The Girl Can't Help It

The Girl Can't Help It (1956)

Oh Womanhood. Jayne Mansfield was actually a very intelligent woman and I think it shows. Something about her demeanor in this ridiculous movie comes across. Her body may look like huge Marilyn pin-up competition but you can tell she's more than just a body. It's an entertaining film, if slightly creepy. It's dripping with 1950s stereotypes (men drooling over five million shots of her perfectly cinched in, curvaceous, bodacious bod), but the music is fantastic (performances by Little Richard and Abbey Lincoln, shown below, as well as others) and like I said, Mansfield adds a pinch of something human. I don't mean to bash Marilyn Monroe. I think she was beautiful and not at all untalented but she played such a dumb blonde sometimes, and as a woman, it's easy to feel sorry for her trapped in that character, and wish that she could have dropped that silly high-pitched voice and just acted normal for once.

Suggestive.....? I say so.

Suggestive? ......I say so.

Good Lord.

I read somewhere that this movie influenced John Lennon because of all the music.

Gorgeous lighting. Gorgeous lady. Gorgeous singing.

Also, terribly of note: you know how all your favorite new hip hop songs involve great little tunes/beats? Remember how you loved Kanye West's Golddigger and then realized it was kind of because of Ray Charles. This movie made me realize that Fergie ripped off Little Richard and THAT is why I love that one song she sings sort of kind of. No offense to modern musicians. Let's face it, oldies music kicks some majorly considerable arse.