Cult Film Faves Not On DVD: 'Gator Bait (1974) review

'GATOR BAIT 1974

Claudia Jennings (Desiree Thibodeau), Sam Gilman (T.J. Bracken), Douglas Dirkson (Leroy Bracken), Clyde Ventura (Billy Boy), Bill Thurman (Joe Bob Thomas), Don Baldwin (Peter Bracken), Ben Sebastian (Ben Bracken), Janit Baldwin (Julie), Tracy Sebastian (Big T)

Directed by Ferd Sebastian

The Short Version: Claudia Jennings is Born On the Bayou as Desiree Thibodeau, a slippery and sexy swamp dweller who battles it out with cops and horny, vengeance seeking Cajuns. This is essentially the inbred offspring of the 'Danger In Dixie', 'Hooch n' Hillbilly' and revenge movie stylings. Crude and rough around the edges, this popular Passion Pit cheapy has a grubby atmosphere and a lot of sex appeal emanating from Jennings running around barefoot in skimpy clothing.


The lovely and wily swamp rat, Desiree lives deep within the Louisiana bayou with her brother and sister. Billy Boy, the deputy of a nearby town and Ben Bracken, a local hillbilly, catch her poaching and plan to rape her. Desiree proves she's too hot to handle and in the ruckus, Ben is accidentally shot in the head by Billy and dies. Laying blame on Desiree, the sheriff and the Bracken patriarch get their redneck posse together to catch, kill and do worse to Desiree and her siblings.


Oddly enough, this well remembered cult Drive In hit has yet to make its way to DVD. It's not a particularly great movie, nor all that memorable, although it is a semi-important piece of 70s exploitation trash cinema; especially during the home video boom of the 1980s.

The VHS box art is probably responsible for keeping the film alive long after its theatrical run during the 1970s than anything in the film.

Still, the image of Claudia Jennings strutting around wearing a barely buttoned shirt and a pair of daisy dukes hiked up into her ass is an indelible image in itself.

The Sebastian's were responsible for several instances of disposable trash with this cheap vehicle for cult siren Jennings arguably being the most well known.

Like other Sebastian pictures, this one's a family affair and good ol' Ferd's cinema-tography captures the bayou in all its muddy, unkempt glory. It's one of the beauties of 70s cinema that the characters and performers playing them almost always seemed real, even if the acting was below par. There were no proliferance of Calvin Klein or Victoria Secrets bodies among the casts in so many of these movies, but a myriad selection of natural looking people. Somebody made the comment to me once that "people sure were ugly back in the 70s."

There's been a number of attempts in recent years to hearken back to this crude and candid filmmaking style, but just like Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell song, 'Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing'.

In what amounts to a chase picture, 'GATOR BAIT briefly, and disturbingly enters rape-revenge territory, before lightening the tone just a bit once Desiree begins "leading the men on" to their doom. One gets the impression that the filmmakers may not have been exactly sure what sort of film they wanted to make, but in the end, it's exploitation through and through.

There's very little blood onscreen and only one major moment of shocking brutality that you don't quite expect to end up the way it does. Outside of this one sequence, the violence is tepid at best, or occurs offscreen. However, there's definitely a sleazy atmosphere throughout that's enhanced by the thick, humid swamp surroundings. The cast are real troupers for working in what was undoubtedly an uncomfortable, and hostile environment.


Claudia Jennings (GROUP MARRIAGE, TRUCK STOP WOMEN, UNHOLLY ROLLERS) doesn't shed her clothes to the level of most of her other movies, which may disappoint some, but damn if she doesn't fill out a pair of daisy duke shorts! She does a lot of bending over and strutting around in what little clothes she wears. Her shirt does fall open near the beginning during a boat chase revealing her breasts, which is the extent of her skin exposure here.

The bulk of the nudity goes to the young, doe-eyed Janit Baldwin, whom many will remember from the Curtis Harrington curio, RUBY (1977). She also featured in the inflammatory Made For TV 'Women In Juvy' flick, BORN INNOCENT (1974) starring Linda Blair. Baldwin also had a sizable role in the horrible HUMONGOUS from 1982.


Of the major cast, Bill Thurman had the most extensive Drive In career appearing in pictures ranging from the TV mainstay CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE (1976), THE EVICTORS (1979) and the so-so New World slasher MOUNTAINTOP MOTEL MASSACRE (1986). He was also in the killer animal TV movie, THE BEASTS ARE ON THE STREET (1978). In the 1960s, Thurman could be seen in a bunch of awful Larry Buchanan movies like THE EYE CREATURES (1965), ZONTAR, THE THING FROM VENUS (1966), IN THE YEAR 2889 (1967) and IT'S ALIVE! (1969), the latter a boring flick about a creature in a cave.


Douglas Dirkson as Leroy Bracken steals the show with his off-kilter, insane performance. He's encountered Desiree on a previous occasion losing a piece of his anatomy in the process. He reminds me of a redneck Tiny Tim in some shots, such as the one to the right.

Everyone else does reasonably well with their Cajun and Southern Fried accents; Jennings especially, although there's a bit of a struggle in some scenes.

