Gator Bait (1974)

Brilliant film...cajun suspense in proliferation....will watch time and time again.

Two idiot hicks (one a policeman) with amorous intentions, chase a pretty cajun woman round the swamp she lives in. Naturally she doesn't take too kindly to this so she chucks a sack full of snakes into their boat to teach them a lesson. An accident follows, resulting in one man dead..So when the sheriff's deputy gets back to the station and, embarrassed, tells his father (the sheriff) a completely twisted version of the events, a hunting party made up of 3 vicious hillbillies, kin to the man shot, and the sheriff and his deputy son, go into the backwater bayous to capture her.However when one of the hillbillies goes too far and shotguns her younger sister, Desiree the cajun, is understandably upset, and spends the rest of the film turning the tables on them, delivering her own brand of swamp rat justice...This isn't a bad little exploitation movie from the 70s. Truth be told I hadn't seen it for almost 25yrs, and then I saw the butchered UK vhs release (it was heavily cut by 3m08s), but it was a film that had stuck in my mind as quite an enjoyable, albeit low budget effort, nontheless..Although action packed, with a story that moves at a swift pace, there's not lots of gore or nudity particularly, just plenty of redneck buffoons getting what's coming to them. In some endlessly swampy locations, that were probably an absolute nightmare to film in. Locations which work both positively (gives it an almost unique look), and negatively (everything is just, well, swampy samey all the way through!) for the film. The fairly amateurish acting of one or two culprits in the cast, par for the course, in a film of this type. With the other highlights being a funny whipping scene (I know it doesn't sound funny but I thought it was!), and a decent cajuny soundtrack.Of course with the biggest plus point being that Playboy Playmate of the Year 1970 ~ Claudia Jennings, stars as the wild, red headed Desiree, (barely) wearing the kind of small denim shirt and hotpants that would make even Daisy Duke think twice! And to be fair to Claudia, she's fit in this, she really is!And she's a game bird too our Claudia, probably having a whale of a time during the shoot, racing power boats, out smarting everyone, setting traps and then blasting the male members of the cast with a shotgun! Which must've been worth it, for the sake of one or two leering camera zooms down her permanently unbuttoned top!Shame she passed away prematurely, due to an automobile accident, at the awfully young age of just 29!Ultimately, 'Gator Bait is a decent enough revenger, with plenty going on. Sure it won't win any awards, but it's plenty fun hicksploitation, that made a fair old packet on it's release, and was followed by a sequel 12yrs later. Admittedly it's nowhere near as good as say  Southern Comfort (Limited Edition packaging) [Bluray] [Blu-ray ], but for all backwoods revenge movie fans, this is definitely one you'll want to see at some point, if only for Jennings' hot pants!The disc on review, which is the American 'Director's Special Edition' is a decent enough print, that comes with a making of interview, which is quite cool, along with two other rather bizarre interviews, one of which has the director trying to sell Jesus to us. . . or something?!3.75/5

Desiree (Claudia Jennings) lives in the swamp with her younger brother, sister, and a bad French accent applied to broken English. The law messes with her and she goes Rambette on them. Indeed, this appears to be a forerunner to "First Blood."I obtained the director's special cut. I will say the transfer was superb considering the quality of film transfers from this era. However my memory seems to recall nude scenes that were deleted from this director's edition, especially those involving co-star Janit Baldwin. If I had to do again, I would go with the VHS.Parental Guide: No f-bombs. rape, nudity (Janit Baldwin, Claudia Jennings) 3 1/2 stars