Difference between revisions of "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter/Review"

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Line 9: Line 9:
That is not the case however. [[Joe Bob Briggs]] did an absolutely great commentary track for the millennium edition of Elite's [[I Spit On Your Grave]]. Someone over at ELITE made the very wise decision to start putting together a series of films that would include JOE BOB commentaries on them. They decided however, to kick off the series with JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN.
That is not the case however. [[Joe Bob Briggs]] did an absolutely great commentary track for the millennium edition of Elite's [[I Spit On Your Grave]]. Someone over at ELITE made the very wise decision to start putting together a series of films that would include JOE BOB commentaries on them. They decided however, to kick off the series with JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN.


[[Joe Bob Briggs]], in case you don't know is a created character that used to write a syndicated newspaper column on low-budget exploitation movies, giving special attention to gore shots and naked breasts. He's the guy who gives counts on exposed female breasts and decapitations. Joe Bob hosted shows on The Movie Channel, and then on basic cable where he skewered usually very bad movies in a humorous witty manner. He also does a lot of research on the actors and directors of the films so it's also educational.
Joe Bob Briggs, in case you don't know is a created character that used to write a syndicated newspaper column on low-budget exploitation movies, giving special attention to gore shots and naked breasts. He's the guy who gives counts on exposed female breasts and decapitations. Joe Bob hosted shows on The Movie Channel, and then on basic cable where he skewered usually very bad movies in a humorous witty manner. He also does a lot of research on the actors and directors of the films so it's also educational.


Anyway, Joe Bob excels when he has a sleazy film to skewer with his comments. JJMFD isn't a sleazy movie-it's mostly a dull bad one closer to [[Manos: The Hands of Fate]], than PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE or ROBOT MONSTER.
Anyway, Joe Bob excels when he has a sleazy film to skewer with his comments. JJMFD isn't a sleazy movie-it's mostly a dull bad one closer to [[Manos: The Hands of Fate]], than PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE or ROBOT MONSTER.

Revision as of 13:11, 13 July 2018

Jessefranktop.png

WILLIAM BEAUDINE was one of the most prolific film directors in history. He started his career working with D.W. Griffith in New York just past the turn of the century, made nearly a hundred silent films and shorts, made films with both Jean Harlow and W.C. Fields, went to Europe to make more in the mid 1930s. When he returned to Hollywood, he was assigned to making cheaper low budget b-movies-mostly melodramas and later a lot of Westerns. Beaudine would make Charlie Chan, Rin Tin Tin and direct half the Bowery Boys movies. He would also make over a 100 Lassie TV shows and many of The Green Hornet TV series. In all he directed nearly 300 films and short subjects. Beaudine was one of the fastest working directors of all time. He got the nickname one-shot Beaudine because often he didn't shoot re-takes. He was very fond of the medium shot and often eschewed establishing shots (took too long to light and shoot).

His very last film was this one, JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1965), which wound up as a double feature with his second to last feature film, BILLY THE KID VERSUS DRACULA. Incidentally John Carradine called BTKVD perhaps the worst film he ever made. When you consider how many bad movies Carradine made, that's saying a lot.

A great DVD package could have been produced if both Beaudine movies were given Elite's Drive in Disc treatment with Joe Bob commentaries on both films. Trailers, snack time announcements, cartoons and two truly awful movies that were made to be seen together at the drive-in.

That is not the case however. Joe Bob Briggs did an absolutely great commentary track for the millennium edition of Elite's I Spit On Your Grave. Someone over at ELITE made the very wise decision to start putting together a series of films that would include JOE BOB commentaries on them. They decided however, to kick off the series with JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN.

Joe Bob Briggs, in case you don't know is a created character that used to write a syndicated newspaper column on low-budget exploitation movies, giving special attention to gore shots and naked breasts. He's the guy who gives counts on exposed female breasts and decapitations. Joe Bob hosted shows on The Movie Channel, and then on basic cable where he skewered usually very bad movies in a humorous witty manner. He also does a lot of research on the actors and directors of the films so it's also educational.