Considering this isn't a big budget movie (actually, this was likely closer to a 'no' budget movie), with a healthy shooting schedule, it's not all that big of a deal. The simplistic, occasionally trite dialog will grate on the nerves and the foreshadowing to the gruesomeness of the films title will disappoint as it's mentioned, but never happens.


'GATOR BAIT earned itself a sequel more than a decade later with 'GATOR BAIT 2: CAJUN JUSTICE (1988). The VHS cover is just as eye-catching as the one for the first picture, but the film itself failed to attract the same modicum of cult appeal of the Sebastian's original.

Although it sometimes gets confused if it wants to be a low-key, adult bayou chase picture, or a hard R redneck revenge movie, it's still Hixploitation from start to finish. It's one of those Drive In movies that has attained something of a reputation, but has lost a bit of its luster over the years. An enjoyable timewaster for lovers of 70s trash, 'GATOR BAIT and its Swamp People will find few new fans outside of the devout cult film circles this sort of picture caters to.

You can purchase a quality DVD-R of the film HERE.

Cool Ass Cinema Presents: A Screenplay Not By Quentin Tarantino Part 2

CHAPTER 3: EXCUSE ME, DO YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND THE DEAD NIGGER STORAGE?

"...All of a sudden, Quentin decided he wanted the full credit on PULP FICTION--he's really into full authorship. I said, 'No, I won't give up the script credit.' But I needed money...He said, 'I'll give you that money now, if you sign this paper.' And I did."--Roger Avary talking about financial woes in trying to finish KILLING ZOE (1994) and sacrificing his original script and co-writing credit to Tarantino to solve them.


PULP FICTION was also the movie where Our Man Quent' and his way with word came under staunch scrutiny for his use of foul language and his burgeoning usage of the 'taboo for whites' word, 'nigger'.

His scripts were frequently praised for their unusually random qualities and melodic writing style, but for every Seinfeldian convo about French fast food you have a dozen or so meaningless 'nigga' this, 'nigga' that, or the word 'muthafucka' five times per sentence. Aside from former 'fuck' movie champion, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985), I think the Q King is the reigning title holder of profound profanity postulations.


"I don't need you to tell me how fuckin' good my coffee is, okay? I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is."--That's a line of dialog spoken by Q acting as Jimmie from PULP FICTION during 'The Bonnie Situation' segment. This line is actually code for something else. This is what Q was REEEAAALLLYYY saying: "I don't need you to tell me how fuckin' good my writing is, okay? I'm the one who writes it. I know how good it is."

 This is also where Jimmie asks Jules and Vinnie if they saw a sign that said Dead Nigger Storage before pulling up in his driveway as they arrived with the brain splattered remains of Marvin lying in the back seat.

If I'm not mistaken I'd say this was the first time the word had been used so profusely since the 1970s; during a time when such films would air on television, have expletives censored, but no problem with the N word getting a pass.

Tarantino seems to have a field day with the word whether it ends up in one of his movies, or out in public (reportedly he elucidated this colorful word to a NYC waitress some years ago). He seems to simply like throwing it around, most likely because he knows it annoys people. And annoy some folks he did with his next movie when he had some of his cast rabidly speaketh this epithet in JACKIE BROWN in 1997. With his upcoming slavery flick DJANGO UNCHAINED, it remains to be seen just how creative QT gets with this oft repeated addition to his vocabulary.

Personally, I don't think he uses this word because it makes sense in the context of his scripts, or necessarily that of the characters he has concocted, I think he does it because it sounds KOOL. He's probably the only director in Hollywood who could get away with just about anything because we've been programmed to believe it's good because his name is on the credits. Let's face it, everything QT does, it's because he thinks it's KOOL. Let's be reasonable, the man could shoot an entire movie built around close ups of female feet accompanied by a rambl-icious narration from Morgan Freeman and the critics would herald it cutting edge and T Bone's new breakthrough.


Since the N word was frequently tossed around in 70s movies, and T-Bone is a devout worshipper at the altar of 70s sinema, it only makes sense his movies would reflect that; not to mention his scripts (both the ones he wrote and the ones he pushed someone into signing over to him) are built around a patchwork quilt of assorted scenes from any number of big Hollywood flicks, or Drive In/42nd Street trash that played, or co-billed with other similar fare throughout that decade. Still, I can't help but feel his fervent use of 'nigger' is little more than Vocabularic Exploitation.


After the wild success of PULP FICTION, the Summer of QT Love was officially in full swing and was only gonna get worse and spread like a venereal disease at Woodstock by the early years of the new millennium. Before that, there was one more crime flick left in him and it was one that would bring him even more critical acclaim, if slightly less US box office appeal. And it's the only film I think he's done that's brimming with originality and focus as opposed to some immature problem child you keep having to make stand in the corner.

