Jayne Mansfield Makes "The Wayward Bus" a Worthwhile Journey

I've always liked Jayne Mansfield ever since I discovered her while I was in college by watching her in director Frank Tashlin's "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956) and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957).  Moreover, I always liked her better than Marilyn Monroe, who I've never particularly cared for.  I guess it has to do with the fact that Mansfield is continually regarded as a poor-man's Monroe that I always end up rooting for her no matter how bad her movies became later in her career.  Mansfield had a larger-than-life quality on-screen that people have dismissed as a caricature, but I think at her best she managed to instill her characters with warmth and likeability, and brought a sense of humanity, which helped to undercut that sexpot image.  No doubt Mansfield's best work in comedy was in the Tashlin films, but her best overall work as an actress was her dramatic role in the underrated "The Wayward Bus" (1957), made at the height of her popularity right after she was signed by 20th Century-Fox.  Also featuring an equally impressive and underrated Joan Collins, playing an atypically unglamorous role, "The Wayward Bus" gives Mansfield a thoughtful, fully-realized character that allows her to demonstrate her untapped potential as a straight dramatic actress.

In "The Wayward Bus," which was based on John Steinbeck's novel, Rick Jason and Joan Collins star as working class couple Johnny and Alice Chicoy.  Johnny drives a beat up bus he nicknames "Sweetheart" and Alice operates a restaurant/bus stop at a rural California crossroads called Rebel Corners that caters to customers who are passing through by bus.  On a storm-ridden day, Johnny is transporting a motley assortment of passengers from Rebel Corners to San Juan, Mexico including Ernest Horton (Dan Dailey), a middle-aged traveling salesman; nasty, vile and evil businessman Elliot Pritchard (Larry Keating), his uptight wife Bernice (Kathryn Givney) and their rebellious teenage daughter Mildred (Dolores Michaels); Norma (Betty Lou Keim), a starstruck girl who used to work in Alice's restaurant but who quit after being verbally abused by Alice; Ed Carson (Dee Pollack), Johnny's young assistant; Mr. Van Brunt (Will Wright), a cantankerous old man who insists on reaching San Juan no later than 3:00 PM that day; and beautiful, blonde Camille Oakes (Jayne Mansfield), a stripper on her way to a hired gig in San Juan.

Before they depart, Johnny and Alice get into an argument, which causes her to drown her sorrows in alcohol after Johnny leaves.  Ernest and Camille become better acquainted during the trip and start to fall in love with each other.  Mildred seizes upon the opportunity to flirt with Johnny whenever she has an opportunity.  Malicious Elliot Pritchard discovers Camille's true identity and shares the information with Ernest, which causes him to call off their engagement.  The bus and its passengers survive a landslide, endure crossing a rickety bridge that spans across raging river rapids, and emerge from a near crash after the bus' brakes fail, causing the vehicle to spin out of control.  When Johnny goes off to look for a tractor at a nearby farm to help tow the bus out of a ditch, Mildred follows along and seduces him.  When they return, they find that Alice has arrived in order to make amends with Johnny after hitching a ride with a highway patrol helicopter.

Realizing that Johnny has cheated on her with Mildred, Alice refuses to speak with him on the final leg of the trip to San Juan.  Heartbroken because Ernest cannot accept that she is a stripper, Camille urges Alice not to be a fool and to make up with Johnny before it is too late.  When the bus arrives at San Juan, we learn that elderly Mr. Van Brunt was eager to arrive by 3:00 PM because he was trying to arrive in time for his wedding at the Justice of the Peace.  Ernest realizes that he loves Camille no matter what she does for a living and asks her to marry him again.  And Johnny chases after a bus to Reno that he believes Alice has boarded, until he realizes that Alice, who has taken Camille's advice, is actually sitting behind him in the bus, waiting for Johnny to turn it around so they can return home to Rebel Corners.

People accustomed to the presumed image of Jayne Mansfield as a vacuous sexpot are always pleasantly surprised by her intelligent and thoughtful performance in "The Wayward Bus."  Mansfield lowers the pitch of her voice and restrains her usual mannerisms in order to make Camille a sympathetic and down-to-earth individual.  The result is undoubtedly Mansfield's finest work as an actress.  In her hands, Camille is a woman who has seen it all and has learned how to protect herself from being used and hurt by men.  She has a healthy skepticism against getting taken advantage of, but has managed to not become as cynical as she could be.  Camille is a smart and perceptive woman, but her heart is still open to falling in love when the right man enters the picture.

