Bayou

I remember this film being shown in local theatres as "For Adults Only." I was 7 years old at the time. Thirty years later I found this film in the video store under the title, "Poor White Trash," as it was billed in the theatres along with "Shanty Tramp." There is no "adult" shock value to this piece of crap whatsoever.

What you have is a poor, grainy, mostly dark celluloid that contains scenes of what would be considered "PG" today: a scene of Lita Milan's character running through the woods naked (the camera shot the scene from so far away all you really see is a ghostlike figure running, pursued by a man in a white shirt (Tim Carey). The subsequent rape scene shows Lita Milan's screaming head going back and forth (you can imagine what's happening); the "sex" scene in the cabin involves a shot of Peter Graves' hand on Lita Milan's back between shots of pounding waves; the "violence" involves a quickie shot of an axe protuding from Tim Carey's back after the climactic fight with Peter Graves (no wonder Peter Graves would rather be remembered for "Mission: Impossible."). Tim Carey is at his slimy best, but the movie really sucks. Oh, and Jonathan Haze looking like he's on some drug...pass on this one.

This picture is terrible. I don't get all the hype about Timothy Carey with his lousy Cajun accent. He overacted in every film I ever saw him in. This one is no exception. The rest of the cast is okay but most of the Cajun accents sound phony. Slow pace, boring direction and an inane script all serve to make this film a total waste of time. One interesting footnote though: no one seems to have noticed that veteran character actor Douglas Fowley (Singin in the Rain) is playing two roles. Not only does he play the ingenues' toothless father but also Jim (with his teeth and dark hair), the guy cajoling Peter Graves to fight for his architect design. He is the best actor in this otherwise dismal film.

"Bayou" is a not particularly distinguished film that is, at times, slow-paced and is filled with questionable acting. Nevertheless, it became a notorious film a few years later when someone bought the movie rights and spliced in a few nude scenes...and made $10,000,000 in theaters! My review is for the original, non-nudie film. It's too bad...as the original picture is pretty slow.

Martin Davis (Peter Graves) has come to the Cajun country in Louisiana in search of a big project, as he's a young and enterprising architect. However, when he meets young Marie (Lita Milan), he forgets about the project and focuses all his attention on her. However, the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Quiet Man", there's a boorish jerk- face, Ulysses (Timothy Carey) who insists Marie is his...and he'll kick the butt of any man who tries to take her. While this all sounds interesting, most of the stuff in between is amazingly dull...and the film is filled with actors who seemed like amateurs...that is beside Graves and Carey. Overall, it's a very silly and only occasionally interesting movie.

I only watched this movie because of its striking description in Timothy Carey's IMDB page. The looming, hatchet-faced Carey is one of the most unique and unforgettable character actors Hollywood ever had, and he was apparently very eccentric in real life.

Whoever wrote that IMDB got one thing right: the only memorable scene in "Bayou" is when Carey does a bizarre, tortured jig to some Cajun music, twisting his head around and contorting his long body as though he's being electrocuted.

Besides that, this movie just doesn't have much in it. It's one of those movies that should have gone for half an hour. The plot is so simple: Man meets girl and falls in love, but some bad guy already has his eye on her, so you know they're headed for a clash, which takes far too long to arrive.

This was first released as "Bayou" in 1957, but nobody saw it, so it was shelved and re-released in '61 as "Poor White Trash", now apparently with an added scene in which Carey sexually assaults the girl, ripping her clothes off. The movie surprisingly shows her bare tush.

Now that I think about it, it's obvious that scene was added later, because it's shot so differently. It makes striking use of close-ups to really drive the point home. The rest of the movie, feels like the filmmakers (and other actors) were asleep at the wheel. Only Carey really signed on, but it's not really worth watching just for him, either.

I think your time would be better spent someplace else. This film isn't going to be the worst thing you've ever seen but even as a trash film its just got nothing going for it.

Lita Milan is somewhat charming but you can see that charm in much better films.