CHAPTER 4: FOXY JACKIE BROWN LIKES QUENTIN'S COFFY, TOO
 The jaws of QT were flappin' wackily in the wind during the making and promotional jaunts of JACKIE BROWN (1997), a picture where he proudly boasted of bringing back the careers of Pam Grier and Robert Forster. It wasn't like they weren't making movies, just not necessarily mainstream ones. It wasn't unusual to see either star on a TV show, or on the video store shelf in some new DTV release. This was just more masturbational ego stroking that would grow and throb eventually exploding in a volcanic miasma of celluloid jism. Sadly, post JACKIE BROWN, QT failed to pull out in time and fathered some mongoloid movies of his own.

Q also stated this was his ode to blaxploitation flicks, despite it never really feeling like one; at least not in the traditional 70s sense of the word. Nor does JACKIE BROWN resort to the extreme violence of those movies. Hell, the cast o' crackas' in this thing defies its blax flick origins. It does frequently indulge in the ferociously un-PC language those films lovingly wallowed in. That Q took blaxploitation conventions and made them into his own vision was arguably the only time in his career post JB where he doesn't go apeshit with referencing other movies in the most mentally handicapped way imaginable.


The great Quen-tazmo worked his magic and helped get an Oscar nod for Forster and Golden Globe noms for both Grier and Jackson.

Incidentally, it did put them back in the public eye, but it wasn't like they were sitting at home waiting desperately for a phone call from their agent.

We all know how Q likes to take credit for reviving an allegedly dead career, but they were working the entire time. It's motion picture class warfare. A lot of folks will make derogatory remarks because so and so was relegated to B pictures as opposed to big scale Hollywood B pictures. "Oh, you make THOSE movie?!" Furthermore, I have no explanation for Forster's involvement in DRAGON WARS (2007). A lot of actors often claim their reason for appearing in foreign films was because they'd "never been there, but always wanted to go."

What was so goddamn scenic about Korea that Forster felt the need to appear in this horrendous movie whose only points of interest are some Cool Ass Creature Attack sequences?

"I've always liked afros--if I were black, I'd wear an afro..."

 Anyway, so Q came through again, but it was here where he really began to grate on my nerves. If he wasn't stirring the ire of Spike Lee in regards to T-Bone's free flying use of the N word, he was showing his African American roots on talk shows while promoting JACKIE BROWN.

Suddenly, his verbage involved a lot of "know what I'm sayin'"s and waving his hands around before said appendages were magnetically drawn to his crotch.

Once the hoopla of the film had passed, the QTmeister miraculously was his old self-centered self once more. But his drunk and disorderly behavior would pretty much re-surface every time a new flick of his was in the making.

CHAPTER 5: PULP GODZILLA

"I have an idea for a Godzilla movie that I've always wanted to do. The whole idea of Godzilla's role in Tokyo, where he's always battling these other monsters, saving humanity time and again- wouldn't Godzilla become God? It would be called "Living Under the Rule of Godzilla". This is what society is like when a big fucking green lizard rules your world."--Tarantino makes a threat that he may ruin the Godzilla series further beyond the damage Ryuhei Kitamura did in 2004.

Over the years, Q Man has talked about his desire to make certain types of movies, including a Godzilla film. Thankfully, Toho had enough sense to whip out their bud nippers on this idea since Quentin T-Bone Thunderbolt envisioned the Big G as God of all things; likely something akin to the stone monstrosity of DAIMAJIN (1966), only with long, drawn out round table conversations about lesser known Japana-ploitation movies while Tokyo falls apart around the characters. However, the Toho execs ultimately failed to keep those bud nippers handy and suffered a brain-eurism when they gave slop artist Ryuhei Kitamura the keys to the kaiju kingdom for GODZILLA FINAL WARS.

Speaking of QT doing the Big G, can you imagine what such a movie would look like? Most likely the script would be too enormous to be contained in a single feature so it would be about 4 hours long and split into two halves. Naturally, the first half would contain all the monster action. Of course it would suspiciously focus more attention on a woman's vendetta against an elite faction of the Yakuza who prayed Godzilla into existence in an effort to topple Japan's thriving economic system; it heavily rebounding despite numerous natural disasters.

What's the reason behind this Yakuza factions desire to annihilate their own countries economic vibrancy? What's the reason behind this lone female assassins vendetta? Well that's where part two comes in. Yes. Lots and lots of lip flapping accentuated by cues lifted randomly from all manner of sources. A couple of jive talkin' Japanese hitmen named Fukasaku and Honda, a trip to an island allegedly ravaged by Godzilla and inhabited only by the "MALFORMED MEN" aka the Ainu people and at least two gratuitous close ups of Nipponese female feet.

There will be very little monster action and far more monster pontification. However, the ending would have both the Yakuza gang and the lone lady assassin suddenly transforming into Tokusatsu characters for no apparent reason other than it looks KOOL. Also, T Bone will claim he's going to make Meiko Kaji and Etsuko Shihomi stars and give them nothing to do all at the same time. Naturally this garbage would bomb, critics would no doubt fawn all over it and Q Baby would go national stating how proud of his B movie bomb he is, because nobody puts Q Baby in a corner.

Which brings us to the film T Bone did make that slightly resembles that made up shit above. This is also where my feelings and opinion of Quentin Tarantino greatly changed.

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART MUTHAFUCKIN' THREE...