Saturday, August 6, 2022

Movie Reviews: Wicked Woman

Wicked Woman
directed by Russell Rouse

This is a 1953 B-Movie that is somewhere between film noir and seedy crime drama. At seventy-seven minutes, Wicked Woman is a fast moving short film without deep character dives and long exposition. You will recognize the characters from other movies but more importantly from real life. Life is full of people for whom things didn't quite work out as planned. 

Sometimes even successful people learn that they are missing other important facets of life. So depending on how you view this, you may find the characters underdeveloped or as I did, reminders of people I've known or otherwise encountered through life.

The film has a realistic appreciation of the motivations of certain men and women and how both genders seek advantages. I was surprised at the film's sexual frankness and its occasional nods to the supposed unfairness of gender roles, here voiced by a wife who sees herself as a martyr, though she might be just as big of a jerk as everyone else.


Billie Nash (Beverly Michaels) , a statuesque (she was at least 5-9 without heels) blonde drifter and good time girl, arrives in town. Billie lacks money and prospects. 
But Billie has her looks and a knowledge of what men like. Billie may view those traits as burdens and not advantages. It depends on who's looking at Billie and what he can do for her.

Taking a room at a flophouse, Billie receives the unwanted attention of a desperate man, Charlie Borg (Percy Helton), who is much older, shorter, and uglier than she is. Charlie wants Billie. Billie thinks even a bald homely man has his uses. 

Charlie shares his food with Billie, gives her money, fixes her clothes, and extracts a promise of a future date, a pledge that Billie has no intention of honoring. Billie considers Charlie an undersized unattractive runt. Charlie is tired of female rejection.

Billie starts working as a bartender/waitress at a bar owned by husband and wife Matt and Dora Bannister (Richard Egan and Evelyn Scott). Dora is initially happy to have Billie around, correctly figuring that Billie's beauty and easy way around men will keep the mostly male clientele coming back for more.
 

Dora and Matt co-own the bar but Dora is the dominant partner. Dora inherited the bar from her father and later married Matt. Dora is an alcoholic. Dora's nice enough when she's sober but can be a mean drunk.

Billie does well as a server and bartender. Male customers like her. Some like Billie so much they seek to touch or brush up against her. Billie doesn't care for that but she likes the protective Matt. A lot. Soon, Matt and Billie are making goo-goo eyes at each other, staying late to close up, and well, you know.

Two's company and three is a crowd. Billie has a fantasy of escaping to Mexico with money and a good looking man. Can Matt help Billie make that dream come true? Billie has a plan. Michaels is always seen in form fitting white dresses that express both innocence and sexual openness. I like the film's snappy dialogue. The acting is often too melodramatic.

The title hints that it's Billie who is morally flawed. That was just the hook. All the characters have shortcomings. Matt's and Dora's kitchen features an old stove in need of repair, one that is in constant danger of exploding. It's a fitting metaphor for their relationship.