Steinesongo
Too many fans seem to be blown away
SpecialsTarget
Disturbing yet enthralling
WillSushyMedia
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
rooster_davis
This movie is a riot. I believe it is actually worse than Ed Wood's more famous classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space". This story is every bit as dumb as Plan 9 and the dialog is even worse - in fact it's a howl. I swear Ed Wood must have written this whole script in a day and never once looked back a second time at a line he had written. There are some really illogical parts to the plot here. 1. Why would the son of a famed plastic surgeon resort to being a stickup man when his wealthy father could give him anything he wanted in the whole world, easy as pie? 2. When the young man and his 'hardened criminal' pal are stealing the movie theater payroll (!) they get the night watchman to open the safe. Why on EARTH would a night watchman have the combination to the safe he is supposed to be guarding? What possible business could a night watchman have, opening a safe full of money he is guarding? It's ridiculous, but just another example of the depth of thought that went into this storyline. (When the young man and his criminal friend rob the theater, they relieve the night watchman of his holstered gun - and when they take it out, it looks like a little kid's tiny toy cap pistol, dwarfed against the holster. Hilarious.)3. At the end of the story the plastic surgeon grafts the face of his dead son onto the 'hardened criminal' so he will be arrested for murder. Other than that idiocy, amazingly the 'criminal' now has the height and build of the dead son! And everyone KNOWS that the face has been transplanted but no matter, that is the face of the guy who shot the watchman so the person who now HAS the face is the murderer! Ed Wood whipped these bizarre plot twists out left and right and seemed to think they were reasonable.4. The police detective asks the woman who works at the theater two or three times, is she SURE she saw Don Gregor actually shoot the night watchman, and she insists yes, she did. But she ran out of the room at least five seconds before the watchman was shot. There's no way she saw it happen!5. The watchman at the theater was a retired police officer who got 'bored' after he quit working so he took the job as the watchman. Yeah, that's a way to add some excitement to your life. Baby sit an empty building and a safe. Oh, and when he gets killed, even though he's just a night watchman now, it doesn't matter - the guys who killed him are COP killers.The musical background is also weird. The whole soundtrack consists of someone rapidly strumming a Flamenco guitar and someone playing random-yet-dramatic notes on a piano, no matter what is going on. The sets are stunningly cheap but the hardened criminal's girlfriend defends him to another woman by saying "Look around, does this stuff look cheap to you?" and the criminal himself points out how he has surrounded her with "all this luxury". The place looks just a cut or two above Ralph Kramden's apartment - totally cheap and spartan. Some luxury! And if I'm not mistaken, the tiny bungalow where the famous plastic surgeon lives is the same house Bela Lugosi walked out of in Plan 9, distraught over the death of his wife and "never to return." It's a pretty rinky-dink place for a famed plastic surgeon to live.Some great dialog lines from the movie: Marilyn Gregor: "You haven't failed, Dad!" Dr. Gregor: "Words, my daughter! Just words! The proof is in the FACT!"At the beginning of the payroll heist, with the watchman standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF the locked safe.... Watchman: "What safe? What combination?"Giving the police information of what she saw when the watchman was shot... Theater employee: "I'm afraid I wasn't very brave. I fainted early in the game."Sipping the drink his daughter made him.... Dr. Gregor: "Ahh. That's a good drink for a parched throat."Describing his phone call with the police... Dr. Gregor: "We had a long telephone conversation this afternoon, earlier in the day."Hoodlum Vic Brady bickering with his girlfriend: Brady: "He wants to give himself up!" Girlfriend "What?!" Brady: "What do I have to do, repeat myself all night? I said -" Girlfriend: "Yeah, yeah, I heard you. I heard you the first time." Brady: "Well then stop jibbering! I gotta think." Girlfriend: "What are you gonna do about it?" Brady: "Shut up!... Whaddya think it is I want to think about?"What else needs be said? It's a scream!