When Camille first meets Ernest at Alice's restaurant at Rebel Corners, he offers to open the door and carry her luggage for her as she is about to enter the establishment by saying "I wish you'd let me handle those things for you."  Camille smartly brushes him off by telling him "Thanks, can't afford a tip."  Camille clearly doesn't want anyone to act like a "gentleman" with her so that she doesn't have to owe them anything later.  When Elliot Pritchard tries to make conversation with her at the diner, and mentions that he believes he recognizes her from somewhere else, Camille smartly dismisses his inquiry by telling him, "I don't think so.  I've been living in Chicago...I used to do things around a dental clinic."  When Pritchard asks if she worked as a receptionist, Camille puts an end to the conversation by telling him, "No, no more like saying 'Spit out, please!'"  Camille has dealt with enough wolves in her lifetime that she knows how to handle jokesters like Pritchard.

However, Camille's experience with sleazy men like Pritchard in her lifetime has conditioned her to expect all members of the male species to be as unscrupulous as he is.  As such, she initially fails to recognize that Ernest is actually not cut from the same cloth as Pritchard and that he is a genuinely kind human being.  When Ernest pulls up a seat next to Camille at the diner and attempts to start a conversation by telling her, "Well, Miss Oakes, you and I are strangers at the moment.  Perfect strangers meeting at this desert crossways, right?...You'd be surprised how unlike strangers strangers can be when they aren't strangers anymore.  Right?...You and I have got a long way to go today, so who knows what might happen?"  Camille maintains a bemused smile at Ernest's introduction and responds by telling him, "Mr. Horton, everybody knows what might happen.  So for the fifty miles, let's see if we can't just stay acquaintances, hmm?  Think we could?"  What I like about the way Mansfield plays this scene is her heightened sense of awareness as to herself and how men perceive her to be based on her looks.  Camille is not oblivious about herself and the men in her environment the way one might expect from her.

There's a certain poignancy to Camille's wizened view of the world, particularly in the scene when Camille is on the telephone in the diner making a phone call to the client who has hired her to perform a strip tease act for friends in San Juan.  "Hi, Mr. Stanton?  This is Camille Oakes...How do you do?  I hate to bother you at your office but my bus doesn't get in 'til 2:00...Oh swell.  I'll be looking for you then at the bus station....Hmmm?...Well, if your friends want music and colored lights and that stuff that's entirely up to them...What magazine?...Which number?...No, I didn't...Humph, I'm glad you thought so...That?  That was strictly a frame-up!  (sigh)  Yeah, see you later."  Mansfield is very good in this scene, which is shot in one long and continuous and unbroken take, bringing the right sense of wariness, authenticity and concern to the phone conversation.

As she looks at her surroundings throughout the conversation, to ensure that no one is overhearing her, we see how Camille is uncomfortable with people knowing about her true profession and the lengths she goes to hide it from others so as not to be treated differently by society.  This is emphasized by how she goes over to the magazine rack after the phone call to find the issue of the tabloid scandal sheet that features a story about her, and how she tries to hide the magazine at the back of the rack.  It suggests the extent to which Camille still has hopes that she may meet the right guy so that she can quit being a stripper and have the sort of family and home life she clearly yearns for.  Even though she doesn't realize it yet, Camille has indeed met the right guy in Dan Dailey's middle-aged, jokey, but ultimately sincere Ernest.

On board the bus, Camille sits with Norma, the star-struck girl who quit working for Alice moments earlier.  Norma is impressed with Camille's sense of sophistication and asks her for advice about what she should do once she arrives in Hollywood in order to pursue stardom.  Mansfield is very endearing and sympathetic in the scenes between Camille and Norma, as the wizened and worldly lady takes a liking to this younger girl and mentors her.  When Norma expresses how she believes Camille can help her land a job at a drive-in restaurant in Los Angeles, in order to earn a living before she gets discovered, Camille pointedly tells her, "The things I could help you with wouldn't do you any good at a drive-in, honey...Well, I tell you.  There are two ways of getting discovered, honey, coming and going.  You better figure on both."  Even though I sense Camille wouldn't want Norma to find out she's a stripper, you get the impression in this scene that she'll do what she can to try and help Norma find a foothold in Los Angeles once she arrives.  Camille might be skeptical and world-weary, but she hasn't become hardened to the extent that she won't help others if she can.

