COMMON LAW WIFE

Wealthy oil man Shugfoot Rainey and his live-in girlfriend, Linda, have been shacking up for five years, and their relationship has grown contentious enough that Shugfoot wants her out. He's sent for his stripper niece, Jonelle (who he refers to as "Baby Doll"), to take her place, but Linda loves the cantankerous old goat and doesn't want to leave her home. She checks with a lawyer and learns that she is legally Shugfoot's common law wife, so she buys herself a ring and lets him know that she's staying put. Jonelle arrives in town and realizes she's been shut out of her cushy arrangement, so she moves in with her sister and brother-in-law, Sheriff Jody. Five years earlier, Jody and Jonelle were an item, and the sheriff is anxious to continue their illicit fling, but all Jonelle wants to do is get rid of Linda and get her hands on her uncle's considerable fortune. When Jody won't help her, Jonelle turns to Bull, the local bootlegger who supplies moonshine whiskey to Shugfoot. Together they hatch a plan to poison the old man, which drives Linda to exact a ghastly revenge.

This gloriously sleazy soap opera has everything a down-home regional production needs to succeed: incest, murder, adultery, strippers, moonshiners, and a hidden still in the swamp. All that's missing is a lynch party, though it's hardly necessary. Common Law Wife throws enough hopped-up tawdry thrills together to make the viewer feel the sweltering, stifling small-town heat. This Texas production doesn't always make sense (Jonelle is transparently contemptuous of her rich uncle, so much so that she's clearly going to be the first suspect if he's murdered) and the budget is as cheap as they come, but it's thick with attitude, humidity, and a torrid jazz score that sounds great, if a little urban for the setting. The viciously curvy Lacy Kelly spits fire as Baby Doll, and Anne MacAdams gives the most human performance in the film as the desperate Linda (she would go on to a number of Texas-lensed exploitation films, most notably the insane Don't Look in the Basement!). FRED BELDIN

I reviewed Common Law Wife some eight years or so ago, but watched it again this morning. What a great way to start the day. Anyhow, it's still exceptional, so check out a clip here.