she freak [1967]

 

yeah, this movie might be an anticlassic, penned & produced by exploitation impresario david f. friedman, but it is frankly boring.  this is a total ripoff of tod browning's great movie freaks [1932].  friedman copped to the steal, in plain speak.  but what the hell.  for this movie we have a waitress in a greasy spoon, jade, who not only must deal with a dead-end job, but the advances of her boss, who is the owner/manager/cook of the diner.  what's an ambitious girl to do when the odds are stacked against her & her immediate prospects look grim.  

soon a suave salesman swoops into the diner.  he is running lead to a traveling carnival.  oh yeah?  jade inquires about a job with the carnival.  the salesman is charmed by jade.  she may not, in her own words, be able to dance & sing but surely she most have some kind of something to get a job with the carnival & get out of her small town & away from that diner.  

sure enough jade succeeds in getting a job.  she makes friends with some of the carnies & performers, including burlesk - yes that's how it's spelled on the sideshow marquee - dancer moon.  soon jade charms the pants off the resident grease monkey & troublemaker, blackie, & the well-off carnie steve.  where did steve get his money?  why ask.  so then anyway, jade loathes the sideshow workers who are steve's close friends.  guess what happens next.

if you've seen browning's movie you know what happens to jade.  but man, it takes a very long time to get to it.  even so, i found this movie fascinating because it is a document of late 1960s life.  the fairgoers all seemed surprised to find themselves on camera.  you see that when more than a few enter the frame they turn toward the camera with curiosity & surprise.  that's because i suspect the filmmakers shot at a real carnival with real customers.  & this movie was made for the drive-in crowd so there is a bit of cheesecake, a little bit of violence & blood, & a sleazy mien that kept me watching even when i found the movie slogging!