Ernest witnesses this exchange between Camille and Norma, and senses Camille inherent warmth and decency, and attempts to initiate another conversation with her.  When Norma learns that Camille has never been married and asks why, Camille explains, "The right guys had the wrong ideas."  Ernest interjects by asking Camille, "How about if the right guy had the right idea?"  Ernest eventually softens Camille's resistance to him with self-deprecating humor, as he jokingly demonstrates the products and knick-knacks in his suitcase that he sells, which allows her to see a more genuine and playful side to him.  When Ernest gives Norma a compact as a free gift, Camille later compliments Ernest on his selfless generosity, "You know, it was real nice of you givin' the kid that compact."  Ernest responds, "Well, I am nice."  Camille laughs, "And smart, too, I suppose."  Ernest says, "If I was smart, I'd be settled down and married instead of peddlin' stuff around like this.  Hey, how about that?  Married, you and me, huh?"  Camille opines, "It's original, no question about it."  Ernest continues to joke, "Simple as A-B-C."  Camille pointedly responds, "S-E-X you mean.  Look, you're a salesman.  So am I.  We both know what the score is.  It's even.  So why don't we call it that and quit.  OK?"

After Camille tries to put an end to their bantering, an act of God suddenly occurs that changes the course of both the movie and Camille and Ernest's relationship.  As Johnny drives through a canyon road, the bus is suddenly caught in the middle of a landslide caused by the torrential rains.  As the rocks and dirt race downhill towards the bus, Ernest instinctively covers Camille in order to protect her.  This causes broken glass from flying debris to cut the side of Ernest's face.  When Camille realizes that Ernest has been injured while trying to protect her, she immediately becomes concerned about his well-being and softens her stance against him as she tends to his wounds.  I like how the filmmakers depict Camille as someone calm and resilient during the landslide, but who is quick to tend to Ernest's needs once the danger is over.  When the trip has resumed, Camille is now sitting next to Ernest and the two are genuinely falling in love with each other.  Mansfield and Dan Dailey have natural chemistry in these scenes as Ernest asks Camille if she's in love with anybody.  She tells him no, and he asks "You feel like being or not?...Would it be fantastic if we...I mean you and I sorta possibly could wind up...?"

Camille interrupts Ernest and asks him "Quite honestly, why do you like me?"  Ernest jokes, "Oh, because you're thrifty, you're a good cook, and because you hand-stitch marvelously...Honestly, because you are probably the most physically attractive girl I've ever spoken too...And, on the other hand, I'm a man who never spoke to Ava Gardner!...You sure had me pegged for a fresh guy on the make this morning, didn't you?...And you know something, you are absolutely right...If you scratch the surface just a little, you'll find out I'm really not just a fresh guy.  I have depth, honest, I think I have...Want to scratch the surface a little?"  Because Ernest is candid with Camille that his original intentions about chatting with her were less-than-honorable, and how he's reevaluated his intentions with her, she allows herself to fall in love with Ernest and cuddles up with him on the bus.  An amazed Ernest says aloud with wonder, "Oh, boy.  Nice.  I haven't felt this good in years."  A vulnerable Camille says with equal amazement, "For me, it's been years too!"

Later, after Johnny has accidentally driven the bus into a ditch, Camille and Ernest take a walk and she reveals that she grew up in Salinas, California.  When Camille tells Ernest that he really doesn't know anything about her, Ernest reassures her, "I don't have to know anymore about you.  Everything I said I meant."  As such, Camille allows herself to believe that she's finally found the right guy and that she will get married and leave her days as a stripper behind.  As Camille excitedly tells Norma, "You know, he's never even asked me one single thing about myself...Remember when he said 'Why shouldn't we get married?'  Just kidding?  Well, he said it again!  For serious!  For really and truly!  He's got a little apartment, Spanish type, and he's gonna buy me the latest timing electric stove!  All you do is set it and when the steaks' done it plays 'Tenderly'!"  Mansfield is very touching in this scene, as we see the modest dreams and aspirations that Camille has for her own life.  Since Camille doesn't seem to believe that she's entitled to be happy, we are glad for her that her hopes appear to be on the verge of fruition.

However, Camille's happiness is short-lived after Pritchard, who found the tabloid magazine article which discusses Camille's scrape with a scandalous situation and realizes that he had met her before while she was performing, maliciously tells Ernest the truth about Camille being a stripper.  Mansfield does a great job in the scene when Ernest returns to the bus and looks for the magazine and realizes the truth about Camille.  Mansfield effectively underplays the hurt feelings Camille is experiencing at being rejected by Ernest.  It's a scene with little dialogue, with Camille fighting hard to hold back the tears, and Mansfield makes the most of the moment by bringing genuine feeling and pathos to demonstrate Camille's hurt and disappointment.  Anyone who casually dismisses Mansfield as someone incapable of portraying a sincere and believable human being should watch how effectively she handles this moment.

