Customer Reviews

Swamp Women

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie was made around 1955 so the above "1941" listed year is 14 years too early. I haven't seen this DVD version but I have seen the film. Swamp Woman was not intended to be taken seriously! It is a mans' fantasy film about beautiful women convicts holding a handsome guy and his girl-friend hostage in the swamp! heee! A sort of guilty pleasure. My enjoyment of this film is watching Beverly Garland, who is always wonderful to look at!

A film which is in desperate need of a pristine digital remastering , Director Roger Corman's 'SWAMP WOMEN'-1955 may be the precursor to the tough babe women in prison genre which dominated the exploitation cycle of the late sixties and early seventies especially the European market. Produced by the brothers Woolner who made and distributed their share of genre titles and made before Corman's Horror/Sci-Fi output and his main photographer Floyd Crosby in harness, the film shows Corman forming his brilliant low budget style with excellent ensemble acting perfs and wicked camera set ups by Fred West which pumps up eroticism and sexual heat more than the Louisiana bayou could provide. Beverly Garland incinerates the screen along with Marie Windsor as prison escapees who kidnap Mike Connors billed here as Touch Connors and his girlfriend into searching for hidden diamonds. Naturally the usual bickering over Connors and the intense environment get the better of everyone. The dialogue by screenwriter David Stern is priceless, one great line has Connors being interrupted from sleeping tied to a tree as Carole Matthews creeps up to him and tries to give him a smooch he says, "Whats this, dessert?" There's alligator wrestling, hair pulling (the girl on girl fight has to be seen to be believed )and a rousing music score by Willis Holman which keeps everything flowing within its 68 minute running time but its Beverly Garland who one remembers as she spits and struts her stuff making 'SWAMP WOMEN' a fifties male wet dream come to life. Alpha Video has the best quality of the film that I have seen which is not saying much but the colors are bright rather than washed out and there are no scratches or splices on the negative to be found which they deserve kudos for. This is low budget filmmaking at its best and out shadows all the made to video modern day DVD dreck which is cluttering up players lately. One of my favorite Corman films, it comes highly recommended.

I'm not a big fan of Roger Corman's cheaper-looking monsters (as in "the creature from haunted sea" et al), however, SWAMP WOMEN could certainly have used one of Corman's 8' styrofoam space-turds to spice things up a bit! Instead, we've got four women, consisting of 3 "hardened" criminals and one undercover cop, floating trough the bayou. We've also got Mike Conners and his half-wit girlfriend as hostages. It seems the "Nardo Girls" have escaped from prison in search of $200,000.00 in stolen diamonds. Unbeknownst to them, a policewoman is posing as their partner in crime. We get to see Conners tied to several trees, and his dopey girlfriend gets (thank you God) eaten by alligators. Eventually, the diamonds are found, the girls have one catfight after another (the only real highlight), and one decides to sneak off with both the diamonds and Mike Conners! This leads to her demise at the end of a spear. Beverly Garland isn't bad, but everyone else had me wishing for more gator attacks!. This film is 70 minutes long and would have been much better at 50 or so. Watch it if there's nothing else to do...

"Swamp Women" is generally regarded as one of the worst films by B-movie auteut Roger Corman (it was on "Mystery Science Theater" as well as in the Medveds' old book "50 Worst Films of All Time"). It's the story of four tough-talkin' prison girls who go to a swamp to find some hidden diamonds. Along the way they kidnap a strapping young man and his cowardly wife, who abruptly dies early on. This isn't one of Corman's more entertaining cheapies, although it has its moments. The alligator wrestling scene is a high point in the history of bad movies, and the hilariously macho prison girls (including regular Corman leading lady Beverly Garland) inspire a few giggles.
The DVD from Brentwood is, unsurprisingly for a bargain-bin disc, unexceptional. The colour image is murky and faded, while the sound often seems muffled. That being said, I doubt there are any pristine versions of "Swamp Women" to use as a master. There are no extras.

I bought this movie thinking it would be an old horror movie. I can't say I was necessarily disappointed since I was still mildly entertained. To sum it up 3 tough as nails criminals (haha) and an undercover cop go into the jungle to find diamonds. They come across some guy and his girl, kidnap them and their boat. Then lots of nothing happens but they still film it anyways. Also, an animal was severely injured during the making of this film, so beware. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anybody who doesn't already have a passion for olden day movies. Although it does have its funny moments I assume most will fall asleep like the people I watched it with.

Mid-50s thriller, before TV sucked up the market for cheap film noirs. OK, the acting in this isn't great and you can't quite believe the acting, but it is a nice ride A smart and dedicated police woman (as if New Orleans could have a clean police force!) is planted as an undercover in a prison. She's gonna find a stash of diamonds, and she does. Mike Connors is taken as a hostage - the chicks want some entertainment, after several years in prison, what the heck, huh! - and after some grisly murders and lots of hair-pulling, you would never guess what happens.

We shouldn't fault this, it's a product of its time and it ain't bad. The chicks even have a lot more character than Connors and definitely look better.

Recommended for the junk that it is, 50s style.

I've only seen this movie through MST3K when it was SWAMP DIAMONDS and it was a very funny episode when they did it,which you can get on Volume 10.Mike Conners is in this,but was credited as Touch Conners.There's lots of padding in this movie and it seems like there wasn't much editing at all.Plus,another mistake is when Touch's girl makes a run for it in the canoe and she falls over,she's actually in a swimming pool instead of in a swamp...Sill enjoyable nonetheless..

A group of three women have hidden diamonds somewhere. The women were captured and sent to prison, but they have yet to confess the location of the diamonds. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whether you are an audience member for this movie), the police have a clever plot to locate the diamonds. A female police officer (Carole Mathews) is going to prison to infiltrate the gang. She will help the three women escape and let them lead her to the location of the hidden diamonds. My only question is: Why didn't I think of that?

While we see the setup for the great jail break, we also get to see Bob Matthews (played by Touch, later Mike, Conners, star of "Mannix"; Conners has appeared in hundreds of movies and television episodes, including "Island in the Sky" with John Wayne) and his girl friend wandering about, apparently at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Eventually they end up boating in the same swamp as...

The prison break ladies have made their getaway. Unfortunately, they require new transportation. Just about that time Bob and his girl friend show up in a boat. What a coincidence! At first, the three tough-as-hangnails prison babes want to kill Bob and his girl friend, but the undercover police woman convinces the women that the pair would be better as hostages versus alligator snacks.

The police plan works, except now Bob and his girl friend are tagging along. Things get pretty boring from this point forward, so director Roger Corman livens things up by having the ladies get into fights. The fights look over-exaggerated, but they sure are fun! We also get to see macho man Connors tied to a tree while a hot prison babe cozies up to him. See, the excitement knows no bounds!

Roger Corman is generally better when he has a rubber monster floating about somewhere. We only get a poor defenseless alligator in this movie. Against three prison babes, a police woman and Mike Connors, I felt sorrier for the alligator than I did for his intended prey. The alligator would have just got indigestion anyway (kind of like the audience).

In order to want this film you have to be a really, REALLY big fan of Roger Corman or one of the people appearing in this movie. If you are not a really big fan, why bother? This movie has a weak plot and the acting is frequently over-the-top. When the acting is not hammy, it is corny. The movie is so slow in places that I had a hard time staying awake.

There are a few movies where you wonder why you spent the time to watch it. This movie definitely falls into that category. Unless you are trying to fill out your collection of Roger Corman or Mike Connors movies, try "Attack of the Giant Leeches" or "Humanoids from the Deep."

Good luck - you'll need it!