- Directed by William Beaudine
- April 10, 1966
Despite its title, it is Frankenstein’s granddaughter who is continuing her ancestor’s work that Jesse James encounters.
Of all the issues Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter the very first that comes up withing minutes of starting is that despite the title Dr. Maria Frankenstein (Narda Onyx) and her brother Rudolph (Steven Geray) are Dr. Frankenstein’s grandchildren though Rudolph looks old enough to be Maria’s father. This all takes place during an experiment (that fails) to create a creature with the actor wearing a painted Army surplus helmet with a few doodads attached to make it look science-like. It wouldn’t have taken much effort to change a line here to make Rudolph a dad or a title change for things to make sense but bless their hearts, William Beaudine and pals stuck to their guns.
This is set after Jesse James’ reported death on April 3rd of 1882. John Lupton as Jesse James has a strong resemblance to the real-life man that was either a happy accident or purposeful casting. Lupton had his share of acting creds beyond this but is given surprisingly little to do on the screen despite being a character in the title. He woos Maria a touch and gets jerked around by local village hottie Juanita Lopez (Estelita Rodriguez). It is a love triangle that goes nowhere. No smack on John Lupton/Jesse James but both female characters could do better. Guess local options were slim.
James crosses paths with Maria when his friend Hank Tracy (Cal Bolder) is shot during a robbery and Juanita, knowing the possible danger Maria is, sends the duo to her for medical attention. If you cannot realize Tracy is set to become the creature in the climax you might be blind. Cal Bolder was cast for his imposing build and nothing more. Unlike Ahnuld in Conan the Barbarian, Bolder’s dialogue was not kept thin. He speaks far too much and is really bad.
A lot happens at night but because nobody could afford lights they engage in the sin of night filter. It’s just a horrible thing to do. There are no vampires and grave robbery is only mentioned after the fact so displaying dusk was not necessary. If it was done for mood then move the action to a set and bring the lights down.
There are betrayals and double dealing with former James pal Lonny Curry (Rayford Barnes) teaming up with a local marshal (Jim Davis) to sell out James or Maria trying to hand James over to the cops. Despite helping his sister, Rudolph is secretly sabotaging everything rather than walking away since she cannot do a thing without him. This packs in a lot of agendas for 80 minutes.
We’re supposed to feel bad when Hank Tracy dies (finally) with the added touch of saying Juanita’s name but the characters is so poorly done that you just don’t care. It would’ve been a better idea just to have him die. After the climax Juanita talks like Jesse is some kind of hero, but all he did was get strangled by his friend as the monster. Juanita saved the day.
This is one of those really bad curiosities from back in the day. It’s not a well-made movie. It has all the complexity of a kid’s film and one can assume that’s what they were going for. The costuming is basic though effective with the sets appearing like they were lifted from any number of cheap television productions going on then. Yet in that lack of complexity and cheapness, there’s a certain charm. You watch it and enjoy yourself.
Somebody decided to cash in on the Western and general proliferation of schlocky horror to bring us a movie that by all rights should have been long forgotten yet because of the soulless nature of its birth it became something that found a near permanent niche with the cult movie crowd. In all its flaws it became something enjoyable. Fun and silly and nothing more. A bit of evergreen comfort food.
Poorly directed and poorly written yet strangely well-acted Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter is an oddity from back in the day. No great revelation of so-bad-it’s-good or an example of accidental comedy. Strangely enjoyable though.
