Untamed Youth (1957)

Sisters Penny and Jane (Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson) are travelling to Hollywood when they stop to skinny dip in a small pond, because of course they do. Stock creepy sheriff type arrests them for vagrancy. They are given the choice to spend 30 days in jail or be slave labor for a cruel cotton farmer. They choose the latter.

Down on the farm they meet up with the other inmates, a bunch of honkey beatniks. It seems that boss man Tropp has made a deal with the lonely judge lady to funnel cheap labor to his farm while others farms struggle to find workers. But Judge lady’s adult son returns from the Navy and starts to figure out what’s going on.

Life on a cotton farm is hard and relentless. When the kids get back to the barracks they barely have enough energy left to throw a rocking dance party all night long. Mamie became the first actress to sing Rock and Roll in an American film. Eddie Cochran played one of the insundry youths. He was an actual Rock and Roll star and would die in a car wreck three years later. And so it goes.

Probably the worst part of this film is the horribly forced youth dialog. The only trustworthy adult is a cook who only speaks in beatnik riddles that even our heroes find hard to swallow. Second worst thing might be that all of the singers seem to be doing a bad Elvis Presley impersonation, Mamie included. Not a big fan of the Pelvis on the best of days, so off brand Elvis is a non-starter.

Despite the insipid plot, poor acting, the exploitative direction, the cringe-worthy pseudo-teen lingo, the terrible songs … I’m sorry, I lost my train of thought, where was I again? Oh, yea, Untamed Youth. Actually, it wasn’t all that bad. The story, such as it is, made sense in it’s own way. The character’s motivations and actions were consistent and the story resolved itself satisfactorily. Maybe that sounds like a low bar, and it is, but it’s a bar many exploitation films fail to reach. Untamed Youth was designed for the youth drive-in crowd, and by all accounts it was a success. It was even endorsed by the Catholic League of Decency by condemning it. Those guys! I can’t say I’m sorry I watched it, but it did evoke many groans and eye rolls. AMRU 2.5.

“Here me out, my friend. I am a just man. Even a philosopher, of parts. Possibly the most erudite bum for miles around. But, in this day of crass materialism, with dog eat dog, and man bite man, I claim that the laborer is worthy of his hire and the artist of his doom.”