Amazon.com Customer Reviews
 Rated 2 out of 5
Not as "bad" as Wood’’s classics, but a must for collectors
Written by the one and only Edward D. Wood Jr in collaboration with Alex Gordon. JAIL BAIT concerns Don Gregor (Lyle Talbot) a criminal whose father (who just happens to be a plastic surgeon) wants him to straighten out and start a new life; and yes that includes getting a new face.
That’’s the basic "plot". The more "serious" approach to this movie means it isn’’t as fun as say, NIGHT OF THE GHOULS; but JAIL BAIT is still a worthwhile addition to the collections of cult movie afficionados. But the feature itself is weak, flat and poorly paced, even by Wood’’s rock bottom standards.
So why doesn’’t JAIL BAIT rank as one of Ed’’s "classics"? Because:
a)The story is more conventional.
b)The film’’s direction is almost COMPETENT. If you viewed this without knowing Wood directed, you could be forgiven for easily dismissing JAIL BAIT as a forgettably bad B crime melodrama and:
c)Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson or Criswell are nowhere to be seen.
Despite this; I’’ve given the movie 2 stars simply because it’’s difficult to completely dislike an Ed Wood movie, no matter how much you may wish to. The DVD is also worth a look since this edition of JAIL BAIT is the digitally remastered Director’’s Cut. So that’’s got to be worth something. The movie is also notable for Wood’’s casting of a pre- HERCULES Steve Reeves, using his own voice for once.
Last of all, I have a question: Is it just me, or did this inadvertently inspire the movie JOHNNY HANDSOME, which featured Mickey Rourke at his most mumbling and incoherant? Try comparing the movies sometime and you may see a few parallels between the two. Rated 3 out of 5
Jail Bait Lures Laughs
This unintentional film-noir spoof has all the marks of Ed Wood’’s zany script and direction. In other words, it’’s absolutely hilarious! There’’s nothing basically preposterous about a plastic surgeon deconstructing a face, yet Wood managed to make this movie a farce--even though he obviously tried to produce a straight-up crime drama. The only competent actor involved, Lyle Talbot, moves stolidly through the story, tossing off the dumbest dialogue with professionalism and aplomb. His sidekick, Steve Reeves, however, flips off his lines as though each word were a fleck of dandruff to be brushed hastily and unobtrusively away. Wood’’s non-actor girlfriend, Dolores Fuller, looks like a blonde bombshell trussed up in business suits as she strides martially back and forth in her living room. The movie is a windfall of loony lines, cheap props, and ridiculous situations. A purportedly luxurious apartment is so cheaply and sparingly furnished that it looks one notch above a flophouse. Surgery is performed on the couch of a gangster’’s moll, and then she attends the bandage removal in a fur and cocktail gown. A corpse is propped, standing up, in a shallow closet, prompting the moll to rail about dead men cluttering up her place. As far as so-bad-it’’s-good flicks go, this one’’s so terrible it’’s terrific!
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