JohnHowardReid Number 8 of the 56 films directed by Roger Corman, this offering from bottom-of-the-barrel Woolner Brothers, certainly holds our interest despite predictable plotting and somewhat confined action. Swamp Women is actually right on target as a title as, after the movie's initial prison scenes finally flicker off, we never seem to get away from that damn swamp. Nevertheless, all the repetitive swamp footage is certainly more interesting that the right-out-of- place, 1930's stock carnival material with which the movie's opening is mercilessly padded out in order to bring it up to a standard "B"- feature length. As for the "women" we are promised by the film's title, I've no complaints at all on this score – especially as the women have all been thoughtful enough to pack of pair of extremely tight, super-short shorts into their escape gear. Marie Windsor is the pick of the bunch, but Carole Mathews is equally charismatic. Whatever happened to her? Ah! As early as 1950 she started to flirt with TV. In all, Swamp Women is definitely one for the boys!

Scarecrow-88 Roger Corman quickie, seemingly made specifically for the drive-in crowd, shot in Louisiana Bayou swamp country features statuesque Carole Mathews as Lt. Lee Hampton, undercover in a prison, hoping to secure hidden diamonds buried by con Marie Windsor's Josie Nardo. Josie's prison gang includes Vera (the sexy Beverly Garland as you've never seen her before, full of pent up rage and seething bitterness) and the sensual Marie (Susan Cummings). So Josie and her girls successfully escape prison forming a reluctant partnership with Hampton because she has a getaway car stashed nearby. The four confiscate a boat from someone who owes Josie a favor (this event is never shown) and ride into the swamp on a journey to locate the diamonds worth practically half a million dollars. Oil man Bob Matthews (Mike Connors; Mannix) and a potential fiancé (with a wealthy daddy)are also boat riding through the bayou as he is looking for land to rape (okay, maybe I'm a bit harsh), having the misfortune of coming across Josie and company when their flimsy boat takes water after a leak leaves them stranded. Taking Bob and his whimpering lady hostage, Josie and her gang decide to take them along until they find the diamonds. Corman's predecessor to the (in)famous WIP exploitation pictures Jack Hill and others would bring to life a decade later, is a hoot if you love watching tough-talking ladies who use their fists to pummel each other when the anger sets up in their bones. Seeing the girls ogle the very handsome Connors, particularly Cummings, is also a treat. But nothing compares to seeing Garland all bent out of shape her entire time on screen, often picking fights with everyone, especially Matthews, when they draw her ire. She's a spitfire, full of heated emotions and venom, and it takes very little to boil over her kettle. Windsor commands her troops, even when things get out of hand and her girls start catfighting, and remains in control until the diamonds begin to take root in the very greedy minds of Cummings and Garland who want the cache all to themselves. Meanwhile, Matthews and Connors fall in love while she tries to keep him alive as long as possible while keeping an eye on the con-women. I just love seeing sexy women, in daisy dukes (they cut their prison pants into short-shorts, obviously titillating for the more reserved 50s drive-in movie audience Corman was catering to), always at each others throats, talking trash and engaging in fisticuffs at the drop of a hat. Sure SWAMP WOMEN has its lulls (there's a hell of a lot of boat riding down the bayou, for sure and extensive footage of Mardi Gras at the beginning of the film) and relies on a ton of stock footage of Louisiana nature to give the film an authenticity, but I think fans of the aforementioned Jack Hill WIP films (and SWITCHBLADE SISTERS) will find it entertaining. And there's a lengthy fight between Matthews and Windsor at the conclusion that should be exciting if you enjoy that sort of thing (of course, I sop this up with a biscuit). You get pulling hair, Mannix fighting an alligator with only a knife, Garland up in a tree waiting to gun down the other girls, Windsor hurling a spear, and the girls taking to rolling around in the dirt when tempers flair--is this movie deserving of its poor reputation? I certainly had fun with it.

whpratt1 This film might be considered awful, but this film was very entertaining and Roger Corman created a very low budget film with some great stars like Mike Connors, (Bob Matthews) and Beverly Garland as Vera. This film takes place in Bayou Lacombe, Louisiana and New Orleans, and deals with a woman named Police Lt. Lee Hampton, (Carole Mathews) who is willing to enter a prison of women and obtain information about stolen diamonds. Vera and Josie, (Marie Windsor) are women prisoners and Lee Hampton is in the same jail cell and cons these two criminals into escaping from jail in order to obtain these diamonds and catch them in a very swampy area in which they are hidden. Bob Matthews has the misfortune of being held prisoner by these very sexy and hot young gals and he has to try and out smart these very cruel and dangerous women. Enjoy.

ferbs54 For me, B-movie fan that I am, a film starring cult actresses Beverly Garland AND Marie Windsor, and directed by the legendary Roger Corman, was too great a lure to resist. And "Swamp Women" (1955) does indeed live up to its potential, at least in part. It tells the story of a trio of tough dames who bust out of jail and hightail it to the Louisiana bayou to recover their cache of stolen diamonds. They are abetted in their jailbreak by an undercover lady cop, who is trying to find the gems, too. In the wild, they bump into Mike Connors and his fiancée, which only leads to more trouble. Anyway, this little B features lots of female fistfights, knife fights and tough talk, with Beverly perhaps being the "baddest" of the bunch. Viewers will enjoy counting how many times she says "shut up" during the course of this short film. And at a mere 73 minutes, the film IS short, but somehow still feels padded with endless Mardi Gras and nature shots. Still, "Swamp Women" is a reasonably fun entertainment. The bad news that I have to report, however, concerns the state of this DVD itself. I have never seen a worse-looking DVD in my life. Not only have all the colors of its source print turned pink, but the image itself is fuzzy and blurry. The promise of crystal-clear DVD images has certainly not been met here, to put it mildly! The folks at Brentwood Communications should hang their heads in shame. If I wanted to see sickening off colors and blurry images, I'd be doing drugs and shots of Southern Comfort and prune juice! This film deserves so much better!