They called her the "Platinum Powerhouse" and while she was prettier and more talented than her rival, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren seemed to be mired in exploitation movies. She wasn't able to capitalize on her success in an A "Teacher's Pet" but after a brief sojourn in Italy she was back in Hollywood where she met talented director Edward L. Cahn but the result was more exploitative quickies. He had started in 1926 as a film cutter for Universal but in the 1950s was behind some cult movies such as "The She Creature" and "Dragstrip Girl".
Their first collaboration was "Guns, Girls and Gangsters" guaranteed to have teens flocking to the drive-ins and while Mamie got to show her musical talents in two sexy numbers for the remainder of the film she seemed to act like a cat on heat!! With enough plot complications for 3 movies, let alone one of only 70 minutes in length, this starts off like an Ed Wood Jnr. movie - more voice over than actual acting!! Chuck Wheeler (Gerald Mohr) is trying to recruit a gang to pull off an armoured car heist and of course every gang must have a moll - and who better than Mamie as Vi Victor, a slinky entertainer at Club Toreador, who is introduced singing the sultry "Anything Your Heart Desires" and then encouraging patrons to put their money in the slot machines!!! The robbery is planned to the nth degree - then disaster strikes when Vi's psychotic husband (Lee Van Cleef) escapes from San Quentin and starts shooting anyone who has ever looked twice at his (soon to be X) wife!! He is only stopped as he watches from a window Vi's sexy song "Meet Me Half Way". Thanks to the young couple who are the proprietors of the "Stage Coach Inn" and who dream of white picket fences and little cottages in the country, Vi is a reformed gal. She now wants a home among wide open spaces where she is not constantly looking over her shoulder and Chuck is happy to reform as well. They just have to survive a shootout and her husband's angry ire!!! Can they do it - you'll just have to watch the movie!!!
Their first collaboration was "Guns, Girls and Gangsters" guaranteed to have teens flocking to the drive-ins and while Mamie got to show her musical talents in two sexy numbers for the remainder of the film she seemed to act like a cat on heat!! With enough plot complications for 3 movies, let alone one of only 70 minutes in length, this starts off like an Ed Wood Jnr. movie - more voice over than actual acting!! Chuck Wheeler (Gerald Mohr) is trying to recruit a gang to pull off an armoured car heist and of course every gang must have a moll - and who better than Mamie as Vi Victor, a slinky entertainer at Club Toreador, who is introduced singing the sultry "Anything Your Heart Desires" and then encouraging patrons to put their money in the slot machines!!! The robbery is planned to the nth degree - then disaster strikes when Vi's psychotic husband (Lee Van Cleef) escapes from San Quentin and starts shooting anyone who has ever looked twice at his (soon to be X) wife!! He is only stopped as he watches from a window Vi's sexy song "Meet Me Half Way". Thanks to the young couple who are the proprietors of the "Stage Coach Inn" and who dream of white picket fences and little cottages in the country, Vi is a reformed gal. She now wants a home among wide open spaces where she is not constantly looking over her shoulder and Chuck is happy to reform as well. They just have to survive a shootout and her husband's angry ire!!! Can they do it - you'll just have to watch the movie!!!