I'm a huge fan of both country music and Jayne Mansfield, so I really looked forward to seeing this one. And yet I really wasn't all that impressed with it. The main criticism is that there was WAY too much of the music, and way too little of Jayne, if that's possible. For the most part the music was decent enough, with a couple of clunkers thrown in for good measure. After a few songs this starts playing like a kind of American Idol of the mid-60s country music scene. I got the feeling they were trying to pad the length of the film, because if you cut the music sequences it would run about 17 minutes. The whole thing looks improvised because there probably wasn't much of a script. The pie fight sequence at the end is just plain lame. The performers do an 0k job, and can't really be faulted. All are well-cast. I'm neither hot nor cold on Mamie VanDoren but I liked her in this. The biggest let-down is Jayne, who for all her star billing doesn't really do a lot here. She only has a handful of scenes and could easily have phoned her part in. If she were edited out completely it would have changed nothing of the overall story. Not her fault tho, it's not like she had much help from the script. Her performance in the Big Bopper spoof is a hoot and easily the movie's bright spot. Too bad she couldn't have had a couple more numbers, or maybe even been in a couple more scenes. I don't dislike this movie, but I'd only recommend it for country music fanatics, and fans of Jayne and Mamie. 0therwise beware!
Review of Las Vegas Hillbillys
