Common Law Wife

Common Law Wife (1963)

** (out of 4)

A rich and mean old man (Shugfoot Rainey) decides to throw Linda (Anne MacAdams), his lover of five years, out of his house because (WTF?) he wants his young and sexy niece Jonelle to come live with him. This sends Linda into a rage until she realizes that she's legally his common law wife.

COMMON LAW WIFE is a rather weird film that was sold as an exploitation movie but it barely fits into that genre. I guess the idea of you living with someone and then legally being considered married was a "shocking" subject to some back in 1963 but the film itself isn't quite as good as one would have hoped. With that said, there are enough weird moments to make it worth watching.

I thought the first half of the film was better than the second half. During the opening we get to have fun meeting all of these strange characters including the niece who seems to have no problem being sexual with her old uncle. This is a rather creepy but funny moment and we also get some rather funny dialogue dealing with the lover character seeking revenge as the new wife. The second portion of the film gets bogged down in a bunch of melodrama but it does lead up to a rather shocking ending.

The film was directed by Eric Sayers but for years it was rumored that Larry Buchanan had a hand in it. It turns out that some footage from a Buchanan movie was used here and that's the reason for the confusion but according to the audio commentary on the Something Weird Video disc it seems that very little of his footage made it into this film. COMMON LAW WIFE is a mild entertainment if you're looking for a cheap "C" movie.

In her film debut in the title role, veteran exploitation queen Annabelle Weenick (under her original alias of Anne MacAdams) really brings the opening and closing scenes of this misanthropic trash shot in Forney in Texas to life; and it lags badly during the interminable middle section when she's offscreen.

That the script is by a woman may account for why the scenes between the female characters are far more entertaining than those with the men - with the notable exception of those between Linda and her rancid old sugar daddy Shugfoot Rainey. Did the sheriff's wife pleading with her sister Jonelle not to steal her husband inspire Dolly Parton?

The uncredited jazz score - presumably library music - gives kick to the proceedings.

Originally shot as Swamp Rose a few years earlier, then chopped up and added to new film shot by a different director and even featuring 2 different actresses playing one character - somehow strange forces intervened and created this booze-soaked trashfest of enjoyability. Baby Doll is coming to town to stay with and "take care of" her Uncle Shug, but unfortunately he's having a problem getting rid of his common-law wife who refuses to leave (played by the ever overacting, always entertaining cult star Annabelle Weenick). Baby Doll is played by 2 different actresses, but I didn't notice until after I read it - and is a beautiful atrocious monster who you just can't take your eyes off of. Trashy fun with a great ending.

"Common Law Wife," a made-in-Texas drive-in quickie directed by exploitation maestro Larry Buchanan ("Mars Needs Women," etc.) has it all: inept cinematography, bad acting, dubbing that's reminiscent of a Sir Run Run Shaw production, and, best of all, twisted, hate-filled characters like lusty old Uncle Shug, who wants to get rid of his aging common law wife, a shrieking harridan played by Anne McAdams (who would go on to have a lengthy career), so he can shack up with his niece, Jonelle, who wants to get rid of HIM -- permanent-like! Jonelle (stripper name: Baby Doll) has been takin' it all off in New Orleans, and damn if they didn't cast a real stripper in the part!

No nudity here, just your garden variety sleaze and down-home depravity. They don't make 'em like this any more, which is either a good thing or a bad thing...

Common-law Wife is a sleazy exploitation drive-in movie that is so awful it's good. The story is about a cheap dancer named Jonelle--nicknamed Baby Doll--who returns to her small southern home town to shack up with her aging, wealthy Uncle Shug, who has just kicked out his longtime live-in girlfriend Linda. Unfortunately for Baby Doll, Linda claims she is Uncle Shug's "common-law wife," and she refuses to leave. While Uncle Shug tries to straighten things out at the mansion, Baby Doll has sexual encounters with her brother-in-law Sheriff Jody, and with a swamp-livin', moonshine-makin' bruiser named Bull. The ending is unexpected and memorable. Great fun!