JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER

Actually Jesse is meeting up with the Grand-daughter of the famous monster maker, but they probably would not have been able to fit “Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Grand-daughter” onto a marquee.

This is a companion film to “Billy The Kid Vs. Dracula”. The star of that movie, John Carradine, once referred to BTKVD as “a real piece of crap”. No one argued.

JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER runs neck and neck with BTKVD in its real “crap-ness. It’s certainly not the first “monster” western I’d seen – that was CURSE OF THE UNDEAD with Michael Pate as a vampire cowboy. JJMFD is particularly awful in part because of female lead Narda Onyx’s complete lack of screen presence. The other part of its awfulness comes from director William Beaudine’s refusal to do second takes even when obvious mistakes have been made. Perhaps this is why Beaudine is considered a genius. Well, that, and the fact that he brought ‘em in on time and underbudget.

Male lead John Lupton, on a summer break from the television series “Daktari”, obviously had no other irons in the fire employment-wise, and opted to take the role of Jesse James. His performance in the film is closest to being adequately professional.

I don’t know where they dug up Cal Bolder (who becomes the monster, Igor, in the film), but they should have re-buried him on the spot.

Estrelita, who plays Juanita in the film, fell to the bottom of the cinematic barrel here after having worked in John Wayne’s classic “Rio Bravo”. She only went by her first name and it was misspelled in the opening credits. To make matters worse, she died shortly thereafter. JJMFD is not exactly the kind of movie you want as your epitaph.

What’s the best thing about this movie? The video box cover. ‘Nuff said.