Femmes hors-la-loi

It's a wacky premise that unfortunately settles into the conventional following a promising start. So, can women actually run an old-West town and keep the men subdued -- talk about reversing the usual gender roles and in a western, no less! Now, If anybody can put the women on top, it's the likes of the great Marie Windsor as Iron Mae McLeod. That name tells you the rest. Then too, was any actress better at foiling men than the imposing Windsor, what with her knowing eyes and sly demeanor. I'll never forget her ruthless put-down of a hapless Elisha Cook Jr In that great 50's heist flick, The Killing. Here, she does her job, but I get the feeling that for whatever reasons she's only going through the motions in a role with so much Windsor potential.

Anyway, once the action leaves Iron Mae's saloon to concentrate on a bank heist, the men take over and the engaging battle of the sexes fades. Maybe the writers weren't sure where to go with their touchy premise. Nonetheless, for laughs, there's bartender Uncle Barney (Billy House) always ready to sell any dry throat his ugly patent medicine instead of a whiskey. On the other hand, for the guys there's plenty of eye candy in a saloon that looks more like modern Vegas than a dry western gulch. But who cares, what with all the bare legs and fancy costuming.

All in all, I'm disappointed the screenplay didn't follow through with that promising premise that still has relevance, given the modern women's movement. And, oh yes, if you're feeling coldish and a funny looking, fat guy offers you a miracle tonic called Blackfoot Balm, don't take it. Please, don't take it.

Marie Windsor who played more bad girls and tough dames than anyone else in the Fifties stars in Outlaw Women which is a misleading title if there ever was one. In fact they're not outlaws and get themselves in a mess of trouble when they turn down an offer to be outlaws. Not that they don't take the law in their own hands.

In fact it's their town, a place called Las Mujeres where the women call the tune. The local saloon is run by Marie and she's got a nice little army of female enforcers including a bouncer played by the Amazonian Maria Hart. When the town needs a doctor they just kidnap one in the person of Allan Nixon.

Gambler Richard Rober and sidekick Jackie Coogan also come to Las Mujeres. Rober has some history with Windsor, but he's got a more legal way to do things and uses a gimmick that was an aberrant of history, something not corrected in most places until after World War I. I'll let you see the film to find out what it is.

But Rober and Windsor still have to deal with some nasty real male outlaws and the final shootout should satisfy any western fan.

No great production values, but an interesting and entertaining western from Lippert.

Considering that there must have been at least 15 million western movies made by Hollywood, it's not surprising that occasionally they tried various gimmicks to set some of these westerns apart. For example, in "The Terror of Tiny Town", all the characters are tiny folks and in "Harlem on the Prairie", everyone is black...including the hero.

While "Outlaw Women" is not an all-women film, it is one where they are in charge of a town and men can only visit if they want to frequent Iron Mae's saloon or if she needs them, such as a young doctor who is brought there early in the film. But some men are out to destroy Mae and they plan on robbing the local bank...the same bank in which Mae has all her money. Then, they hope steal away Mae's saloon and impose male rule! So what is Mae to do? Yep...steal the money first! What's next? See the film...or don't.

This film is one that works provided you don't think too much and just accept it for what it is. In other words, the plot is pretty silly and it's best you just look past this and try to enjoy. And, at least it's in color and looks pretty!

By the way, this film with it's odd feminist message would make a great double feature with "Johnny Guitar"....another film about a female saloon owner who is twice the man of anyone else in the movie!

Barely feasible story about outlaws robbing a bank shipment is stretched past the point of interest by film's end. Some interest may be generated, though, by the film's unusual setting -- a frontier town owned and governed by women. Their leader (Windsor) refuses to co-operate with the outlaws, leading the women to consider robbing the shipment to protect their investment.

The audience I saw it with (here in Oakland, CA, where Will "The Thrill" Viharo is one of the only guys in the world who will show movies like this to a live audience) reacted positively to Windsor and her butch right-hand lady (Hart), but mostly with boredom towards the tired story, stilted dialogue, and substandard directing and photography (in Cinecolor, which on this rapidly disintegrating print looks like 1920s 2-strip).

Some points of interest, but nothing exceptional. Pales in comparison to the similarly themed "Johnny Guitar" (which was made by somewhat more ambitious filmmakers).

The chicks are in charge!!!

Marie Windsor runs a very successful gambling hall in Las Mujeres, which effectively puts her in charge of the whole town. She has female gunfighters keeping the peace and enforcing her word. Women who pass through town are invited to stay ... and so on.

So ... a bunch of stuff happens. Nice doctor guy Allan Nixon is kidnapped by gunslinging Carla Belinda and brought to Las Mujeres to be the town doctor. Patent medicine huckster Billy House loses all the women in his show to Las Mujeres, so he sticks around to be the bartender and provide comic relief. Gambler and Windsor's ex Richard Rober shows up in town with his gunslinging bodyguard Jackie Coogan (yes, that Jackie Coogan) and threatens to take the whole operation away from her. Outlaw Richard Avonde gets sick of Windsor not cooperating and teams up with even tougher outlaw Leonard Penn to steal her money.

All these plotlines collide in this Ron Ormand B western shot in Cinecolor ... a crude Technicolor imitation. It's pretty much everything you expect ... some action, some romance, some comedy and a few songs. It's pretty damn okay if you know what to expect.