Ulysses (Timothy Carey) spies on the object of his Cajun lust as she goes crabbing.
bayou doing with book? Using it as a doorstop?” Despite this omission, it leaves in Marie excitedly picking up her book at 10:59. Unfortunately, the disjointed placement of this scene cribs a little bit of the original’s power since Marie’s grabbing the book immediately follows the scene with the de- velopers and Martin talking about the Bayou, with one of them commenting on how the local Cajuns live like animals. Seeing sweet and strong Marie with her natural interest in bettering herself placed in deliberate contrast to such an ugly statement weakens Harold Daniels’ directorial grasp of Ed- ward I. Fessler’s script. Also inexplicably cut are a dialogue scene of some dock workers talking lustily about Marie and a cutaway to Ulysses ordering Bos (Jonathan Haze) to go kill a cat! Both scenes would have supported the film’s more exploitative redirection, so it’s hard to tell why they were cut— perhaps to keep the collective double-bill down to a certain length.
An adjacent scene that makes it into both cuts has Emil talking to the boys about a middle-aged guy who has recently married a “plump young chicken,” all of 16 years old. However, in POOR
WHITE TRASH, another actor relooped most—but not all—of Douglas Fowley’s dialogue. The dubbed-in voice is clearer than the original but isn’t as authentic-sounding. It doesn’t help that a mid-section of this dialogue is the original Fowley track from BAYOU. It’s a rare instance of editorial sloppiness in the recut. Mercifully, both versions include Carey clucking like a chicken. There’s beauty in the world after all! Also missing from POOR WHITE TRASH is a fishing scene with Martin almost catching a gar, but ultimately losing it, making him less of a man in the eyes of his potential new bosses. Who knew the architect world was so reliant on manliness? The scene occurs around 16:20 in BAYOU. Up next is arguably the most infamous se- quence in the film, with Ulysses cornering Marie outside her home as the sun is setting. In the origi- nal cut, Ulysses watches Marie’s shadow as she dresses and then sneaks behind her when she comes out to the porch, waiting for Emil to get home from a card game. He sidles up to her like the Big Bad Wolf and tries to woo her with a necklace and then some (for him) playful rough-housing, before
33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
