Inspired by the Paramount Theatre's screening of James Whale's The Bride of Frankenstein at the Paramount Theatre (tonight and Friday, July 22nd and 23rd at 713 Congress Avenue in downtown Austin), the Austin Classic Movies Examiner has been examining the many sequels to the original Universal horror classics of the early '30s this week in a series entitled "Bastards of Horror." Today's entry takes a detour way out west with a couple of mind-boggling genre mash-ups from 1966, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, both directed by the infamous William "One Shot" Beaudine.
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula stars Chuck Courtney as Billy the Kid and John Carradine as Dracula. The script for this mess plays fast and loose with vampire mythology while also ignoring the history of the old west. For example, everybody knows that sunlight will kill a vampire, right? Well, in this picture, ol' Drac walks around during the day with no ill effects. Not that it's easy to tell whether it's day or night in this movie, as they both kinda look the same. As for the history part, it is well-known that William Bonney a/k/a Billy the Kid was gunned down at the age of 19 by his old friend Pat Garrett in 1881, but in this movie, he's alive and well, having gone straight and is now working as a ranch hand at the Double Bar B.
The character of Dracula had been portrayed in films by several noted thespians, including Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, and Christopher Lee, each of whom brought their own brand of menace to the role. In Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, veteran character actor and notorious ham John Carradine plays the vampire as a dirty old man, a lascivious lech with a taste for young flesh. Check out the scene in the stagecoach, where he leeringly lusts after the photo of our heroine, Betty Bentley, played by the lovely Melinda Plowman. "18 and beautiful, eh?" What a filthy old creep!
Also look for Virginia Christine as Mrs. Oster, or as she was known in many a Folger's coffee commercial in the '60s and '70s, Mrs. Olsen, and a very special performance by a rubber bat on a string. Look for the prop man visibly manipulating the rubber bat on a string. He's right in the frame, and not just for a second, either. He's there as plain as day, baby. Well, that's why they called Bill Beaudine "One Shot," because he almost always printed the first take. Prop man in the shot? Print it! String clearly visible on the rubber bat? Print it!
As I mentioned, the character of Count Dracula is played by the great John Carradine, a man with over 300 motion picture and television credits, from his film debut in 1930's Bright Lights to his final screen appearance in 1995's Bikini Drive-In, which was released seven years after his death. A protege of John Barrymore, John Carradine was known as "The Voice" thanks to his deep-throated baritone, and starred on the stage as well as the silver screen. He was a member in good standing of director John Ford's stock company of actors, appearing in the Ford classics Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, among others. He also appeared in Grade-Z schlock like The Astro-Zombies, Hillbillys in a Haunted House, and Blood of Ghastly Horror.
As Carradine himself once said, "I've been in some of the greatest films ever made - and a lot of crap, too."
While Chuck Courtney's Billy the Kid is pretty nondescript, Carradine's Dracula is a hoot, a crusty old vampire pursuing an age-inappropriate relationship with a tender young thing, played by the fetching Melinda Plowman. Starting out as a child actress, Plowman specialized in sweet and innocent types, usually on televison. She first worked with director William Beaudine, on the Disney serial "The New Adventures of Spin and Marty," and also had a recurring role as Terry the babysitter on "Please don't eat the Daisies." Billy the Kid vs. Dracula was her last movie appearance, but she continued to work on the small screen until 1968, when she disappeared from the face of the earth, or married a rich producer, take your pick.
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula works equally well as a western and a horror movie, which is to say, not very well at all. However, as a comedy, it defintely has its moments.
The same cannot be said for Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, which originally played on the bottom half of a double bill with Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, simultaneously creating and destroying the horror western genre. It was shot in eight days at the Ray Corrigan Ranch in Simi Valley, California on a budget of a buck-eighty-five, give or take a dollar.
Now if you've seen Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, you know that you're in for a long scrape round the bottom of the barrel, cinematically speaking. If anything, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter is even worse in every way, with bad acting, tossed-off dialogue, cheap sets, and laughable special effects making for a perfect storm of bad cheese. Unfortunately, this movie, unlike its companion piece, doesn't have John Carradine or any rubber bats to provide the necessary comic relief. However, the film does have its defenders, Joe Bob Briggs (who does the highly entertainly commentary track on one of the better DVD editions of the movie) among them.