Later, on the bus, when Ernest attempts to re-initiate a conversation with her by lighting her cigarette, Camille bitterly tells him, "Did I ever tell you I was a school teacher?...I wasn't trying to hide anything from you  I was gonna break it to you gradually.  What do you want me to do, wear a sign on my back?"  When Ernest says he'd still like to see her when they get to Los Angeles, Camille scoffs and says "For old times sake?  OK, might just give you a buzz some time.  Who knows?"  At that, Camille gets up and takes a seat at the back of the bus with Alice Chicoy, who is angry at her husband Johnny when she arrives by helicopter and discovers that he has had an adulterous interlude with passenger Mildred Pritchard.  Even though Camille is heartbroken over being rejected by Ernest, she still has enough compassion for others to try and give Alice advice on how to handle Johnny's betrayal of her.

In probably the best scene in the whole movie, with Fox glamor girls Collins and Mansfield acting opposite one another, Camille explains to Alice, "Mind if I sit here?...None of my business but mind if I tell you what I did to a guy I was in love with once?  Broke a chair over his head after I caught him kissin' some dame at a party."  Alice opines, "Bet he never tried that again."  Camille continues, "Don't know.  Never saw him after that.  But he's married.  Happily married...and I make a living.  Believe me, breaking a chair over a guy's head can sure work miracles.  The kind of miracles that louse up your whole life."  In trying to help Alice realize that she shouldn't throw what she has with Johnny away so quickly, Camille allows us to see how she has made mistakes in her own relationships and how it has led to where she is now with her life.  As such, the character takes responsibility for who she has become and doesn't play victim by blaming her circumstances on others.  She has a maturity and honesty about herself that allows her to be a sympathetic figure in the course of the story.

By the time the bus reaches San Juan, most of the storylines are tied up in a satisfying manner.  Camille meets her client and learns that her striptease performance is actually for the next night and that the client assumed she was also a prostitute who would be willing to spend the night with him.  The wise Camille responds by telling her client, "I see.  So you thought we might get together for a little 'talk,' hmm?...I do my act tonight or I take the first bus back to LA...you'd better start looking around for another gal for tomorrow night, Mr. Stanton, and for tonight too!"  Meanwhile, Pritchard smugly attempts to justify telling Ernest that Camille is a stripper by rationalizing that he's saved Ernest from making a bad mistake in marrying Camille.  Ernest comes to his senses and tells Pritchard that Camille is "nice, kind, even-tempered, sweet.  About the most attractive person I ever spoke to.  And you know something?  Physical attraction is a very important thing!"

In so doing, Ernest subtly tells off Pritchard by reminding the cruel, entitled, and elitist snob that Camille possesses all of the positive qualities that Pritchard's uptight, cruel, unappealing, and racist wife does not.  My only dissatisfaction with "The Wayward Bus" is how the screenplay does not sufficiently punish Mr. Pritchard, his wife, and their daughter for insulting and causing hurt to the other passengers on the bus.  The Pritchards are the true villains of "The Wayward Bus," an evil upper middle-class family who has no understanding, compassion or regard for others.  Mr. Pritchard is particularly loathsome when he is incredulous at Ernest's concern over what will eventually happen to Camille.  It's obvious that someone like Mr. Pritchard only views Camille as a commodity to be exploited and not as a genuine human being.  Some reviewers gave good notices to Dolores Michaels as the irresponsible Mildred, but I find her character as obvious, despicable, and annoying as her father.  As such, I don't really have any sympathy or compassion for her character because she doesn't realize how the consequences of her actions have hurt other people.  The only sense of justice for the Pritchards is that Ernest has reminded Mr. Pritchard that he's trapped in an unhappy marriage and family life, with the miserably uptight Mrs. Pritchard, whereas Ernest still has a chance at true happiness if he can do right by Camille and patch things up with her before it is too late.

And Ernest does right by Camille in the nick of time.  As Camille is about to storm off after quitting her job, Ernest rushes up and tells her "Camille can I speak to you for a moment?  It's really important...It's about our electric stove."  Camille stops in her tracks, becomes happy and elated, and turns to Ernest with a sense of wonder and excitement as she realizes that he is again proposing marriage to her.  She accepts his proposal by asking him, "Electric stove, for our new apartment?" as Ernest takes her luggage and the two walk off to a bright future together.  Jayne Mansfield and Dan Dailey do wonderful work together in "The Wayward Bus" that allows the slowly emerging love story between Camille and Ernest to touch our hearts as something genuinely sincere and special.  We see how these two lonely people are slowly able to drop their facades and reveal who they are underneath the surface, and we are happy for them that they have found one another.

