The 1930's. Spoiled and snotty wealthy heiress Barbara Blandish (superbly played to prissy perfection by Kim Darby) gets abducted by a vicious family of depraved and dangerous outlaws. Complications ensue when the infantile, yet lethal and volatile Slim Grissom (a remarkable performance by Scott Wilson) falls for Barbara. Barbara soon realizes that she will have to do whatever it takes to stay alive. Director Robert Aldrich, working from a tough and biting script by Leon Griffiths, expertly maintains a tense and sordid atmosphere throughout, offers a vivid, grimy and credible evocation of the bleak and desperate Depression era, stages the sporadic shoot-outs and startling outbursts of raw, bloody violence with his customary flair, and further spices things up with a wickedly funny sense of pitch-black humor. Moreover, Aldrich and Griffiths score bonus points for their admirable refusal to either sanitize or romanticize the clan of ferocious and frightening criminals in any way; these folks are truly mean, scary and even downright grotesque. The thespians who portray this ghastly bunch all do sterling work: Tony Musante as smooth heel Eddie Hagan, Irene Dailey as fearsome, venomous matriarch Gladys "Ma" Grissom, Joey Faye as the jolly Woppy, Ralph Waite as the excitable Mace, and Don Keefer as the timid, laid-back Doc. Contributing equally fine supporting turns are Robert Lansing as shrewd, weary private eye Dave Fenner, Connie Stevens as brassy, cynical, dim-witted tramp singer Anna Borg, and Wesley Addy as Barbara's cold, disapproving millionaire father John P. Blandish. Better still, we've also got a strangely touching, albeit off-kilter central love story amid all the stark cruelty and unsparing unpleasantness. Gerald Fried's sprightly, rousing score, a jaunty soundtrack of vintage catchy 30's swing tunes, Joseph F. Biroc's sharp, polished cinematography, and the devastating downbeat ending all further enhance the overall sound quality of this supremely harsh, but still gripping and satisfying crime saga.

Robert Aldrich's lurid film has a lot going for it and a lot not going for it. On the plus side there is a dynamite performance by Kim Darby as a kidnap victim who may or may not be starting to enjoy her grim predicament. On the minus side, the gang of kidnappers, a Ma Barker-type and her motley brood, simply is not threatening ENOUGH to make you believe Darby is in a lot of danger. I couldn't help wondering why she didn't just up and leave. Another deficit is the TV-movie feel of the whole thing -- this is definitely NOT Aldrich's most stylish film. Irene Dailey is fine as the mother, but it would have been more fun had the role been played by Cloris Leachman or Shelley Winters. Featuring Scott Wilson, Tony Musante, Robert Lansing and, in a brief but foul-mouthed cameo, Connie Stevens!

Man, is this an early 70's movie or what?? Made around the time realistic brutality and violence were embraced, this film makes sure you embrace it too. The camera stays on the murder victims for a long period of time and makes sure the blood is red, REALLY red. Machine gun riddled bodies litter this fun mess of a movie. At the height of Kim Darby's fame, she gives it her all, desperately trying to make ridiculously written scenes work with Scott Wilson, who chews up the garishly decorated scenery. (Wilson's work with Robert Blake in IN Cold Blood still ranks as some of the finest in American film). The actress playing Ma is so over-the-top you gotta love it. It lookslike she was directed with Think Bette Davis!! She snarls, whoops, shouts, I even think they give her a moustache. And boy do they sweat in this movie. The lighting is designed to bring it out and everybody sweats. The cops sweat, the gangsters sweat, the stoolies sweat, even Connie Stevens sweats!

A disappointing adaptation of a James Chase novel (which I have read, incidentally). It's a cheap, mostly badly cast production, with an incredibly choppy beginning, and full of poorly-drawn characters that don't make much of an impression on the viewer. The one important exception is the character of Slim Grissom; neurotic, explosively unpredictable and complicated, this guy functions like a human-size time-bomb. Scott Wilson's convincing, excellent performance in the role elevates this movie, which, however, still should have been much better. (**)