The Louisiana Hussy (1959)

Nan Peterson literally rolls onto the scene after a harrowing horseback escape while sporting a sweater with an M L monogram emblazoned across her sculpted torso, which she claims stands for Minette Lanier, never mind the association with Marie Laveau. Upon her rescue and transport to town by Peter Coe as Jacques Guillot, the story begins to suck you in like Cajun quicksand. Jacques and his brother Pierre, played by Robert Richards, get their stones rolling via the coquettish Minette, yet still manage to gather a lot of moss as apparently there's a market for that stuff somehow. Minette skinny dips, dances in her bra to radio rock n' roll and initiates petting parties like a 50's anti-heroine busting out of the constraints of squareness in a seething cauldron of southern fried crawdad stew. These characters are engaging and of course get involved in inevitable spurts of violence, yet the last thing you want to see is any of them hurt or killed, based on an empathy for the players that seems rare in movies these days. There is a plot twist that is logical and unexpected which seamlessly rolls into the main story line. Full spectrum black and white low end production values only enhance the southern Gothic mise en scene. Betty Lynn of Andy Griffith fame along with character actor Harry Lauter and some lesser known figures add some spice to the cinematic gumbo which goes down quite smoothly.

This film, which has an intriguing story and good location photography, is one of the most inept productions I've ever seen. Nan Peterson makes Cleo Moore look like a great actress in the name role. She struts around in tight clothes chasing everything in pants. The male actors, whose names I forget, win the prize for possibly the worst acting ever in a sound film. The laughable fight scenes are choreographed so poorly it makes one long for the old Republic serials. The only decent acting job in this potboiler comes from Betty Lynn, known mostly today from her role as Barney's girl friend in The Andy Griffith Show. According to Wikipedia, this screen classic was released in April, 1959 which I find puzzling. One scene has our lovely heroine doing a sleazy twist, a dance which, I believe, was not popular in 1959. In the last sequence, the lovely Miss Peterson is seen seducing a passerby driving a 1961 model Cadillac. Perhaps this screen gem was re-issued in 1961 with a few new scenes inserted. Several love scenes are interpolated which are quite steamy for 1959 (61?). If you ever enjoyed the Cleo Moore-Hugo Haas epics from the same era, you will enjoy this. I began watching this streaming on You Tube, from the "Alpha Special Edition" and couldn't turn it off. My friend and I were howling with laughter during the first five minutes. "She's a bad woman-a nymphomaniac!"

This is a low-budget trashy film. While it's not at all salacious by today's standards, back in 1959 it was quite the exploitation film. It's the story about a she-devil named Nina. Nina is interested in two things--men and destroying marriages. And she has a track record of slutty advances on men--men who just can't help themselves! The first time you see her and her vampish ways is when she is found near death and she tells folks her name is Minette. She's taken in by a nice lady (Betty Lynn--Thelma Lou from "The Andy Griffith Show") who doesn't realize that her kindness would be repaid by betrayal. Fortunately, the husband is able to stop before it's too late--but no one believes him when he tells folks she's bad. And, her slutty ways result in her husband and his brother (and business partner) having a HUGE fight. Later, however, the husband and wife investigate and find that 'Minette' had been up to no good in another nearby town--and her slutty ways led to a woman's suicide! In many ways, this is like a white trash version of "Peyton Place"--and with lower production values. This isn't necessarily a terrible thing, as the film IS entertaining....though you might feel a bit guilty about enjoying such a nasty little film. If you do watch, look for the super-lame cat fight scene--it's funny because it's so bad. Also look for the nude swimming scene--very tame when seen today but awfully shocking back then.Entertaining trash....so if that's what you like, then this film is well worth your time.

Racy tale on the bayou as a rich hussy escapes from her husband and ends up coming between a newly married fisherman, his wife and his partner, his brother. Its lots of exposed flesh as the woman tries to play every side against each other for her own amusement and profit. Things get even more complicated as the husband shows up. This is a real southern fried pot boiler of the sort that they don't make any more.Okay tale of love and lust in the swamp is an amusing example of the sort of film that undoubtedly played in the drive in across the south in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I liked it for what it was, but I don't think I need see it again.