Jayne Mansfield's performance in "The Wayward Bus" effectively demonstrates how she was indeed capable of playing real human beings with feeling and depth.  By eliminating the breathy, breathless dialogue delivery she was known for in other films--and by carrying herself in a dignified manner by using a deeper, more resonant speaking voice--Mansfield gives a great performance in "The Wayward Bus" that should silence any of her naysayers.  We realize how she didn't need to be a cartoon caricature of a sexy woman, as she eventually became in her later, inferior films.  "The Wayward Bus" ranks with "The Girl Can't Help It" and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" as the best movies that Mansfield ever made, the ones that showed she had something special that was all her own and that she wasn't just a Marilyn Monroe parody.  However, "The Wayward Bus" eclipses those movies because it's the one time on-screen that Jayne Mansfield lives up to her hype as a screen goddess and sex symbol.  With a more low-key makeup and hairstyle and wardrobe, Mansfield is truly beautiful and sexy in this movie in a way that she would never be again.  In addition to highlighting her acting abilities, "The Wayward Bus" allows contemporary audiences to appreciate her natural good looks and sex appeal in a way that never seems cartoonish.  By properly and appropriately balancing both glamor and authenticity, Jayne Mansfield gives the best performance of her career and makes "The Wayward Bus" a worthwhile screen journey.

Sue Lyon Demonstrates Courage and Integrity as one of John Ford's "7 Women"

I've always considered Sue Lyon, best known as the star of Stanley Kubrick's controversial adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Lolita" (1962) as one of the most underrated actresses of the 1960s.  She's usually lumped in with the sort of blonde ingenues that Sandra Dee paved the way for throughout the decade, but she's ultimately much more than that.  Sue Lyon had much more charisma and screen presence than Sandra Dee, was much less childlike than Yvette Mimieux, was much less whiny than Connie Stevens, and was much more talented and intelligent than the bland, vapid and vacuously stupid Carol Lynley.  Even though Sue Lyon and Carol Lynley are continually tied to one another for having similarly-spelled surnames that ensures they will almost always be side-by-side in the index of movie reference books, and because they often competed for the same film roles, Lynley was nowhere as interesting an actress as Sue Lyon.

In fact, Lyon's only true peer in this category is the actress famously known for having turned down the role of Lolita, the gifted and equally underrated Tuesday Weld.  However, Lyon strikes a contrast with even Weld in that she's much less malevolent, nihilistic and destructive on-screen than Weld often was in her film roles.  Weld was brilliant and talented and was able to bring charm and depth to characters that were narcissistic, damaging, and shallow by-design.  Weld could indeed play characters who were marked with sympathy and decency, but that wasn't her forte.  In contrast, even though Sue Lyon's perceived screen image was, at times, that of a troubled "bad" girl (and she was effective during the times she actually played that sort of role on screen), in fact Lyon's strong suit as an actress was her ability to find the intelligence and, yes, unexpected aspects of decency and maturity in her characters that most people tend to overlook when discussing her characters.

A good example of this quality is demonstrated at the end of "Lolita" when Humbert Humbert, played by James Mason, has found Lolita after she has disappeared for several years.  He urges Lyon's Lolita to abandon her hard-of-hearing and hapless husband Dick, played by a likeable Gary Cockrill, and run away with him, only to have Lolita refuse to do so because, as she explains to Humbert, "I've ruined too many things in my life.  I can't do that to him.  He needs me."  As such, the audience realizes the one thing that Humbert hadn't expected and hadn't counted on--that Lolita might have actually learned from her mistakes and has developed the ability to care about somebody other than herself.  Sue Lyon is impressive and touching in that scene, and pulls off that moment better than any of her blonde contemporaries, even the brilliant Tuesday Weld, would have because she demonstrates a quality of humility that they are incapable of.  Lyon's range as an actress was much more than the young "nymphets" that the public perceived her to be.  One of the best examples in Sue Lyon's career that demonstrated her ability to convincingly play characters that had courage and integrity was her role as missionary Emma Clark in John Ford's unusual, yet extremely satisfying, final film "7 Women" (1966).

Set in rural China in 1935, "7 Women" concerns itself with the women who operate a Christian missionary post as Mongol invaders terrorize the surrounding territories.  Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton) is the severe, repressed head of the mission.  Miss Argent (Mildred Dunnock) is her seemingly timid assistant.  Charles Pether (Eddie Albert) is the foolish teacher at the missionary who waited until he was middle-aged before he finally married his long time sweetheart Florrie (Betty Field), who is now pregnant with their child.  Emma Clark (Sue Lyon) is a young volunteer from a family of missionaries who Miss Argent secretly pines away for.  The complacent life of these missionaries is turned upside down throughout the course of "7 Women" by a series of extraordinary developments.  Dr. D.R. Cartwright (Anne Bancroft)--an unconventional, assertive physician who wears pants, smokes, drinks and does not subscribe to religion--arrives to serve as the missionary's physician.  From the moment she enters the scene, Cartwright and Andrews clash over their different viewpoints on how the mission should be run.  Andrews is perturbed that young Emma immediately takes a liking to Dr. Cartwright and looks up to this genuinely inspiring individual.

