Watching: Bayou

Overview

In 1957, director Harold Daniels was hired by producer Michael A. Ripps to oversee BAYOU, a cheaply made, overly melodramatic tale of swamp life. The low budget film starred a pre-MISSION IMPOSSIBLE Peter Graves, Corman regular Jonathan Haze, and the effortlessly bizarre Timothy Carey. But despite this eclectic cast, BAYOU was a major flop at the box office. So Ripps recut the film, adding an off-camera rape scene and a new, bloody conclusion to its climatic fight. Of even greater importance was Ripp's new title: POOR WHITE TRASH.