7/10
Fabian Forte w/Jocelyn Lane in High Spirits!
9 July 2004
Warning: Spoilers
This COMPLETELY, low budget, exploitation flick of the early 70's manages to capture nothing except the loss of innocence in those creepy gangster 30's movies (although some of the cars are from the 40's; nobody noticed). Fabian, a pop singer from the late 50's, early 60's stars as Pretty Boy Floyd, an actual rural "good" bank robber in the mid-west during the depression, acting a misunderstood youth who conveniently finds the pretty "good" girl and the pretty "bad girl" in a TOTALLY FICTIONAL rendtion of this "folk hero" in an exploitation film (WHAT A GREAT POSTER, THOUGH)! SPOILERS** (COMING UP)

Jocelyn Lane (from one or two Elvis films; before this) was intriguely gorgeous, while wearing the sheerest of black slips, giving Fabian BAD ADVICE about how to deal with the COPPERS (farm boys) while the innocent blonde girlfriend (sweet, honest, church-going, dullard) tries to sway him to stay a poor dirt farmer and live on love and go frog-gigging. I can't remember this actress' name, and she was fine (Astrid something; I could look it up, but what's the point?). Pretty Boy Floyd's destiny was already mapped out (even in the Oklahoma Hills where he was Robin Hood) because this flick isn't interested in the subtleties of Art in this time period. Not as good as Killers Three (starring Robert Walker, Jr., Diane Varsi, and Dick Clark OR The Grissom Gang starring Scott Wilson, Kim Darby, and Tony Musante - similary exploitive rural gangster flicks trying to make some change post-Bonne and Clyde), but worth checking out if you want to see consistnet bad acting, no directing or script, music from other films, but at least Fabian used his last name. There is hope! I like this movie, even though it's drive-in junk.

I think I forgot to mention the Jocelyn Lane factor (babe-ism) in a very negligee way (with the wrong hairstyle for the time, but...). It's there; probably not on DVD EVER or possibly video, but you can find it.
5 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed