Once Upon A Time In Mexico- Barbara Stanwyck’s Jeopardy

 

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

DVD Review

Jeopardy, starting Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, MGM, 1953

Okay, take your normal average all-American 1950s family of three (mother, father, and junior), a nice convertible, maybe a Ford with a big engine, and let them take a little trip down Mexico way, actually Baja California but close enough. Nothing is going to happen to them except maybe some excess sun rays, bad water and bug bites, right?  No way is your normal average all-American family of three (mother, father, and junior), with a nice convertible, maybe a Ford with a big engine, going to have to test the outer limits of marital fidelity. No way, right? Except that is exactly the crisis the wife (and mother), played by Barbara Stanwyck confronts, and by implication every serious wife, in this taut little B-film black and white drama, Jeopardy. And it wasn’t pretty confronting that limit. Not one bit.             

So here is the scoop that got to that home truth moment. Our little family set off with great expectations for a nice little camping and fishing trip so that junior could learn about the great outdoors and the clan could get away from stuffy civilization for a couple of weeks. And things went fine until they got to an old pier and junior, as most juniors will, decided to explore its ramparts. His foot got caught in one of the rotting boards and Dad, Barry Sullivan, had to go rescue him. That part was fine except on return a plank gave loose and Dad had his foot stuck under a falling timber. Several futile attempts were attempted to free him but it is not use so Mom has to go back to a ranch gas station that had passed to get some rope and maybe some help. Oh yah, that place where dad landed, well, the tide was coming in, coming in fast so Mom had better be quick.    

And she was, almost. Almost except she ran into a freaky American convict on the run at the ranchero who has other ideas. He wanted to get away, and use Mom as a hostage, stooge. What he doesn’t give a damn about was Dad and his rising tide water problem. Well, he didn’t until desperate Mom, ah, offered herself up to him in exchange for saving hubby. A tough, tough choice but she loved her man that much (although don’t tell him that he might not see it exactly the same, the 1950s same way, high water riding or not). After the fiery con saved Dad the Federales came and our con is off.  And Mom had time, plenty of time to think, about what she did for her man. Yah, that is what happened one time, one sunny, explosive time in Mexico.