How often I have sat and wondered what exactly would have happened, had notorious outlaw Jesse James had a run-in with a descendant of the mad scientist Victor Frankenstein.  And thanks to legendary director, William Beaudine, I found out first hand.  And if you have had similar musings and are being driven to distraction, Elite Disc has taken care of your situation by releasing Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter on a special, "Joe Bob Briggs Presents" DVD. 

There are several things to learn in a single viewing of JJMFD, and it would only be fair to share some of those with you now, before we get into the meat of the story. 

We will start first with the director; Mr. William "One Shot" Beaudine.  "One Shot" was so named because of his knack for shooting only one take of every scene and printing it as-is, complete with minor (or major) imperfections.  This led to many botched lines, some distinct clumsiness, many downright awful cinematic moments and countless other "point and laugh" moments.  But this also led to something else...over 500 films.  Quantity over quality seemed to be Mr. Beaudine's mantra, but speed wasn't necessarily his highest priority either.  When once approached about falling behind schedule, Beaudine replied "You mean someone out there is actually waiting to see this?".  But regardless of what his motivation was, one thing was for sure; Beaudine had a talent for creating some awfully awful films, and a handful of not-so-awful ones as well.  JJMFD rests amongst those not-so-awful.  In fact, I found it downright entertaining; and so does Joe Bob Briggs.

This brings me to the second educational point of JJMFD; that Joe Bob simply has to be one of the funniest men alive, and we as genre fans should be thankful that he happens to enjoy these old drive in "b"s.  When I receive a film for review, I will usually check out the trailer first, to get an idea of what the studio is trying to pass the film off as; then I will watch the film itself to find out what it REALLY is like.  If there is a commentary, I will watch it next to catch all the inside dirt and get a better look into the inner workings and inspirations of the movie.  

When watching JJMFD, I spent the entire film playing my own version of Mystery Science Theatre and yelling out all the horrible mistakes, plot holes, "what-the-hell-are-you-doings", and basically laughing my butt off.  But the real treat of this release, and the real reason that I recommend you pick it up, is to experience the audio commentary from Joe Bob Briggs himself.  While other commentaries are spent talking shop and revealing special effects for what they really are, Joe Bob's commentaries are generally spent in equal parts, tearing the movie apart and divulging some extremely interesting factoids.  These range from the benign (it is actually Frankenstein's granddaughter that we meet, not his daughter), to the enlightening (JJMFD always played in drive-ins with its partner film from the same director, Billy The Kid Versus Dracula, which one of its own stars said was "the worst movie I ever made").

But while I think that the commentary is the true selling point of this release, there is a movie here after all, so I suppose it is time we talked a bit about it.

Imagine, if you will, that it is but a short time after The James Gang met a tragic end at the heist gone very wrong at Northfield.  During this botched theft, all but two members of the gang were gunned down, Jesse being one of the survivors.  After a period of laying low, he decides once again to become involved with a holdup, but this one also ends in disaster and his current traveling companion, Hank, is grievously wounded.  He is now on the run, with a wounded comrade, torn between the desire to help his friend and to stay a free man.  It is then that he meets Juanita, a fiery Spanish spitfire, and becomes embroiled in much more than a simple flight from the law.

You see, Juanita is running too; from her village which has fallen under the menacing shadow of one Dr. Maria Frankenstein.  After many of her village's young men go missing or wind up dead of "a contagious disease", the people have decided that Dr. Frankenstein has something to do with it, and are fleeing their homes to find a safer place to live.  But Juanita finds herself under the spell of Jesse's charms and agrees to return to her village with him to seek medical aid from the Frankensteins for his injured friend; and perhaps she can convince Jesse to help unravel the mystery of her brother's mysterious death in the Frankenstein household.

But anyone familiar with the Frankenstein name will already understand what the mad doctor is doing in her locked up chambers...but why in the Southwest (perhaps Mexico, but we are never told)?  Well, you see, lightning is the key ingredient in the Frankenstein families little projects, and apparently electrical storms are hard to come by in Austria.  So it is, that, following the advice of a fellow doctor (?), Maria Frankenstein and her brother Rudolph have found their way to the Wild West, where apparently lightning storms go for days at a time.  But lightning or no, the experiments just are not working out...the subject keep dying, due mostly to their frail constitutions.  What Maria needs is a huge beast of a man; someone tough, rugged, strong and resilient...someone like Jesse's pal Hank.  Now you see where all this is going.

So at this point, you will either understand the nature of this film and will be getting an exciting feeling inside that makes you want to run out and buy it; or you are staring at the screen, saying to yourself, "did he actually say Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter...uhh".  If you are of the later variety, I feel terrible for you...you are definitely missing out.  But if you are of the first persuasion, I applaud your sense of camp and recommend that you run immediately out and purchase this disc.  Go quickly, because this is the first in a line of "Joe Bob Briggs Presents" DVDs , and I can almost guarantee that you will want them all!

So listen to me on this one, and snatch JJMFD up, whether for Joe Bob's hilarious and knowledgeable comments (this is the second time he has lent these talents to Elite, by the way; the first being a fantastic commentary on I Spit On Your Grave), for the insane plot of the film, or simple to marvel at the beauty of Estelita, who was moving past her prime, but still has it going on.  What's that you say?  Why should I buy this movie...it doesn't even sound good?  Well of course it's not good!  That isn't the point!  Actually, there really is no point other than the simple entertainment of it all.  Just go buy it.  You need to.

-aaron-
 

Directed by: William "One Shot" Beaudine   Written by: Carl Hittleman   Cast: John Lupton Narda Onyx Estelita Cal Bolder Jim Davis

DVD Features: Audio Commentary With Joe Bob Briggs Original Theatrical Trailer