DESPERATE WOMEN

US, 1978, 98 minutes, Colour.
Susan St James, Ronee Blakley, Ann Dusenberry, Julie Haggerty.
Directed by Earl Bellamy.

Desperate Women is an entertaining telemovie. While it has the tones of a prison film - the heroines are actually from prison; it is basically a western. It is set in the ballad style - an enjoyable, if corny, ballad is sung throughout the film to highlight the events and their significance. The film also offers us a Panorama of the west, plenty of the incident in which the prisoners are involved representing the various facets of the American frontier. The cast is good and is led by Susan St. James in a very able way. There is an interesting performance by country and western singer Roni Blakely. Made with appeal for an American audience, it is still an interesting and enjoyable telemovie.

1. An entertaining western? Portrait of women in the west?

2. The panorama of the west that the film presented? The American frontier and its heritage? The desert locations, the towns, prisons, law and order, wandering gunfighters, Indians, the military, miners, pioneer farmers? The adaptation of the screenplay for home audiences?

3. The focus on the women - the title of the film? Their backgrounds, personalities? Their being in prison? The particularly feminine sensitivity to the west?

4. The success of the ballad - its insertion into the screenplay, the particular events and their being highlighted? (And the expectations of the rhymes!)

5. Audience involvement in the opening situation: the women in the prison cart the poisoned water, Ward and his rescuing the women dying of thirst? Ward leading the procession through the west? The interaction with him - Esther and her knowing him already, Selina and her wanting to betray the group? Joanna and her firmness of hand? The beginning of the strange encounters?

6. Parkinson and his being a loner? The encounter with Amy and her family and the shoot-out? The mining town and the brutality of the miners, especially towards Amy, Esther's intervention? The attack of the Apaches? The Indians and the cavalry? The meals, water, the attempts to get possession of the weapons? The ambush and the shoot-out? The deserter and his taking up with the group? The lost cavalry with the echoes of northerners and southerners in the war?

7. How well did the film delineate the women - their crimes, responsibility, sympathies?

8. Esther and her qualities of leadership, her low-key manner, her story about the money and the embezzlement, her relationship with Ward and his administering justice? Her rescuing Any and the sexual confrontation with the miners?

9. Selina and her toughness, capacity for betrayal, her being dominated by Esther? Her looking for rescue and ambush?

10. Joanna and her story of violence and self-defence? Her love for the deserter? A happy future?

11. Amy and Charlie and their shooting the group, the fight., taking the cow on their expedition, the encounter with the miners?

12. The deserter and his moving from the army, working with the group? The revelation of the truth - and his being reinstated? His future with Joanna?

13. The humour of the ending - the women and their supposedly being killed, burial - and their rising to a new life?

14. The appeal of the western situation? The feminine emphasis of this film adding to its enjoyment? The humorous touches? The action adventure? A satisfying offbeat comedy western?