Jennie: Wife/Child

With only a microscopic budget, Jennie Wife Child accomplishes what most movies do not. This strange, original film follows Jennie, a beautiful 20 year old woman who is married to a much older grouch. There happens to be a young, studly, and dumb farmhand who works on their property...craziness ensues. Shot in black and white, with enthusiastic acting, and a quick moving, sordid story, JWC takes the escalator to cult status by adding a catchy corny soundtrack of cool original songs and using silent-movie type title cards throughout the film while still taking all the goings on quite seriously. If you like these kinds of movies, you should really enjoy this tasty trashy classic.

This movie is alternately called "The Tender Grass" or "Jennie Wife/Child". While the first title is just strange, the second seems to connect it to the old rural roadshow "hicksploitation" movies like "Child Bride" and "Poor White Trash" where horny, slobbering hillbillies try to marry twelve-year-old girls. The female lead here though is actually twenty (and played by an actress who looks even older than that), so this is really more of a conventional sexploitation potboiler about a younger woman who is married to a much older dirt farmer, but lusts after his hunky but dimwitted farmhand (who is himself rooting around with the town tart).

Although the acting is not too great, all the roles are played fairly straight, but the goofy intertitles and even goofier songs suggest that the filmmakers themselves weren't taking this thing entirely seriously. It isn't ever exactly laugh-out-loud funny, but it seems to have the kind of wry, self-conscious irony of an Andy Warhol film. However, the great black-and-white cinematography by renowned Hungarian cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond is well above the level of either a typical roadshow flick OR a "Warhol factory" art film.

As a sexploitation flick it's pretty tame for 1968, not showing much more than one of the old roadshow films of the 40's--i.e. longshots of the cute little backside of the heroine as she skinny-dips in the local "waterin' hole" to the catchy tune of a song called "My Birtday Suit" (but at least she isn't twelve years old like the girl in "Child Bride"). I'm basically a sucker for any of these rural "hicksploitation" flicks, but I'd especially recommend this one for the incredible cinematography and because it's just so damn weird.

Surprisingly better than one might wish to expect from a film like this. Jennie: Wife/Child tells the familiar story of a young girl saved from desperation by an older farmer who makes her his wife. The old man cannot fulfill his young bride's desires or keep pace with her youth. What is a girl to do? Naturally, pursue the farmhand(Mario in this film). While this film offers the obligatory nudie scenes of a pretty girl bathing and ample cleavage and country sex situations, I found the film effectively shot, generally well-acted(to a degree - let's be honest here), and scored with some highly implausible country ballads like "Tender Grass," "My Birthday Suit," and that old country standard "I Want Revenge, I'll Get Revenge...Cause I'm Gonna See Them Burn." Jack Lester as Mr. Peckinpaugh gives a forceful performance until the very end of the film when we are handed one of the hokiest, most ridiculous endings in film. The film, for much of it, is surprisingly dark yet turns comedic for the last few minutes. Had the director and screenwriter had the nerve to give the film a grim ending, I would be much more impressed with this film. Nonetheless, the director does have a sense of style shooting scenes: the old man hunting down the farmhand, the pretty Jennie rummaging through her husband's desk whilst being observed in a mirror, and the tension created in the middle of the film in general. Beverly Runsford as Jennie is, well, attractive and naive in her acting style yet convincing. I wish I could be so generous with Jim Reader as Mario. He has little acting talent at all. Virginia Wood as "the town floozy" adds some spice and more ample cleavage. What I really enjoyed about this film was its use of title cards throughout to explain the action and motivation of the characters. Some of them were very amusing and well'conceived. There are also some moments where silent movie music plays to tell you that danger is at hand. While really nothing more than an excuse to showcase a little flesh and arch some eyebrows, Jennie: Wife/Child does elevate itself from much of the films in this sub-genre of exploitation films.

JENNIE:WIFE/CHILD came at the tail-end of the 60s and the tail-end of the nudie-cuties genre of pre-XXX porn, when viewers jonesing for some flesh had to content themselves with girls taking baths or putting on lingerie. It concerns Jennie, a nubile young bride, her older husband, and the studly farmhand who works for him and works Jennie! We're treated to silent-movie styled dialogue cards, skinny-dipping, and down-home pickin' and grinnin' at a local watering hole. The soundtrack features some of the most cutesy songs in a girlie flick; did you know the song "My Birthday Suit" later resurfaced as one of the songs on the old Cattanooga Cats cartoon? It's true!

JENNIE: WIFE / CHILD, is the story of an old farmer named Albert Peckingpaw (Jack Lester), and his young, bored wife, Jennie (Beverly Lundsford). While Albert just wants peace and quiet, Jennie wants some action! Her cavorting with the farmhand causes Albert to treat her like a prisoner.

Unforeseen events unfold, leading to an even worse situation for everyone involved. Jealousy, lust, and revenge combine in this pot of steamy stew. A twisty, shock finale is tossed in for good measure.

Not a bad slice of rural, hormonally-driven semi-noir. Some of the musical numbers are hilarious. You'll be singing "Do Ya Like Me In My Birthday Suit?", long after the end credits...