Born Reckless (1958) User Reviews

Rodeo Romance

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 29 June 2013]

Shapely saloon singer Mamie Van Doren (as Jackie Adams) is ogled by many man. After a performance, she is assaulted by a particularly amorous admirer. Handsome rodeo rider Jeff Richards (as Kelly Cobb) saves Ms. Van Doren. She partners up with Mr. Richards and his companion, Arthur Hunnicutt (as "Cool Man"), on the rodeo circuit. Although Richards seems more interested in other women, like Carol Ohmart (as Liz), he and Van Doren become attracted. Van Doren continues to arouse other men with her full, tightly-attired figure and platinum blonde looks. Seeing whether or not they can work it out and settle down is not very exciting.

**** Born Reckless (11/58) Howard W. Koch ~ Mamie Van Doren, Jeff Richards, Arthur Hunnicutt, Tom Duggan

Mamie the cowgirl

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 11 May 2019]

Born Reckless has 50s sex kitten Mamie Van Doren filling out those tight rodeo cowgirl outfits with the bulges in all the right places. She sings and does some trick riding and she's an itinerant performer who makes the acquaintance of Jeff Richards and Arthur Hunnicutt.

These folks are small circuit performers who do it for the love of it. The money is nice though when you win and it hurts just as bad when a bull bucks you off at Cheyenne Frontier Rodeo or at one of these small town events.

Richards enters many events but he can somehow never put together enough money at once so he can buy a piece of land and settle down. And he's not getting any younger. Van Doren has some competition from rich rodeo groupie Carol Ohmart as well.

Some familiar western faces and some forgettable country songs are in this film enough to qualify it as a musical. Not sure if Van Doren's numbers were dubbed or not.

Born Reckless is not up there with really good rodeo films like Junior Bonner or The Lusty Men. But it's still good entertainment cheaply made.

Nice to see a buxom blonde who isn't a femme fatale!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 8 May 2021]

This is an above average musical for Monroe/Mansfield rival Mamie Van Doren who is actually a talented singer, a fairly decent actress and quite likeable. Van Doren travels with the rodeo and sings at local dives, and after her ample figure attracts a lusty tavern owner, she finds herself traveling along side her rescuer (Jeff Richards), a rodeo performer, who on the surface seems like a big brother to her which she finds disappointing. Usually in films like this, the femme fatale is a Diana Dors/Barbara Payton type sexpot, but that job goes to the brunette Carol Ohmart, a bored rich girl who has her sites set on Richards herself. Van Doren wonders what is wrong with her that he hasn't fallen in love with her, but what you see on screen isn't exactly what the leading man is feeling.

The amusing novelty number, "You Gotta Separate the Men from the Boys" is obviously influenced by the styling of Mae West, and Van Doren is actually quite funny in her interpretation. This is actually really surprisingly pleasant with only one cat fight between Ohmart and Van Doren (actually just Van Doren pushing her into a swimming pool), and very sweet, especially when Van Doren, Richards and the grizzly Arthur Hunnicutt spend time at the home of a friendly Mexican family. Van Doren sings the title song and a few other amusing songs extremely pleasantly. The title implies a different theme (just like the other rodeo film, "The Lusty Men"), so what this ends up being really makes it a nice second feature with lots of pleasant moments.

Mamie separates the Men from the Boys...all while playing hard-to-get

[moonspinner55 · 2/10 · 20 August 2015]

Amateur night at the rodeo. As barroom singer Jackie Adams, sort of a fashion-plate cowgirl (her western hat tilted to one side), Mamie Van Doren is dressed to kill, peroxided and puckered for a kiss that never comes. This lady knows her way around a photogenic pose but, unfortunately, she has no personality; when asking someone a simple question, she squints her eyes and quivers her lips as if trying to comprehend the theory of relativity. Van Doren is so stilted on-screen that she's hardly even a presence, yet the drooling cowboys in her path don't seem to notice. Mamie hitches up with a hunky rodeo cowboy and his grizzled cohort, but the so-called screenplay isn't interested in the (often crooked) rodeo circuit. What the filmmakers really want to do is get their sexy starlet into compromising positions (which she then squirms her way out of). Joseph F. Biroc's cinematography is compromised by poor stock shots of rodeo crowds (which must have pained him), and every performance leans toward the extreme: extremely wooden or extremely hammy. Either way, the picture is extremely awful. * from ****

Harmless Fun

[Michael_Elliott · 25 June 2013]

Born Reckless (1958)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Rodeo star Kelly Cobb (Jeff Richards) and singer Jackie Adams (Mamie Van Doren) team up to head across the country getting into various rodeo contests to win money. Usually Cobb takes a beating by not only the bulls but the various men who are constantly trying to get their hands on the sexy Adams. If you're looking for high art then BORN RECKLESS certainly isn't going to be for you but if you're looking for some fun, cheap "B" movie stuff then there's quite a bit here to enjoy. The screenplay really doesn't have too many brains working for it because we've basically got a ten-minute movie that just keeps repeating itself over and over and over again. In fact, we basically have the same thing happen meaning that Cobb and Adams arrive in a new town, he tries to win money, she gets hit on and he has to fight the guy hitting on her. This here is basically the entire movie and it's funny that the screenplay didn't try anything but instead just kept this format going throughout the picture. I really didn't mind the repeat business because it was rather funny seeing all of these guys putting their hands all over Van Doren who would then try to get away only to have to be rescued. I'm sure some might see this as rather sexist entertainment but it's at least got some campy charm to it. Richards and Van Doren don't offer excellent performances but they're good enough for a film like this. The two of them share some nice chemistry together, which helps keep the film moving. Arthur Hunnicutt nearly steals the picture as the sidekick who always has something funny to say. The soundtrack includes a decent song from Tex Williams and Van Doren also gets to do about four different numbers but none of them are memorable. BORN RECKLESS isn't a classic but I think fans of the actors should enjoy it even with all the silly stock footage.

