Las Vegas Hillbillys
A Hillbilly hits the big time in Las Vegas.
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- Cast:
- Ferlin Husky , Jayne Mansfield , Mamie Van Doren , Sonny James , Roy Drusky , Robert V. Barron , Bill Anderson
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Reviews
Great Film overall
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
"Las Vegas Hillbillys" (1966) is quite the movie. It features about twenty minutes of plot and sixty minutes of country singin'. I guess in the days before "Hee Haw," rednecks had to have some way to get their country music fix. The movie is actually somewhat entertaining if you overlook the atrocious acting (with a hilarious scene featuring Jayne Mansfield talking on the phone), inane story, and thoroughly unimaginative camera-work. If you really enjoy classic country music, you may enjoy this film. If you generally enjoy cult films, you'll probably find this film fun and even somewhat endearing. But if you're not a fan of either of those two genres, steer clear, pardner!
Mamie Van Doren is so attractive, this silly film is worth the watch with the added bonus of Jayne Mansfield. Nothing to write home about, this goofy romp with songs is a strange combo of Beverly Hillbillies humor and rockabilly-type music. Ferlin Husky as the slow-witted lead and a whole slew of strange character actors.A 4 out of 10. Best performance = Mamie Van Doren. The color is this is very strange and there many skin-crawling performances, but Mamie as Boots Malone is terrific. It's hard to describe this, but it's a fun time if you like Gilligan's Island. Jayne Mansfield had sure come down a lot in her career, but people have to work.
Las Vegas Hillbillys is a low-budget B-minus movie in all respects. Of importance to film buffs is the fact that Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren, two rival big blonde bombshells, both star in this movie. Reportedly, the gals disliked each other so much that scenes in which they were both to appear together were shot with doubles so that they would not have to meet on the set.The plot, if one could call it that, centers around a country-western singer (Ferlin Husky) from Tennessee who inherits a run-down Las Vegas nightclub. Mamie plays Boots Malone, the club manager and Jayne plays Tawny Downs, a Las Vegas entertainer and the dead uncle's "protege", a term used in 1950's movies for a mistress.My sole intent in watching this battle-of-the-bosoms was to judge for myself, in head-to-head competition, which of the two blonde bombshells was 1.) the better actress, and 2.) the sexier on screen. My task was complicated by the fact that neither of the goddesses were showcased in particularly steamy roles, despite their reputations as among the hottest female stars of their era.The results of my admittedly unscientific experiment: Jayne sweeps both categories. She wins the better actress category largely by default because Ms Van Doren is so horribly, horribly bad in this film. And in the sex appeal category, Jayne wins by a narrower margin not because of greater attributes, but rather because she simply struts her stuff more effectively. Even us gals who are not blessed with movie star quality looks can learn a lot from Jayne.A word of warning - I bought this cheapo video as part of a two-pack set of Mamie Van Doren films distributed by Entertainment Programs International (EPI) in Marina Del Ray, California. The video quality was so poor as to almost make the movie unwatchable. They even misspell the film title on the box, which gives you an idea of their dedication to producing a quality product. You get what you pay for.Claudia's Bottom Line: Painful to watch, but worth it if you care to catch a glimpse of two of Hollywood's biggest sex symbols of the 1950's and 1960's.
Actually, this has the look and feel of a mid-sixties TV pilot. Production is TV-competent, plot is exactly as plausible as the other Hillbillies, and, if you don't mind vicious, soul-destroying cracker stereotypes, the cast is as competent as that of any one-season TV series of that era. More important, the movie uses any excuse to launch into strings of musical production numbers, what those crazy kids today call "music videos." If you got a powerful hankerin' to see the likes of Sonny James, Roy Drusky, Connie Smith, and, of course, Ferlin Husky performin' the hits that made them famous, well, this here picture show's just your jar of 'shine.And as usual Mamie van Doren wildly outperforms all expectations; if you still don't believe she was the best of the Big Three, you can compare her, uh, head-to-head with Jayne Mansfield, introduced here as "the biggest star in Las Vegas." And Richard Kiel shows up with the gayest haircut since Fabian. And Ferlin Husky's stage show seems to be built around the stiffest, most unnatural straight-legged kicks seen in popular entertainment till the arrival of Kevin Nash.And then you've got the biker gang that shows up to trash the place, on one-lunger Yamahas and, my hand to heaven, a Honda 90 trail bike. To get them to calm down the band strikes up "Dixie," to which the gang immediately begins frugging (ask your mom).***POSSIBLE SPOILER, IF YOU'VE GOT THE IQ OF A CHERRYSTONE CLAM, OR LOWER***And the grand finale is a pie fight.