sol1218
**SPOILERS** "Jail Bait" is Undoubtedly director Ed Wood's most conventional film compared to the deep and thought-provoking, in their hidden massages, and far out, in their subject matter, movies that he made during the course of his long film career. At first glance "Jail Bait" comes across as just an ordinary run of the mill cops and robbers black & white B-movie flick. That's until you get to it's totally unpredictable and nerve shattering ending. The film's surprise ending is so shocking as well as mind blowing that you have to watch it twice, not quite believing what you've seen the first time around, to get the full impact of it. The surprise ending is so utterly mind boggling that even the stone faced and unemotional future movie Hercules Steve Reeves,in the role of police Let. Bob Lawrence, had his jaw drop to the floor with his handsome face, losing control of its facial muscles, distorting to the point where Mr. Reeves became almost unrecognizable!Young and out of control Don Gregor, Clancy Malone, got in a bit over his head by hooking up with career criminal Vic Brady, Timothy Farrell, who involved him in a number of stick ups as his not too skillful partner in crime. It's when the two held up the Monterey Theater that things started to really unravel. Don panicking, when he heard police sirens, shot and killed the theater's elderly night watchman Paul McKenna, Bud Osborne. Making a run for it the two hold-up men were spotted by the theater manager's secretary Miss. Willis, Mona McKinnon, who saw Don shoot and kill the night watchman. As things turned out McKenna was a retired cop making Don not only an armed robber but a cop killer as well!Going to see his father the renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Boris Gregor, Herbert Rawlinson, Don is told to give himself up and face the music, which can very possibly be a one way trip to the San Quantin gas chamber, by taking responsibility for his crime. Before Don can give himself up he's shot and killed by his partner Vic Brady, who felt that he'll turn him over to the police, whom he came over to say goodbye to. It's then that Brady comes up with this ingenious plan to have Don's father rearrange his mug, or face, where no one at the scene of the robbery and cop shooting at the Monterey Theater could possibly identify him!With Don's body now deep sixth at the bottom of the lake and nobody knowing that he's dead Brady and his loyal, despite his constantly abusing her, gun moll Loretta, Theodora Thurman, trick Dr. Gregor together with his daughter Marilyn (Dolores Fulle), who also happens to be his nurse, to operate on him if he ever want's to see his son, and Marilyn's brother, alive again!***SPOILERS*** Even though the film "Jail Bait" was pretty interesting up to the point of Brady's operation the out of the blue ending was the cherry on top of the birthday cake. With Let. Lawrence and his boss Insp. Jones, Lyle Talbot, unexpectedly coming on the scene of the great unveiling, Brady's new face, the results was just too shocking for them, as you well could imagine Brady, to absorb! Not to say the least for the audience who were, like everyone on screen, totally unprepared for it!P.S Actor Herbert Rawlinson who played Dr. Boris Gregor replaced the great Bela Lugosi for the part in that Mr. Lugosi was not available in him being in drug rehab, Bela was addicted on heroin, at the time the movie was being filmed. "Jail Bait" also happened to be Rawlinson last movie appearance in him suddenly passing away on July 12, 1953 the very day that he completed his scenes in the film!
Michael O'Keefe
Ed Wood Jr. tries Film-Noir with this little crime drama. Lyle Talbot plays Inspector Johns and Steve Reeves as Lt. Bob Lawrence close in on a young man(Clancy Malone), the son of a prominent plastic surgeon(Herbert Rawlinson), who after hanging with a small time criminal(Timothy Farrell)is wanted for murder. His sister(Dolores Fuller)has been his best support for so long and now there is nothing she can do. His father wants to protect him and does have the last say-so in the finale. Wood's lack of talent shows all over JAIL BAIT. By the way, the title is not about a young girl...but a gun. Talbot does the best with what is offered him. And yes, Reeves is the future Hercules. Fuller would would later have small parts in movies, but her biggest claim to any fame is for writing a handful of songs for Elvis Presley.
wes-connors
Clancy Malone (as Don Gregor) is an "over 21" juvenile delinquent; he carries an illegal gun, gets arrested, is bailed out, and helps pal Timothy Farrell (as Vic Brady) commit burglaries. Mr. Malone's father Herbert Rawlinson (as Boris Gregor) is a very successful plastic surgeon; later, his skill comes in handy. Blonde Dolores Fuller (as Marilyn Gregor) is a concerned sister. Lawmen Lyle Talbot (as Inspector Johns) and Steve Reeves (as Bob Lawrence) investigate the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Malone's criminal escapades.Strong competition for worst performance honors. The Spanish guitar is annoying. "Cotton Watts and Chick" perform the "blackface" act. First feature film for Herculean Reeves, who gets to appear shirtless in a scene. Last feature film for Mr. Rawlinson. Not even good Wood. * Jail Bait (1954) Edward D. Wood Jr. ~ Lyle Talbot, Dolores Fuller, Herbert Rawlinson