All I know about Jayne Mansfield is that she was considered a low-rent Marilyn Monroe. Their acting talents seem to be pretty much on par, but Mansfield never rose above B-grade pictures. Regardless of the quality of her films, I’m not surprised that men wanted to see her main “talents” on screen, namely the way she fills out tight pants and a bullet bra. Her films are simple trash, mindless fun with cheesy characters and paper-thin plots. People get in trouble and take advantage of each other, flaunting and brawling to a jazzy sixties score. These definitely fall into the “so bad they’re good” category, with acting so hammy to the point of surrealism. In Dog Eat Dog the director tried to make up for the so-so story with lots of experimental framing of the frequent fights and gyrations. Counting the number of times Mansfield exclaims “crackers!” could be a great drinking game. (Did people really say that back then?) She’s less of a presence in Too Hot to Handle, but gets to tease in some snazzy musical numbers and glitzy outfits. Watching Jayne is a guilty pleasure for sure. You can tell she tried her best, but plot doesn’t much matter with focus constantly on her hips and waist. Her films are unintentionally comical and feel dangerous, which is kind of refreshing compared to that other blond bombshell’s expertly-tuned movies and image. And could Marilyn have gone half a film with a black eye and still make it seem sexy?

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