Jesse James has been played by actors ranging from tough guys like Lawrence Tierney and Lee Van Cleef to Audie Murphy to Roy Rogers to Hugh Beaumont. That's right, the Beaver's dad played Jesse James. James Dean played him on TV in 1953, as did James Coburn in 1958. Robert Duvall played Jesse in 1972's The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid, and more recently, Brad Pitt and Colin Farrell have played the part. But of all the actors to ever portray the legendary outlaw, surely the least notable interpretation ever is by the star of Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, John Lupton. Lupton was an actor who made his film debut in 1951'sSt. Benny the Dip, and was probably best known for co-starring with Fess Parker in the "Andrew's Raiders" TV series. More roles in TV westerns would follow, as well as numerous potrayals of military officers, policemen, and politicians. He was also particularly adept at playing a stuffed shirt.
Palying the part of Frankenstein's daughter, er, grand-daughter, is Narda Onyx. This movie is one of only three features she ever appeared in, and her only starring role. She played Eva Braun's sister Gretl in her previous film, 1962's Hitler, starring Richard Basehart as der Fuhrer. She worked a lot on television, and you may recall her role as Mademoiselle Denise on several different episodes of "The Beverly Hillbillies." Then again, you might not.
Without a doubt, the best known actor in this movie is Jim Davis, who plays Marshall McPhee. A veteran of scores of B-westerns and action movies, with titles like The Savage Horde, Border Lust, and Five Bloody Graves, Davis is best known for his gritty portrayal of Jock Ewing on the TV series "Dallas." Davis was no stranger to bad cinema, working in such trashploitation epics as The Road Hustlers, The Passion Pits, and alongside a wheelchair-bound J. Carrol Naish and a decrepit Lon Chaney Jr. in Al Adamson's dreadful 1971 ultra-cheapie Dracula vs. Frankenstein, also known as Blood of Frankenstein, also known as As I mentioned earlier, this movie was directed by William Beaudine. In a career that spanned seven decades, Beaudine was known for making low-budget quickies for poverty row studios like Monogram Pictures, where he helmed many a picture with Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and the Bowery Boys. Beaudine's nickname, "One-Shot," came from his relectance to shoot any scene more than once. To him, re-take was a dirty word. As long as the scene he shot bore a passing resemblance to what was in the script, he always printed the first take. You'll notice that in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, Beaudine more often than not sticks to a master shot, rarely going in for close-ups, and using the same set-ups over and over, despite the fact that Frankenstein manor is obviously a matte painting. Maybe ol' One-Shot was losing his touch. After the double whammy of Billy the Kid vs. Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, Beaudine only got a handful of directing assignments: two episodes of the 1967 "Green Hornet" TV series, a couple of Lassies, and an episode of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color."Teenage Dracula, and also known as Satan's Bloody Freaks.
As I mentioned earlier, this movie was directed by William Beaudine. In a career that spanned seven decades, Beaudine was known for making low-budget quickies for poverty row studios like Monogram Pictures, where he helmed many a picture with Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and the Bowery Boys. Beaudine's nickname, "One-Shot," came from his relectance to shoot any scene more than once. To him, re-take was a dirty word. As long as the scene he shot bore a passing resemblance to what was in the script, he always printed the first take. You'll notice that in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, Beaudine more often than not sticks to a master shot, rarely going in for close-ups, and using the same set-ups over and over, despite the fact that Frankenstein manor is obviously a matte painting. Maybe ol' One-Shot was losing his touch. After the double whammy of Billy the Kid vs. Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, Beaudine only got a handful of directing assignments: two episodes of the 1967 "Green Hornet" TV series, a couple of Lassies, and an episode of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color."
The bottom line is that the movie doesn't live up to its title. Unlike Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, there aren't nearly enough (unintentional) laugh-out-loud moments to make it truly worth your while, but it is better than, say, watching a marathon of "The Real Housewives of New York."
Up next: Bastards of Horror IV: The Ghost of Frankenstein vs. The Mummy's Ghost.
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