Anyway, Joe Bob excels when he has a sleazy film to skewer with his comments. JJMFD isn't a sleazy movie-it's mostly a dull bad one closer to Manos: The Hands of Fate, than PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE or ROBOT MONSTER.

Jessfrank1.jpg

The townspeople somewhere in Arizona in 1800s, decide to leave town in a hurry, because several townspeople have been disappearing when they visit the large painted backdrop of an old Monastery where Maria Frankenstein (Narda Onyx) and her brother, Rudolph (Steven Geray) reside. Maria is actually the GRAND daughter of the famous corpse animator and she has been trying to continue the experiments. Her much older brother, Rudolph is actually stopping her from succeeding by injecting her experimental subjects with poison (but Maria doesn't know this). He doesn't want Maria playing God, so he kills her experiments.

If you could imagine this bit of nonsense delivered in the slowest, talkiest, most un-exciting way possible-you can imagine how this movie unfolds.

Meanwhile, Jesse James (who is played by one of the most un-charismatic actors imaginable, John Lupton) and his big lummox of a muscleman sidekick Hank Tracy (Cal Bolder--who is the kind of wooden actor that gives wooden actors a bad name) are planning to rob the stagecoach. There's some dissension in the ranks. One of the James' gang, Lonnie (Rayford Barnes), doesn't like how they are planning on splitting the money they rob. He thinks he should get more.

So instead of being happy with the $20,000 dollars he's supposed to make from the robbery, this brilliant guy decides to turn Jesse over to Marshal MacPhee (played by Dallas' Jim Davis!) so that he can collect the $10,000 award. Now I don't mean that this happens after the robbery so our traitorous turncoat outlaw makes a total of $30 grand-no, no this is done prior to the robbery.

In the middle of all this is Juanita (Estelita Rodriquez), the babe spitfire and love interest of the movie. It seems she didn't want to leave the village with her parents, because her brother is buried there and so she decides to hook up with Jesse and Hank when they go riding back to the deserted town.

Well eventually, the big dumb lummox Hank gets shot and injured during the attempted stagecoach robbery, but Jesse and Hank manage to escape the sheriff and the backstabbing Lonnie. Hank needs medical attention and Juanita helps them get Hank to Maria Frankenstein, who of course needs a new subject for her experiments.

It will take another 20 minutes or so before any experimenting gets going. We still have scenes where Maria tries to woo Jesse who is more interested in Juanita who basically likes the big lummox Hank more. Lots of conversations about leaving town or staying, or how safe it is to stay or leave with various people, depending on who is talking.

Talk, talk, talk.

The special effects involve brightly colored roller derby helmets; a brain in a large beaker of liquid, some Heath-kit type science project stuff and a few shots of sparks jumping around. Maria and Juanita are the best actors in the movie. They over-emote in melodramatic silent movie fashion and deliver over-written speeches at various points in the movie. They both have fabulous accents too. There's a tiny bit of gore, no nudity, a couple of mildly humorous lines of dialogue, a few ridiculously staged scenes, and that's about it.

Did I mention how dull, slow and boring this movie is? The only way to watch it and have any fun is to be doing so along with Joe Bob's running commentary. He isn't able to crack all that many witty one-liners, because the film isn't very sleazy or gory or interesting it's just dull. You can't hear the movie very well at all during Joe Bob's commentary-but that's not such a bad thing. Joe Bob tells us more trivia about the movie then we would ever want or need to know including filming locations, a brief history of William Beaudine the director, facts and stats about all the actors and the fact that this was the last theatrical film for many of the actors that are in it. I guess you could say that means the movie has a happy ending, huh?

Also included on the disc is the films original theatrical trailer, which can't help but tip you off that this is an awful movie. The condition of the print used is far from perfect and there are visible scratches and rough spots throughout the film. The colors for the most part are quite bright. During a few of the day for night shot scenes it's impossible to see anything very well-but that is how the film was originally shot.

Reviewed by Count Graf Orlock

Newsletter
  • Grindhouse Database Newsletter
  • Exploitation books
  • Kung fu movies
  • Giallo BluRay