Female Jungle (1955)
4/10
Wild
9 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Lawrence Tierney plays Detective Sergeant Jack Stevens, a lawman so drunk that he doesn't even remember killing a famous film star. Or maybe he didn't. Life is imitating art here, as Tierney was a complete maniac on the order of a Kinski.

Quentin Tarantino referred to him as "a complete lunatic" and an opportunity to play Elaine's father on Seinfeld ended with him stealing a knife from the set and threatening the life of the show's creator and star. These are minor anecdotes in a life filled with brawls, battles with the law and brilliant acting.

For example, in June of 1975, Tierney was questioned by the NYPD in connection with the apparent suicide of a 24-year-old woman who had jumped from her high-rise window. He told the police, "I had just gotten there, and she just went out the window." This would be strange enough, but Tierney also played a character in the movie The Hoodlum who is suspected of driving a woman into jumping to her death.

Jayne Mansfield shows up as Candy Price, an artist's mistress, and John Carradine plays a tabloid reporter. Kathleen Crowley was the lead; she showed up late one day and claimed that she had been raped, which meant that many of her shots are a double and Mansfield - who was paid $150 for the role and went back to selling popcorn at a movie theater after this - had her part increased.

This noir was directed by character actor Bruno VeSota, who also made The Brain Eaters and Invasion of the Star Creatures.
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