Eventually, the missionaries are joined by refugees from a British mission who fled in terror after they were attacked by ruthless Mongol bandit invader Tunga Khan (Mike Mazurki) and his men.  The refugees include Miss Binns (Flora Robson), the thoughtful head of the British mission; Mrs. Russell (Anna Lee), Binns' assistant; Miss Ling (Jane Chang), a Chinese member of the mission staff; as well as dozens of Chinese refugees.  Not long after they arrive does Dr. Cartwright realize that the refugees have brought with them a strain of Cholera.  Cartwright, Binns, and Emma work overtime in an effort to inoculate the inhabitants of the mission, with Emma falling ill to the disease.  Andrews becomes alarmed over Emma's condition, until Cartwright successfully treats her.  As the mission starts to regain a sense of calmness, Charles Pether notices fire and gunfire off in the distance and goes off to investigate, as the Chinese Army flees the area.  When Pether's car returns and the car horn is honked, the gate is opened and Mongol invaders led by Tunga Khan take over the mission.  The women learn that Charles had been killed by the Mongols while trying to protect a young girl who was being assaulted by them.

The women are rounded up and put into a shed as the Mongols pillage the mission.  When the Chinese refugees are lined up and killed before a firing squad, Emma rushes out of the shed in an unsuccessful effort to save their lives.  Florrie goes into labor and all the women, except for a prudish Andrews, assist Dr. Cartwright in helping her give birth to a baby boy.  Cartwright strikes a bargain with Tunga Khan to become his concubine in exchange for food and medical supplies for the women.  Eventually, with Emma's encouragement, Cartwright is able to negotiate the freedom for all the other women, except herself.  Emma protests leaving Cartwright behind, which causes Cartwright to scold and urge her to leave with the others.  As the women leave the missionary, Emma vows that she'll never forget Cartwright as long as she lives.  Back at the missionary, Cartwright pours two drinks spiked with poison and serves one to Tunga Khan, who keels over dead after drinking it.  Cartwright bitterly and triumphantly announces "So long, ya bastard!" as she drinks from the second cup as well.

A quirky and offbeat adventure drama atypical of director John Ford, "7 Women" is an underrated movie deserving of its cult status from movie buffs.  It's energetically acted by a talented cast led by a brilliant Anne Bancroft (who deserved an Oscar nomination for her work in this film), has an engaging and thought-provoking screenplay by Janet Green and John McCormick, and lively direction by the legendary Ford.  I don't consider "7 Women" a late career hiccup by Ford at all and admire his willingness to get outside his comfort zone to direct a movie considerably different from what he is known for.  (In contrast to Howard Hawks, who simply served up "Rio Bravo" ad-nauseum at the end of his career by making the similar "El Dorado" in 1967 and "Rio Lobo" in 1970.)  As I understand it, Sue Lyon was a casting choice urged upon Ford by MGM, with whom Lyon was under contract, as Ford had originally been considering Carol Lynley to play Emma.  Ford agreed to the casting of Lyon in order to help ensure that MGM agreed to his other casting choices.  Despite Ford biographer Joseph McBride's assertions that "Lyon's acting skills were limited" and that her "line readings were often clumsy, despite the extra rehearsal time the director devoted to her," I think Lyon gives a good performance as the naive Emma.  At the very least, Lyon brings a lot more energy, charisma and commitment to the role than Carol Lynley, who would have probably dragged out and extended the running time of "7 Women" with her typically slow, distracted, somnambulistic line readings.

I think the reason I like Lyon in "7 Women" is because it's the first time in a movie where Lyon's character is not sexually objectified by the director.  Lyon had great parts, and did terrific work, for directors Stanley Kubrick in "Lolita" and for John Huston in "The Night of the Iguana" (1964), but there's no doubt that both directors emphasized her good looks and playful personalities in both films in a way that exploited her to a certain extent.  Despite the fact that Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton) clearly has a romantic attraction to Emma in the storyline, director Ford doesn't linger upon that aspect of the movie more than he needs to.  As such, Ford respects Lyon's sense of modesty in ways that Kubrick and Huston didn't and this allows Lyon an opportunity to create a morally unambiguous character marked with strong traces of courage and integrity.  In Lyon's hands, Emma comes across as a bright, if slightly naive, young woman, filled with caring and concern for those around her.  Emma has a good relationship with the Chinese children that she helps to educate, and tries to comfort Florrie, whenever she becomes hysterical, that things will turn out all right.  Unlike most roles offered to young 1960s starlets, Emma is an individual marked with strength, maturity and character, and Ford plays fair with her by presenting her character in a respectful manner.

