Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter

Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter DVD Box Art
Directed by	William Beaudine
Produced by	Carol Case
Written by	Carl K. Hittleman
Starring	John Lupton Narda Onyx Estelita Rodriguez Cal Bolder Jim Davis
Music by	Raoul Kraushaar
Cinematography	Lothrop B. Worth
Editing by	William Austin
Distributed by	Embassy Pictures
Release date(s)	1966
Running time	83 min.
Language	English

Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter is a low-budget western/horror hybrid film filmed in 1966, in which a fictionalized version of the real-life western outlaw Jesse James encounters the fictional granddaughter (the movie's title notwithstanding) of the famous Dr. Frankenstein. The film was originally released as part of a double feature with Billy the Kid vs. Dracula.

Cast

• John Lupton .... Jesse James
• Narda Onyx .... Dr. Maria Frankenstein
• Estelita Rodriguez .... Juanita Lopez (as Estelita)
• Cal Bolder .... Hank Tracy/Igor
• Jim Davis .... Marshal MacPhee
• Steven Geray .... Dr. Rudolph Frankenstein
• Rayford Barnes .... Lonny Curry
• William Fawcett .... Jensen, the pharmacist
• Nestor Paiva .... Saloon Owner
• Roger Creed .... Butch Curry
• Rosa Turich .... Nina Lopez
• Felipe Turich .... Manuel Lopez
• Fred Stromsoe
• Dan White .... Pete Ketchum
• Page Slattery
• Mark Norton

Plot

Dr Frankenstein’s grandchildren Maria and Rudolph have moved to the American West, in order to use the prairie lightning storms in their experiments on unwilling victims. After a number of failures, Rudolph is finding it increasingly difficult to hide the trail of bodies. Down the road, Mañuel Lopez, his wife Nina, and their daughter Estelita decide to leave town because of the frequent disappearances.

Two gunslingers come to town, Hank Tracy, a dimwitted lug, and Jesse James, the infamous outlaw. Meeting up with the head of a local gang, they join up with the intention of stealing $100,000 from the next stagecoach. However, a gang member named Lonny decides to go to the sheriff and lets them know about the plot in exchange for becoming his deputy. So as the robbery begins, the sheriff and his men shoot the two remaining members of his gang and seriously wound Hank.

Jesse and Hank escape and stop at the Lopez's campout to tend to Hank's wound and sleep until the morning. During the middle of the night, Estelita wakes up Jesse and Hank and leads them back to town to the Frankensteins' house to fix up Hank. Maria agrees to help, but her plan is to use Hank as another one of her experiments. After sending Jesse to the town pharmacist with a note, she begins operating on Hank, giving him a new brain and bringing him back to life. Rudolph tries to poison Hank, now called Igor, and Maria orders Igor to strangle Rudolph.

Jesse gives the pharmacist the note, which actually reveals his identity and tells the pharmacist to call the sheriff. Jesse manages to escape, killing deputy Lonny in the process. When he returns to the Frankensteins' house, Igor incapacitates him and ties him up.

Realizing Jesse is in trouble, Estelita sends the sheriff to the house, where he finds Jesse and prepares to take him for the reward. But Maria sends Igor to crush the sheriff. During the scuffle, Estelita frees Jesse and tries to escape. Maria orders Igor to go kill Estelita, but Igor strangles Maria instead and goes after Jesse. Estelita gets Jesse's gun and kills Igor.

The next morning, as Jesse buries Hank, Estelita pleads with him to stay and live with her, but Jesse, knowing that he's a fugitive, rides off with the sheriff, who wasn't killed by Igor.

In other media

The movie is featured (in edited form) in an episode of This Movie Sucks! in which Ed the Sock, Liana K and Ron Sparks make fun of it. It is a double feature paired with the pilot episode of The Master.The film is also featured on "Elvira's Movie Macabre"

See also

• Weird West

External links

• Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter at the Internet Movie Database
• Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter at AllRovi
• Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter at The Cinema Snob