Mansfield 66/67

source: Mansfield 66/67

Good movie!

To like or not to like, THAT is the question! For what this is, it's very good- so I like it, cause it kept me quite enthralled. So, in that sense, this documentary is very likable, but at the same time, it's not a likable story. So, I am torn about "liking" this, but it's like a good horror film. Jayne's story is one of the most interesting of any Hollywood star, and it's so fascinating the way things happened in her life, giving everything a supernatural, eerie, and frankly, scary quality to it. Hers was a real-life horror story- not the morbid, ugly ones of the nightly news, but the fantastical, creepy, theatrical, macabre kind that all the best movie chillers are made of. Who knew that a documentary on sex kitten/blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield would be perfect for the Halloween season?! But it sure is! Oh, how I wish I had a time machine to go back and save her and the others with her on that fateful night from such horrific ends, but alas. Anyone interested in movie stars of the 1950s and 1960s may enjoy this, as well as, oddly enough, anyone interested in the occult, theories, and conspiracy. The creepiness factor is high with this one! R. I. P., dear Jayne,

Pros: The story and discussion therein about Mansfield and LaVey is incredible, especially with this diverse cast of speakers, ranging from in-depth scholars to contemporaries of the period. A great story that deserves to be told. Cons: While the actual meat of the film is great, the rest is less than stellar. The entirety of the film is interspersed with numerous vignettes, dance sequences, cartoons, and recreations of the events depicted, which range from tone-deaf to absolutely cringe-worthy. It looks cheap, it feels forced, it adds nothing of interest to the film, it's poorly timed and janky, the acting is terrible, the editing is abysmal, the subject matter is often in poor taste, and it ultimately destroys the pacing of an otherwise really entertaining story. I would much rather have more footage of Mansfield and LaVey than watch a bunch of after-school actors in wigs stumble through an improv freestyle dance in an empty studio.

The straightforward documentary stuff is fine and does a good job illuminating Jayne, but all the little flourishes i.e.) the dance numbers etc are awful and take you right out. It's like watching bad community theatre actors playing dress up and should have been cut right out. That stuff just doesn't work and takes away from the whole.

The title of this movie refers to the last two years of the turbulent life of Jayne Mansfield, as she careens through bad relationships, addictions, lowered career expectations and, perhaps, membership in the Church of Satan. This movie somehow unites so many of my favorite people, including Kenneth Anger, John Waters, Mary Woronov, Mamie Van Doren, Tippi Hedren, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls star Dolly Read and 1980s pop star Marilyn, all uniting to tell the story of Jayne. Writing/directing/producing team P. David Ebersole & Todd Hughes couldn't get their movie The Devil Made Her Do It made, so they went back to the documentary format that they'd used to make Hit So Hard, Room 237 and Dear Mom, Love Cher. It's somewhat uneven and the music and dance numbers may get some cringe at times, but this is still a fun film. But get ready for some interpretive dance along the way. Did Mansfield have a relationship with Lavey? Does it even matter? The legend is always better than the truth.

Mansfield 66/67 (2017) *** (out of 4) This documentary is being sold as something that takes a look at the last couple years in the life of Jayne Mansfield but the truth of the matter is that the documentary takes a look at whether or not she was a Satanist and whether Anton LaVey had put a curse on her that led to her death. MANSFIELD 66/67 is a rather strange documentary but there's no question that it's quite entertaining in its own way. If people are expecting something taking a look at her films or various other things she was doing during this period then they might be disappointed. These items are briefly covered but the main focus of the picture is on her relationship with LaVey on what curse he might have put on her. For the most part this is an entertaining documentary that has some nice interviews but I think it was a bit over-directed. I say that because there are some animated sequences as well as a lot of clips from movies in no way connected to Mansfield. I thought this took away from the story a bit as they didn't add anything. With that said, it's still fun to see the dark side of her final two years as the film obviously wants to help add to the myth of her dying young.

Even Jayne Mansfield was classier than this, which is saying a LOT. Cut out the bad dancing and music! There are a lot of free Mansfield documentaries on YouTube far better than this. Insufferable.

That's right; interpretive dancing. Picture the documentary you're expecting, then add a scene where a group of college interpretive dancers 'act out the scene'. If you can handle that, the documentary is what you would expect.

Mansfield 66/7 contains a number of interesting contributors (John Waters, Kenneth Anger) and film academics to convey the fascinating, but tragic, life of Janye Mansfield. The documentary covers good ground, with the Anton LaVey sections and footage being particularly insightful (in fact, I would have liked the film to focus much more on the LaVey/Mansfield connection). As such, the US material is compelling (although some unnecessary animated sequences go a bit off track), but the film then bizarrely splices these sequences with dance and 'drama' scenes produced by a group of Leeds-based performance students. While no doubt arty in intent, these sections of the film are distracting, weird, incongrous, shot in a flat cinematic style that jars with the US footage, and are ultimately really quite awful. Why the producers opted for this approach is a mystery, but the UK scenes only serve to undercut the narrative badly. As such, the filmmakers should have replaced them with further or longer relevant interviews and footage that illuminate the life of Jayne Mansfield in the 1966/7 period rather than indulging in telling parts of the tale through interpretative dance, lifeless sketches, and various Leeds folk leaping and capering about in bad blonde wigs.