I like how Emma does not blindly follow Andrews, even though she starts out in the story respecting the older missionary, and finds admirable qualities in Dr. Cartwright that allow her to broaden her perspective on the world.  When Andrews expresses dismay at Emma's admiration in Cartwright, and announces that she plans to have her replaced at the earliest possible opportunity, Emma defends Cartwright and refutes Andrews' assertion that she is morally and spiritually bankrupt by declaring "No...Dr. Cartwright has come here to look after the sick, to take care of Mrs. Pether.  She just can't be a bad woman.  She's different."  When Andrews continues attacking Cartwright and declares her to be evil, Emma again defends the doctor by saying "Evil?  I can't believe it."  Andrews tries to guilt-trip Emma by implying that her admiration of Cartwright is a betrayal of the time and effort Andrews has spent trying to mentor her and that it is an indication that she has lost her faith.  Even though we see how Andrews has put Emma on the spot, Emma insists "Oh no!  I...No, I haven't lost my faith.  I didn't mean that.  I haven't."  Despite Andrews' manipulation, we eventually see in the course of the story that Emma does not blindly follow misguided leaders, and is an independent thinker who is smart enough to make her own judgments as to who or what is good in the world.  Because she's someone who is able to make up her own mind as to what is important to her, Emma is a character with a bright future ahead of her, someone who will be an even more effective missionary than the uptight and close-minded Andrews.

As a result of Cartwright's earthy presence at the mission, Emma stops wearing her hair in the severe bun that Andrews insists of her and allows her hair to be worn in a more natural manner that allows her to express her femininity.  Emma has learned that service to God does not mean she should, concurrently, shun other aspects of being a woman.  Emma continues to demonstrate the courage of her convictions by assisting Cartwright in helping to inoculate the mission population from cholera, even though she herself falls ill to the communicable disease, and by rushing out of the shed, when she realizes the Chinese refugees are being lined up to be slaughtered by the Mongols in a firing squad, in an unsuccessful effort to save their lives.  In both instances, Emma risks her life by putting her safety at risk in order to help the refugees that she has devoted her life to.  She doesn't take them for granted as mere "sheep" the way Andrews does, but as human beings whose welfare she is genuinely concerned about.  After witnessing the slaughter, an emotionally distraught Emma says, "Dr. Cartwright, now I know what Evil really is."  Her naivete wiped clean from her consciousness, Emma now realizes how dangerous her work as a missionary truly is and won't have the sense of entitlement and arrogance that hindered Andrews, who foolishly believed that being an American inherently protected her and the others from the dangers of the outside world.  If Emma chooses to continue her work as a missionary, she will know how to avoid walking into traps the way Andrews has by recognizing how to protect herself and those around her.

Throughout the remainder of "7 Women," Emma continues to demonstrate her ability to roll up her sleeves to do what needs to be done for the greater good of all.  When Florrie goes into labor, and all the women (except Andrews) rise to the occasion to help her, Emma asks Cartwright what she can do to assist.  Cartwright tells Emma to get Florrie a stick that she can bite on while she is in labor.  Emma immediately grabs a stick, snaps it into smaller pieces by breaking it on her knee, and brings it over to Florrie for her to bite on.  After Florrie's son is born, Emma actively participates in caring for the child and assists in his feeding.  We see how Emma has a maternal maturity about her that belies her youth.  When Andrews expresses disgust for Cartwright's sacrifice in becoming Tunga Khan's concubine, and complains about the baby, Emma finally gets fed up with the whiny Andrews and tells her, "Oh stop it!  Whatever the doctor's doing, she's doing for our good!  You should be thankful!"  In so doing, she has finally put Andrews in her place and begins to shatter her "holier-than-thou" delusions about herself and the world around her.

Despite her youthful naivete, Emma remains a realist who can handle what life has thrown her way.  Emma is the one who helps suggest to Dr. Cartwright that she can use her position as Tunga Khan's concubine to negotiate the women's release.  Cartwright smiles and admires Emma's shrewd pragmatism at recognizing the bargaining position that Cartwright is in and tells her, "You're a good kid, Emma."  However, even Emma couldn't foresee that Cartwright's success at negotiating the women's release would result in Cartwright further sacrificing herself by being left behind to face an uncertain future with Tunga Khan.  Emma asks Cartwright, "What are you?...Why are you staying here?  Why aren't you going to come with us?" only to have Cartwright scold her into leaving by telling her "Beat it!"  As the women are wheeled away in an oxen-drawn cart, Emma looks back at Cartwright and declares with admiration, "Dr. Cartwright...I'll never forget her as long as I live."

