Funnily enough I played Pulp Fiction (1994) last night and John Travolta’s “That is Mamie Van Doren” had me thinking of this movie. Juvenile delinquency, spontaneous singing, melodrama with a capitol M, the 50s despaired so distinctly. The squareness of the problems, the moral of the story, how naked the themes were, nothing was left unsaid. A good speech was only a breath away. East of Eden (1955), Rebel Without A Cause (1955), Giant (1956). Youth seemed a curse. One these flicks exploited. Computer Virus, The Never-Light Pipe, Tongue Puppets, TV’s Greg Brady, Gypsy’s Thoughts, Synthethic Cotton, The Goofy Glasses Wearing Guy. “Least it’s a Warner Brothers picture”, “Anytown, USA”, “Looks like he’s playing football against Claude Rains University.” “How much you wanna bet the word Daddy-O is in this film a million times?” or “Hey after him. He’s hidin’ behind those credits”?
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Joel on Untamed Youth (1957).
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Any Really Groovy City, U.S.A.
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Trailer of Untamed Youth (1957).
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Yvonne Lime nka Fedderson was Baby in this film, and also Michael Landon’s besieged girlfriend in Teenage Werewolf. Producers had a type, I guess.
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One of my favorites from season one! Good riffing on a movie that had no sci-fi element to it at all. Nice cast here. We’ll see Mamie again in Girlstown. Lori Nelson in Revenge of the Creature. Lurene Tuttle in Clonus Horror, and Michael Emmet in a couple of Roger Corman films. It gives this movie familiar feeling. The movie is not that bad, and the movie breaks are quality.
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Livestream II: Untamed Youth (1957).
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This is the first episode in the national series which featured a crime drama. I’m not all that fond of them, as the ones they usually screened consist of greasy, loathsome people being greasy and loathsome. It can also be seen as an early Women in Prison film. But since it was released during the 1950s and distributed by a major studio, there’s none of the nudity or lesbian rape popularly associated with the subgenre.
The role for which Mamie Van Doren was cast is something of an oddity. Though no stranger to these Rebellious Teens Being Oppressed by The Man movies, she typically did sex symbol type characters in the vein of Marilyn Monroe. In this one, she’s intended to be more of a naïve ingenue. Note how shocked she is when told that the job not working in the fields offered by the Evil Ranch Boss involves being a full-service maid (nudge nudge wink wink). While possibly intended as anti-typecasting, her performance is less than convincing.
The biggest absurdity has to be the song and dance numbers which occur in the bunkhouse. You’d think that slaving away in the cotton fields under the baking Texas sun all day would sap their energy for such shenanigans.
And how naked Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson are when their characters are introduced.
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Eddie Cochran - Cotton Picker
Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues
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It might have been cut for time, but it always bugs me how the cook looks like he’s knowingly pimping her to Tropp and that’s never acknowledged or resolved. Someone should’ve found a new source of dog food there at film’s end if you get my drift.
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MVD and her 1954 Jaguar XK120.
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Mamie Van Doren - Rolling Stone’
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