Simone
Griffeth stars as Janeen, a young woman raised in the Okefenokee swamp by her “Pa”
(Lonnie Bower) who has isolated her from the outside world. She meets a friendly ranger (Ferlin Husky from
Hillbillys in a Haunted House) who takes a shine to her and tries to get her acquainted
with society. A pair of escaped convicts
stumble upon their cabin, kill Pa, and take Janeen hostage. It’s then up to the ranger to save her.
Griffeth was making her debut here and she immediately shows she's ready for
bigger and better things. (She’d go on
to memorably star in Death Race 2000 as David Carradine’s navigator.) Her performance is easily the best thing
about the movie. She has plenty of spunk and looks quite fetching. Husky does a decent job too, although the rest
of the cast seems rather amateurish in comparison.
Director Don Davis (who had a bit part in Plan 9 from Outer Space) handles the
scenes of various swamp perils like snake bites, quicksand, and gator attacks efficiently
enough. However, it’s slow going for
most of the picture. The subplot about
three degenerate fishermen hunting for Janeen particularly bog things
down. The ending is contrived and coincidental
too. Had the movie ended about five minutes
sooner, it probably would’ve gotten ** ½.
Despite
the pokey pacing, inconsistent acting, and lame ending, I have to say that the
scenes between Janeen and her “Pa” are genuinely moving. Pa is actually a black con who rescued her
from white slavery when she was very young.
Since then, he’s raised her as his own and hidden her away in the swamp.
He knows that once society finds out
about them, they won't accept them. (This
is the south after all.) Griffeth really
shines in these scenes. Too bad the rest
of the movie is so standard issue. Still,
it's nice they could slip in a racial tolerance lesson in the middle of a junky
exploitation item.
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