Things are pretty tense down on the Peckingpaw farm. Albert Peckingpaw (Jack Lester) is a sour bad-tempered old man and he’s convinced that his cute 20-year-old wife Jennie (Beverly Lunsford) is not to be trusted where men are concerned. He’s probably right. In fact he’s definitely right.
Of course it would help if he showed Jennie a bit of affection and allowed her to have a social life and have some fun. That might have satisfied her.
Now she’s got her eye on the Peckingpaws’ hunky young farmhand Mario Dingle (Jim Reader). Mario is terrified. He wants nothing to do with her. He knows that she’s trouble.
But Jennie wants some lovin’ and she’s determined to get some.
Mario is as dumb as a rock but it’s not his brain that interests Jennie.
Jennie is not just starved of carnal pleasures. She’s starved of affection. She’s also sick of not having pretty things. She’s become more reckless in her flirting with Mario.
And she becomes enraged when she discovers that Mario visits a whore regularly.
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It’s more and more difficult for Jennie and Mario to keep their hands off each other, with Jennie being the one pushing the issue more energetically.
They think they’re being discreet but they’re not discreet enough. And maybe Albert is a bit sharper than they’d thought.
You know where things are certainly going to go from here but that’s not quite how it plays out. James Landis’s script is a bit cleverer than you might expect.
There are some quite neat slightly unexpected plot twists, and the characters behave in the unpredictable irrational ways that real people behave, rather than like characters in a cheap exploitation movie.
The acting is quite effective. Jack Lester as Albert is not as cartoonish as one expects. He’s menacing but there’s some nuance here.
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Beverly Lunsford as Jennie is as cute as a button but her performance is also not too bad. She doesn’t make Jennie too sympathetic but nor does she make her too unsympathetic.
It’s worth pointing out that Jennie is no in fact a child. She’s twenty. She’s a grown woman, although emotionally she is perhaps a tad immature. She’s been married to Albert Peckingpaw for four months so she never was a child bride.
By 1968 sexploitation movies were becoming considerably more risqué but this movie is very tame with just some brief mild nudity. It’s not really sexploitation. There’s not much violence. It’s more of a hicksploitation movie aimed at the drive-in circuit.
Although it’s a sound film it uses intertitles, presumably to enhance the melodrama flavour. There are also songs interspersed throughout the action which give an odd but interesting feel.
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Most online reviewers start from the assumption that movies such as this are junk that can only be appreciated as “so-bad-it’s-good” or camp which says a lot about the inability of most online reviewers to comprehend anything offbeat or truly unconventional. Jennie: Wife/Child does have an offbeat vibe but it’s clearly intentional rather than the result of incompetence. It’s an overcooked melodrama but with a darker rural noir edge.
It’s also a very competently made movie with some nice cinematic sequences. The cinematography is by the great Vilmos Zsigmond which is another reason not to dismiss this film as junk.
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One should always try to approach movies with an open mind. This movie is a case in point. This is actually an extremely good extremely interesting movie with an ending that is not at all what you’re going to be expecting. Highly recommended.
Something Weird paired this film with the swampsploitation potboiler Common Law Wife (1961) and the two movies do have a similar feel. They’re fairly close in feel to the swampsploitation classic Louisiana Hussy (1959) and they have some affinity with Russ Meyer’s southern gothic hicksploitation masterpieces Lorna (1964) and Mudhoney (1964).
The Something Weird DVD actually includes three movies - Common Law Wife, Jennie: Wife/Child and Moonshine Love (1969). All three are worth seeing, making this one of Something Weird’s best-ever DVD releases. Common Law Wife and Jennie: Wife/Child have since been released on Blu-Ray by Film Masters.
.jpg)
Beverly Lunsford as Jennie is as cute as a button but her performance is also not too bad. She doesn’t make Jennie too sympathetic but nor does she make her too unsympathetic.
It’s worth pointing out that Jennie is no in fact a child. She’s twenty. She’s a grown woman, although emotionally she is perhaps a tad immature. She’s been married to Albert Peckingpaw for four months so she never was a child bride.
By 1968 sexploitation movies were becoming considerably more risqué but this movie is very tame with just some brief mild nudity. It’s not really sexploitation. There’s not much violence. It’s more of a hicksploitation movie aimed at the drive-in circuit.
Although it’s a sound film it uses intertitles, presumably to enhance the melodrama flavour. There are also songs interspersed throughout the action which give an odd but interesting feel.
.jpg)
Most online reviewers start from the assumption that movies such as this are junk that can only be appreciated as “so-bad-it’s-good” or camp which says a lot about the inability of most online reviewers to comprehend anything offbeat or truly unconventional. Jennie: Wife/Child does have an offbeat vibe but it’s clearly intentional rather than the result of incompetence. It’s an overcooked melodrama but with a darker rural noir edge.
It’s also a very competently made movie with some nice cinematic sequences. The cinematography is by the great Vilmos Zsigmond which is another reason not to dismiss this film as junk.
.jpg)
One should always try to approach movies with an open mind. This movie is a case in point. This is actually an extremely good extremely interesting movie with an ending that is not at all what you’re going to be expecting. Highly recommended.
Something Weird paired this film with the swampsploitation potboiler Common Law Wife (1961) and the two movies do have a similar feel. They’re fairly close in feel to the swampsploitation classic Louisiana Hussy (1959) and they have some affinity with Russ Meyer’s southern gothic hicksploitation masterpieces Lorna (1964) and Mudhoney (1964).
The Something Weird DVD actually includes three movies - Common Law Wife, Jennie: Wife/Child and Moonshine Love (1969). All three are worth seeing, making this one of Something Weird’s best-ever DVD releases. Common Law Wife and Jennie: Wife/Child have since been released on Blu-Ray by Film Masters.
