Outlaw Women (1952)

Marie Windsor is Iron Mae McLeod, owner of the Paradise Saloon in Las Mujeres, a Wild West town ruled by women.

Oh, men are allowed. To take jobs at whatever wage the women think they’re worth. And mostly to lose their money at Iron Mae’s gambling tables.

Iron Mae has quite a profitable enterprise in Las Mujeres and has no trouble convincing other gals — like the Larabee sisters, Beth (Carla Belenda) and Ellen (Jacqueline Fontaine) — to join her.

But trouble is brewing.

Outlaw Frank Slater wants Iron Mae to partner up with him in planning holdups since her girls are experts at getting information out of guys.

And Woody Callaway (Richard Rober), his own gambling hall drying up in nearby Silver Creek, would like to become the new owner of the Paradise Saloon.

Then comes news that Silver Creek is folding and all the money is the bank there — including everything Iron Mae has saved — is being transported elsewhere by stage.

Frank Slater and fellow outlaw Sam Bass have their eyes on that stage. Iron Mae figures she and her girls might be able to beat them to the punch with their own stage holdup.

But she has no answers to Callaway’s latest ploy: having a federal judge declare it’s time for elections in Las Mujeres. An election in which women are forbidden from voting or running for office.

Marie Windsor as Iron Mae McLeod, considering her options for the Paradise Saloon in Outlaw Women (1952)

Richarde Rober as Woody Callaway, making a proposition to Iron Mae in Outlaw Women (1952)

Review:

The novelty element, and the fact that the directors don’t take the subject matter too seriously, make this worth a watch for the curious.

For instance, Iron Mae’s tough-as-nails bouncer is played by Maria Hart, who keeps all the men in line and shows how tough she is by striking matches with her teeth.

Woody Callaway has his own fast gun, Peyote Bill, who has a trick holster, a habit of getting shot in the right shoulder, but proves incapable of lighting a match on his teeth.

Allan Nixon plays handsome doctor Bob Ridgeway. He’s kidanpped earlier in the film by Ellen Larabee, who’s every bit as interested in his romantic potential as his skill with a scapel.

Ah, but she’ll have to vie for his attention with her curvier, more seductive sister Ellen, who also has a habit of getting into catfights with her co-workers over money made at the gambling table.

There’s a pretty neat little ending too.

Carla Balenda as Beth Larabee, kidnapping a doctor with medical and romantic intent in Outlaw Women (1952)

Allan Nixon as Dr. Bob Ridgeway, forced into a town full of women at gunpoint in Outlaw Women (1952)

Directed by:
Sam Newfield
Ron Ormond

Cast:
Marie Windsor … Iron Mae McLeod
Richard Rober … Woody Callaway
Carla Balenda … Beth Larabee
Jackie Coogan … Peyote Bill
Allan Nixon … Dr. Bob Ridgeway
Jacqueline Fontaine … Ellen Larabee
Billy House … Uncle Barney
Richard Avonde … Frank Slater
Lyle Talbor … Judge Roger Dixon
Maria Hart … Dora
Leonard Penn … Sam Bass
Tom Tyler … Chillawaka Charlie
Lou Lubin … Danny

Runtime: 75 min.

Jacqueline Fontaine as Ellen Larabee, feigning sickness to get some special attention from a handsome doctor in Outlaw Women (1952)

Richard Avonde as Frank Slater, explaining an upcoming holdup to his gang in Outlaw Women (1952)

Memorable lines:

Woody Callaway: “You say not Las Mujeres. Why not?”
Peyote Bill: “I rode through there once. Nothing but women. They run the whole town. Everything.”
Callaway: “Doesn’t sound so bad.”
Peyote Bill: “No? You should see. Man rides in there for a good time and the female card sharps and gamblers take him for every dollar he’s got. Anyone wearing trousers doesn’t stand a chance in Las Mujeres.”

Peyote Bill: “You can draw on a man. Or use your fists. But how do you fight a woman?”

Doc Ridgeway: “If your town’s such an opportunity for a doctor, how come you have to kidnap one?”
Beth Larabee: “Well, let’s just say I liked the way you took care of Peyote Bill.”
Doc: “Oh, you can tell by the way I took out a bullet that I can cure a case of pneumonia. You’re better than the professors at the medical school.”

Iron Mae McLeod: “Alright, boys, the gambling tables are open. Get your picks and shovels, girls. The gold rush is on.”

Ellen Larabee: “You know, it may be a man’s world outside. But it stops at Las Mujeres city limits … The men work for us, and we give them what we think they’re worth.”
New recruit: “Will they work that cheap?”

Jackie Coogan as Peyote Bill, getting ready to demonstrate his quick holster skills in Outlaw Women (1952)

Billy House as bartender Uncle Barney with Maria Hart as Paradise Saloon bouncer Dora in Outlaw Women (1952)

Jacqueline Fontaine as Ellen Larabee and Marie Windsor as Iron Mae McLeod, explaining Las Mujeres to a newcomer in Outlaw Women (1952)

Marie Windsor as Iron Mae McLeod and Richard Rober as Woody Callaway find themselves partners in gunplay in Outlaw Women (1952)