Untamed Youth

As awful as most of the musical numbers are, it's great to see Eddie Cochran performing!

Mamie Van Doren is pretty good in this movie, as corny as it is. John Russell is great as the jerk ranch owner; very convincing bad guy.

On their way to seek fame and fortune in Los Angeles, top-heavy singer Mamie Van Doren (as Penny Lowe) and her guitar-strumming accomplice Lori Nelson (as Janey Lowe) are caught hitch-hiking. The sisters are brought before a small-town southern judge. Apparently, filmmakers decided the shapely pair would be more alluring skinny-dipping than hitch-hiking, so this is how the film opens. The script says hitching, but the visual suggests nudity (of course, their naughtiest body parts are hidden). Looking sexy and sexier, Ms. Nelson and Ms. Van Doren are sentenced to pick cotton on a farm...

They are treated very poorly by dastardly John Russell (as Russ Tropp). He is secretly involved with matronly judge Lurene Tuttle (as Cecilia Steele). Her handsome son Don Burnett (as Bob Steele) arrives to set things right and romance Ms. Nelson. "Untamed Youth" features a tightly-attired, ample-bodied and highly arousing Ms. Van Doren. She sings pseudo-rock 'n' roll in a slip, swinging and swiveling. The soundtrack highlight is Eddie Cochran (as Bongo) performing Les Baxter's derivative "Cotton-picker". The song arrangement doesn't really rock, but Mr. Cochran makes it seem authentic.

***** Untamed Youth (5/10/57) Howard W. Koch ~ Mamie Van Doren, Lori Nelson, John Russell, Don Burnett

Untamed Youth (1957)

** (out of 4)

If you look at any critic books you're probably going to find this one with a BOMB rating and it being called one of the worst films of all time. Something this entertaining can't be considered one of the worst ever made. Period. Sisters Penny (Mamie Van Doren) and Jane (Lori Nelson) Lowe gets picked up by a crooked Sheriff and the two are sentenced by a crooked judge to a work farm where the owner abuses the workers and gets his pockets filled with their hard work. Soon the judge's son (Don Burnett) returns home from the Navy and begins to see what's really going on at the camp. UNTAMED YOUTH is one of many drive-in juvenile flicks that were released in this era and while it has one of the worst reputations of any, this is just so memorable because of all the camp, wild dialogue and unbelievable situations. I'm really not sure where you start but there's some of the most memorable dialogue that you're ever going to find in a film. There this: "Don't hit me in the mouth again. You'll break my dental plate". Also this: "If you had two heads you'd still be a moron." You've also got an opening sequence with the two beautiful blonds skinny dipping with the perverted Sheriff spying on them. There's also some very campy musical numbers, which for some reason the "inmates" are able to put on. I'm still not sure why the evil owner allowed all of this considering everything else he was doing to them. Then there's the hilarious ending where the people finally can't take any more. I won't ruin what exactly happens but it's certainly funny. Mamie Van Doren, as you'd expect, gives a pretty blah performance but that pointy bra is constantly at work. Nelson actually gives a pretty good performance as she's the only thing that doesn't come off campy. The supporting players all fit their roles nicely. UNTAMED YOUTH is pure camp and I'd say it deserves the right to be considered a cult classic.

The story of an unscrupulous cotton farm owner who uses the local correction system for his personal profit, the focus of "Untamed Youth" is really the unbridled sexuality of rock and roll, then in its infancy.

Consider this tagline: "Starring the girl built like a platinum powerhouse-- Mamie Van Doren." The film offers some scenes of rock and roll dancing awkwardly shoehorned into the scenes of dramatic social injustice. And those scenes of dancing are not bad, despite the corny gyrations of Van Doren. The story as a whole is a mess.

Best viewed as a novelty, "Untamed Youth" fits perfectly into the genre of low-grade drive-in movie fare.

Okay, I confess to paying money to see this exploitation flick back in '57. No doubt the juicy title plus mammary goddess Van Doren is what pulled this horny teenager in. Then too, it's likely my standards haven't risen much in the meantime. Anyway, back then, I thought the movie just plain weird—after all, the sight of super stud John Russell passion kissing a frumpy 50-year old Irene Tuttle was like seeing him, oh my gosh, passion kiss his mother. But now I think the movie's just plain goofy.

It's really two films badly stitched into one, like some mismatched two-headed critter that can't make up its mind. On one side is the rock-and-roll skin show, with kids in trouble but having a lot of fun anyway. The wild rebellious dance scene is still a grabber and could stand for that teen era, as a whole. Now, however, Van Doren looks more like a cartoon than anything real as she keeps slipping sideways for the camera.

The other half is a serious type expose with Russell showing no sense of humor or fun, at all. And he's backed up by a lot of corrupt county officials and thuggish henchmen who keep threatening the kids. Too bad the movie guys in charge didn't split this serious side from the R&R. With a little work and that monster cotton-combine, they might have had a follow-up to the classic farm-nightmare of Border Incident (1949).

Instead, this flick leaves us to ponder the eternal question of why Calypso didn't replace R&R as record exec's of the time expected. Oh well, some cosmic mysteries just aren't meant to be solved. In the meantime, I guess I'll have to hunt down more of these silly old teen flicks.