BOBBIE JO AND THE OUTLAW (1976) ***

Bobbie Jo (Lynda Carter) is a restless carhop with dreams of being a country singer.  Lyle (Marjoe Gortner) is a small-time hood who aspires to be Billy the Kid.  When their paths cross, the sparks are immediate.  They fall head over heels for one another and drive off into the sunset in his stolen sportscar.  Eventually, Lyle gets hoodwinked into driving the getaway car for an armed robbery, which results in the death of a security guard.  Together with Bobbie Jo’s sister (Merrie Lynn Ross) and her criminal boyfriend (Jesse Vint), they go on the lam and begin planning even more elaborate heists. 

I’ve always liked Marjoe Gortner.  His career is one of the most interesting in Hollywood history as he started out as the “youngest ordained minister” (at the age of four) before turning his back on the faith-healing circuit in an effort to attain movie stardom.  The fact that he wound up starring in stuff like Mausoleum and Starcrash only endeared him more to me.  With Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, Marjoe became the only man in screen history to make out with Wonder Woman while she was topless.  That only cements his legendary status in my eyes. 

Celebrity skin enthusiasts will be over the moon for Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw as it represents the only time Wonder Woman got naked on film.  She undresses in front of her mother, bangs Marjoe twice, and goes topless during a random-ass mushroom scene, complete with a Native American acid guide.  As an added bonus, The Howling’s Belinda Balaski, who plays Carter’s tomboy best friend, also goes topless in this scene. 

Carter gives a likeable performance and Gortner is equally fun to watch.  I especially got a kick out of seeing the former preacher telling Wonder Woman that “Squeezing a trigger is just like praying!”  He also presides over the funeral for one of his fallen compatriots, giving him an opportunity to draw on his past for acting inspiration. 

Directed by Mark L. (Showdown in Little Tokyo) Lester and written by Vernon (The Unholy Rollers) Zimmerman, Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw is an agreeable, though unspectacular, modern-day Bonnie and Clyde riff (with a touch of the Good Ol’ Boy redneck car chase movie thrown in there for good measure).  Whenever things get kind of slow, you can amuse yourself by imagining Sylvester Stallone as Lyle as he was the producers’ second choice if they couldn’t secure Marjoe in the role.  It would’ve been a different movie, that’s for sure, but I think they made the right choice.  The supporting cast, which includes Gerrit Graham (as the head of a hippie commune), Virgil Frye, and James Gammon is solid too.