her that according to the rules of that state, she is actually the old goat's common-law wife, as they've been posing as a married couple for five years. So, when the nymphet niece shows up, the slighted girlfriend announces to both of them that she's NOT leaving. And, since the niece is a total gold-digger who wants the uncle's fortune, you know sparks are going to fly. What happens next you'll need to see for yourself...if you even care!

While the plot is sleazy, it could have actually worked. However, the film has a lot working against it. Crappy acting, of course. But much of the film looks like aimless filler--with dancing and swimming and stripping scenes which are obvious filler. Another problem is that the two films seem to have nothing in common. And none of it fits together seamlessly. For example, in one irrelevant scene, a sexy lady is cavorting in the pool with her boyfriend. She then runs inside and her hair is instantly dry. Why? Because it's NOT the same lady nor the same boyfriend--they are from the other film! And, I loved how some of the film stock looked very different from previous reels! How did they handle this? Well, they sloppily inserted voice-overs to try to hide that which was impossible to hide! Duh. But, since the film is a low-budget trash-fest, the filmmakers didn't seem to care in the least. And, considering the audience of the time wasn't made up of film connoisseurs, I assume they didn't care very much either. I just appreciated how the whole thing was a textbook example of incompetence on every level--the sort of film Ed Wood or Al Adamson would be proud to have made!

So is it worth seeing?! After all, I gave this one a very well-deserved 1. Well, no...not if you are sane. But, if you occasionally like a bad movie for a laugh, then this film is for you! Plus, the ending is pretty cool. Just don't let your mother catch you watching it!

By the way, I loved how the sheriff in one film has grey hair and the other it's jet-black!