Common Law Wife (1961)
Directed by Larry Buchanan & Eric Sayers
Starring Annabelle Weenick, George Edgley, Max W. Anderson, Lacey Kelley, Bert Masters, Libby Hall

Jennie: Wife/Child (1968)
Directed by Robert Carl Cohen & James Landis
Starring Jack Lester, Beverly Lunsford, Jim Reader, Virginia Wood, Richard Cowl

When I read about the announcement of the latest release from Film Masters, a Hicksploitation double feature, I was going to pass, since it’s not really in the horror genre. Then I realized that one of the titles, Common Law Wife, was partially directed by Larry Buchanan, a favorite cult director of mine! So, I figured I had to take on the assignment of reviewing them anyway because I just couldn’t pass up anything that Buchanan was involved with. I am so glad I did.

So yes, these films are not in the horror genre, but damn if their exploitation elements don’t make it come real close. In both features, there are a lot of nasty deeds either happening, or plotting to happen, to a bunch of people that don’t seem to have a good character throughout the running time!

Common Law Wife started as a film called Swamp Rose, which was directed by Buchanan, and was shot in color. The film either never got finished or released, but then was bought by Mike Ripps, who then hired Eric Sayers to shoot some more footage and mix it together into something different. The end result was Common Law Wife. The main story about a rich old man named Shugfoot Rainey (!!!), played by George Edgley, who decides he’s tired of his live-in mistress Linda (Annabelle Weenick) over the last five years and wants to kick her out. That way his niece Jonelle (Lacey Kelly) can come live with him to take care of him. A lot of strangeness goes on in that reasoning, which Linda even points out, that what he’s thinking is downright incest. But Linda also discovers after talking with a lawyer that she has a few rights of her own.

Throw in the local sheriff that wants to put the moves on Jonelle, or Baby Doll as she’s called, even though he’s married to her sister (Libby Hall)! Jonelle then gets mixed up with a local moonshiner Bull (Bert Masters), and it all comes to a sad but satisfying ending for all these low lives!

Weenick is no stranger to low budget horror from Texas, having appeared in a few films from S.F. Brownrigg, such as Don’t Look in the Basement (1973), and always is great onscreen. Libby Hall, the sheriff’s wife started in the title role of Buchanan’s The Naked Witch (1961) and was actually married to Brownrigg.

The second feature, Jennie, Wife/Child (1968) is a perfect second feature in this set. Jack Lester plays Albert Peckingpaw who has a really young wife named Jennie (Beverly Lunsford), who is so bored at their farm that she keeps trying to seduce their simply farmhand Mario (Jim Reader). It doesn’t take long for all three of them to realize what is going on and what is going to happen, but it is a fun ride! This was originally filmed in 1965 under the name Tender Grass, which ran over 2 hours long! After it couldn’t find distribution, director Cohen was given the task to made it fit for release. He edited a bunch of scenes out that he thought were too slow, adding in some more sex, motorcycle striptease, and then retitled it as what it is known now.

As always, Film Masters as thrown so many extras on this release that even though the movies alone are worth the cost, these extras are just icing on the cake. For Common Law Wife, you get an archival commentary from Buchanan himself, moderated by Nathaniel Thompson of Mondo Digital. It’s informative since Buchanan points out the differences, for better or worse, between his film Swamp Rose and this release. There is also a new commentary by podcaster Millie De Chirico and Turner Classic Movies film programmer Ben Cheaves.

De Chirico also does a commentary for Jennie, Wife/Child as well.

Lisa Petrucci of Something Weird gives us an essay called Backwoods Babes, Old Men and Simple-Minded Studs, which is a run read.

But one of the best extras is this great featurette called That’s Hicksploitation: The Origin of Southern Sinema by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures and featuring C. Courtney Joyner. There is a lot of great stuff here to learn that will definitely make you realize a few ideas that you might not have realized before. Good stuff here.

Film Masters has done another splendid job with this release. And even if it’s not horror, if you are even remotely a fan of exploitation films, especially of the early ‘60s, then this really is a must buy.