Similarly, anyone who has ever seen Sue Lyon's work as an actress isn't likely to ever forget her either.  If she did nothing else as an actress, Lyon's work in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" would, and indeed has, cemented her place in film history forever.  However, Lyon followed up her brilliant work for Kubrick with equally fine work for John Huston, in the aforementioned "The Night of the Iguana" and with John Ford in "7 Women."  In a short period of time, Lyon starred in leading roles with three of the finest directors in cinema history in three excellent movies.  As such, even though Sue Lyon's career was much shorter, much less prolific, and marked with probably more bumps in the road than Sandra Dee, Carol Lynley, Yvette Mimieux, and Connie Stevens, I think her career was in the long run much more rewarding because they never reached the heights of achieving brilliance the way Lyon did.  In some respects, Lyon eclipses even Tuesday Weld (who I greatly admire) because her trio of brilliance is more impressive than even the interesting and offbeat films that were the highlights of Weld's idiosyncratic career.

Later in the 1970s, Lyon's career struggled as she made appearances in B-pictures and on television that didn't take full advantage of the earthy intelligence and vitality that she had to offer.  Her last good movie was as the female lead in the bio-pic "Evel Knievel" (1971) with George Hamilton.  But, even within the limited framework offered to her, Lyon's star quality as an actress continued to shine brightly.  She was particularly good in a 1969 "Love American Style" episode entitled "Love and the Bed" where she and Roger Perry play neighbors in an apartment house who argue over ownership of a elegant brass bed being thrown out by another neighbor moving out of the building.  Even though it was a light-weight vignette, Lyon brought insouciant wit and maturity to the skit that allowed it to rank among the better segments of that series.  I also remember her charming performance in the TV movie "But I Don't Want to Get Married!" (1970), as one of the many women attracted to recently widowed, middle-aged Herschel Bernardi.  In casting that was clearly meant to draw parallels with her famous role as Lolita, Lyon's character is very attracted to Bernardi's kindness and maturity as a gentleman.  She tells Bernardi's character, "You're a nice guy.  There aren't too many around.  And I like you.  Aren't those enough reasons?...Listen, I'm a big girl now.  I know what I want."

In contrast to James Mason and Richard Burton before him, Bernardi tells Lyon's character, "I'm a grown man and I know what I can't have."  Defeated, Lyon graciously accepts Bernardi's invitation to buy her a hot chocolate at a nearby drugstore and jokes "All right, I guess a hot chocolate's better than nothing!"  Clearly, Lyon's characters continually mature and progress beyond one's expectations.  I also remember her for her touching performance in an episode of "Fantasy Island" in 1978.  She played a spoiled rich girl who pays Mr. Roarke to recreate the best summer of her life when she was still in high school and spent it with her four girlfriends from school.  Michele Lee, Pamela Franklin, and Hilarie Thompson played her classmates.  In Lyon's most affecting moment, she reveals to the others how she is not as rich as they remember her to be, that she had to get a job and save up money for this fantasy, and that she simply wanted one more chance to relive her youth before ultimately facing reality.

In so doing, Lyon's characters continually demonstrate how they are more self-aware about the realities of their lives than the ones played by other blonde 1960s starlets.  Her comparatively deeper, mature voice, vibrant intelligence, and forthright directness was a refreshing contrast to the frivolity and coyness expressed by her counterparts in their roles.  Lyon faced her share of career struggles while in Hollywood, but there is no other role that demonstrates her qualities of courage and integrity better than her performance as Christian missionary Emma Clark in John Ford's "7 Women."  Ford doesn't objectify her on screen and allows Lyon's assertive qualities as an actress to be fully explored.  Lyon has great chemistry throughout the movie with her formidable co-stars, particularly with Anne Bancroft and Margaret Leighton, and more than holds her own amidst such powerhouse performers.  It's a shame that "7 Women" wasn't a bigger success for all involved so that the public and Hollywood didn't perceive that John Ford was losing his touch as a director and so that Sue Lyon could have had a shot at playing more mature and dignified roles in her career.  Sue Lyon's stardom in Hollywood may have been shorter than it should have been, but her fine work for John Ford in "7 Women" demonstrates the extent to which her star, at its peak, did indeed truly shine bright.