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The culmination of an experiment kicked off by Scorsese (Boxcar Bertha), squeezing as many pre-Code allusions as possible into a thrifty Corman schedule. Wellman is the mainstay, Night Nurse and Midnight Mary in particular, the farm girl (Pamela Sue Martin) gets her first brush with the Dillinger gang following a little nod to Truffaut's La Nuit américaine. Beaten by Bible-thumping Dad and deflowered by a weaselly newshound (Robert Hogan), she toils at a sweatshop until her pal the Bolshy Jewess (Laurie Heineman) is dragged away by "gentlemen from the industrial squad." From handsy foremen to groping dime-a-dance customers, then welcomed to the clink by the cruel matron (Nancy Parsons), "from now on, I rate top billing in all your nightmares." By contrast, the bordello run by the Romanian madam (Louise Fletcher) is a haven despite being patronized by the underworld sadist (Christopher Lloyd), "a freak's freak." Systemic exploitation and outlaw solidarity, a righteous John Sayles screenplay enhanced by Lewis Teague's élan and squibs. (The racy Depression invocation runs the gamut from greasy spoon to Valentino-themed orgy to bullet-riddled movie house.) No breaks for the intrepid heroine, the affable suitor (Robert Conrad) turns out to be the fabled Public Enemy No. One himself, he enjoys a martyr's reputation after his demise while she's branded a fink. "Just another fucking liar." The pulp pleasure of a Robert Forster or Mary Woronov cameo, the populist thrill of the outcast beating the G-men to the loot. "You're not half as tough as you think you are." "Try me." The dame goes West at the close, a freeze-frame of weary perseverance suggesting that Imamura's The Insect Woman may have been the source all along. With Glenn Withrow, Rodney Lee Gist, Dick Miller, Peter Hobbs, Chip Fields, Ilene Kristen, and Alan Vint.
--- Fernando F. Croce |