Monday, June 23, 2014

Common Law Wife (1963)

Directors: Eric Sayers, Larry Buchanan

Writer: Grace Nolan

Composer: ???

Starring: Annabelle Weenick, Lacey Kelly, Bert Masters, Libby Hall, Norman Smith, Dale Berry, Max W. Anderson, George Edgley

More info: IMDb

Tagline: You don't have to say "I do" to be married...

Plot: Shug, a rich old man, throws out his longtime live-in mistress and moves in his young, sexy niece, who's just returned home after making a living as a stripper in New Orleans. The mistress doesn't intend to go without a fight, however, and while Shug tries to make peace between the two women, he doesn't realize that his niece has her own plans for him.



My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

As exploitation-y as this sounds, there's no nudity but you get close.  Now that that's out of the way, this is a pretty good picture.  It's a nice and tame-sleazy revenge picture painted in black & white with strippers, a dirty, mean old bastard and some poisoned liquor.  It could probably use a few short minutes edited out but it's still an enjoyable and watchable 82 minutes.  If you start feeling the drag halfway through, the last fifteen minutes make up for it. The performances are great for this sort of thing and the music is groovy as shit.  It wouldn't take much to make it more fun by adding a bit more sleaze but I can't complain much.  It's part of a 3 movie Something Weird Video DVD that includes JENNIE: WIFE/CHILD (1968) and MOONSHINE LOVE (1969) along with a few extras.  I love SWV soooooooo much.   Please don't die.

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