TeenzTen
An action-packed slog
Catangro
After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Donald Seymour
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
blankenshipdk
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.
Woodyanders
Sexy and duplicitous Minette (saucily played by the fetching Nan Peterson) is found unconscious in the swamp. She's taken to the home of newlywed Pierre Guillot (a likable portrayal by Robert Richards), whom Minette tries to make the moves on. After Pierre rebuffs her advances, Minette moves in with and seduces Pierre's brother Jacques (a solid performance by Peter Coe). Director Lee Sholem offers a flavorsome evocation of the down-home rural setting with a strong sense of the region and the people who populate it. Charles Lang's compact script covers the hicksploitation bases in a pleasing manner: An enticing and conniving no-count tramp antagonist, a gnarled old backwoods hag, a rousing dramatic conclusion, some mild titillation (Minette goes skinny-dipping at one point), and several rough'n'tumble fights between the two principal conflicting siblings. Moreover, the competent acting by the sturdy cast holds this picture together, with especially sound contributions from Betty Lynn as Pierre's sweet wife Lili, Harry Lauter as dissolute rich dude Clay Lanier, Tyler McVey as the easygoing Dr. J.B. Opie, and Howard Wright as amiable old-timer Cob. The crisp black and white cinematography by Tom and Vincent Saizis makes nice occasional use of wipes. A fun diversion.
MartinHafer
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.
melvelvit-1
Down in Cajun country, two brothers, Jacques and Pierre Guillot, are in love with the same woman and tensions boil over when the girl, Lily, decides to marry Pierre but on the day of the wedding, Jacques finds a badly beaten woman in the bayou and brings her home. The girl, Minette, immediately makes a play for Pierre but it's Jacques who falls hard and the brothers come to blows. The newlyweds do a little digging and discover the girl recently seduced a wealthy landowner which drove his wife to suicide but her past catches up to the unscrupulous tart as she's chased through the swamps with a gun and run out of town once more. The brothers make up as Minette puts the make on a passing motorist.This type of trashy titillation rarely pretends to be anything other than what it is: low-budget grind-house and Drive-In exploitation fare. The familiar plot line echoes the Beverly Michaels cult film WICKED WOMAN (1953) and predates Russ Meyer by a few years in its depiction of a brazen backwoods tramp. Nan Peterson makes a voluptuous Minette and plays the nymphomaniac with relish from the opening sequence of her fleeing on horseback with bullets whizzing past her head to the closing shot where she's lustily digging her nails into the back of the Good Samaritan who's stopped to help her. The story only spans a few days but this voracious vixen seduces nearly every man she meets within minutes. Nan plays her bedroom scenes in a white bra (two years before Janet Leigh in PSYCHO) as the shadows on the wall make coitus very clear. Stories like this have been known to have loftier intentions and deeper meaning lurking beneath the sex and sin. The premise of a man stumbling upon an unconscious girl and bringing her home to his family -only to have her rip their world apart- is a universal one and can be seen in such diverse films as Luis Bunuel's Mexican SUSANA (1950), Finland's THE WITCH (1952), and Italy's Gothic LURE OF THE SILA (1949) with Silvana Mangano. THE LOUISIANA HUSSY is enjoyable nonsense with only one thing on its mind and doesn't outstay its welcome. Betty Lynn ("Lily") would go on to play good girl "Thelma Lou" on Andy Griffith's "Mayberry R.F.D." and the country doctor who uncovers Minette's secret is named "Opie". Go figure.
