(1963)
1
Fred Beldin
This gloriously sleazy soap opera has everything a down-home regional production needs to succeed: incest, murder, adultery, strippers, moonshiners, and a hidden still in the swamp. All that's missing is a lynch party, though it's hardly necessary. Common Law Wife throws enough hopped-up tawdry thrills together to make the viewer feel the sweltering, stifling small-town heat. This Texas production doesn't always make sense (Jonelle is transparently contemptuous of her rich uncle, so much so that she's clearly going to be the first suspect if he's murdered) and the budget is as cheap as they come, but it's thick with attitude, humidity, and a torrid jazz score that sounds great, if a little urban for the setting. The viciously curvy Lacy Kelly spits fire as Baby Doll, and Anne MacAdams gives the most human performance in the film as the desperate Linda (she would go on to a number of Texas-lensed exploitation films, most notably the insane Don't Look in the Basement!).
cast-crew for Common Law Wife on AllMovie
Common Law Wife (1963)