Some odd casting for this picture.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 28 June 2019]

Mamie Van Doren often played bad girls in 1950s films such as "High School Confidential" and "Guns Girls and Gangsters". However, in a strange twist, here she plays a nice girl....something that just seemed weird!

When the story begins, Jackie (Van Doren) is being sexually assaulted by a jerk following a rodeo. Rodeo star Kelly Cobb (Jeff Richards) sees what's occurring and belts the guy...and soon a giant fight breaks out. Kelly, Jackie and Kelly's partner, Cool Man (Arthur Hunnicutt) make their escape and soon the trio are friends and they travel together to other rodeos. However, over time, Jackie is frustrated as she's a nice (and sexy) girl and Kelly chases after a different lady. What's next?

The acting and dialog are pretty silly in this one. My daughter hated it, but I felt it was a watchable time-passer....though seeing Van Doren in such a role seemed silly as did her many (too many) musical numbers. For Van Doren fans mostly.

The Sad Mamie Van Doren

[arfdawg-1 · 1/10 · 17 January 2022]

First the movie -- it stinks.

It's even bad for a B movie and I'm not sure who the audience is. Western lovers? Early rock and roll lovers? Country music lovers? Sex bomb lovers? Or just those with really really low standards.

Mamie was a third rate Monroe and never hit it big because she couldnt act.

For the last number of years she's been on Facebook trashing Trump and pretending she's still hot.

She's ninety and can barely walk, but she publishes candid photos from years ago of her walking around her home in the OC. They are all staged and someone helps her after the pic is taken.

It's really sad she's clinging to a lifestyle that hasnt existed for her in 60 years.

Entertaining musical in which Mamie Van Doren's great lungs are put to good use

[Ed-Shullivan · 7/10 · 2 June 2020]

I was pleasantly surprised in how entertaining Born Reckless was. The on screen chemistry between lead actor Jeff Richards and Mamie Van Doren was obvious. The film reminded me a bit of the earlier 1956 film Bus Stop which also starred three main characters being the sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, and the veteran actor Arthur O'Connell. In Born Reckless the resemblance of the three main stars being Jeff Richards, Mamie Van Doren and veteran actor Arthur Hunnicutt to the earlier successful film Bus Stop was no mere coincidence.

Mamie Van Doren was not only nice eye candy to watch but she could really sing and she showed us how good her singing lungs actually were by singing several entertaining numbers throughout this romantic musical. There certainly was a lot of teasing going on between Jeff Richards and Mamie Van Doren but we can all relate to our significant others appearing jealous from time to time now can't we?

Jeff Richards is a rodeo star named Kelly Cobb trying to make just enough stake money to settle down and purchase his own ranch and raise cattle but Mamie Van Doren who plays Jackie Adams one of Kelly's love interests is worried that Kelly will stay in the rodeo game too long and end up a cripple as other rodeo stars had not known when enough was enough.

This is a fun movie that is well acted, with some entertaining tunes, and of course with Mamie Van Doren being the one belting out the hit songs, who wouldn't enjoy this film? I give it a 7 out of 10 IMDB rating. I will be looking to watch it again on TCM sometime soon too!

Mamie wows em in saddle bum oprey

[hollywoodshack · 5/10 · 8 December 2022]

Mamie has about five good Country song and dance numbers while worrying about her man, Kelly Cobb, a rodeo champ who has been drawn into the clutches of another woman (Carolyn Jones) Bland and polished with the big studio budget as they come. It's curious why an A grade studio like Warner Brothers decided to run with such a slim B grade rodeo opera. Without James Dean, they were no doubt trying to repeat Fox's success with Marilyn Monroe. Nice rodeo riding tricks help pad the time of a predictable show with a rather tame story book ending. One rock n roll number might have you laughing quite a lot..

Three Big Assets

[boblipton · 7/10 · 21 June 2013]

This is a pretty good feature about some rodeo competitors and its best assets are a typically amusing hayseed performance by Arthur Hunnicutt, some sharp black and white rodeo competition photography by Joseph Biroc and Mamie van Doren's shiny blouse.

A good script allows the actors to give good performances, including Miss van Doren, who was often used as little more than a peroxide job and a large, pointy bra. A sense of anomie suffuses the production as everyone grabs a few happy moments in a tough, dying world. The following year's THE MISFITS, starring another pneumatic platinum blonde is acclaimed, but this unassuming second feature makes the same points and has more range.

Took me by Surprise. Wonderful, Authentic Rodeo movie Mamie Van Doren a real talent

[rebeccax5 · 10/10 · 22 June 2022]

The mediocre reviews might dissuade others from seeing this little Rodeo film, musical.

It's corny and not deep thinking, but it's real and the musicians are actually playing their instruments. Hank Williams and others sing, and Mamie Van Doren is terrific! Authentic Rodeo movie.

Horse people, Rodeo people, Trick riders, and barn bunnies might see themselves in this classic.

rodeo film from 1950s.

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 4 June 2019]

A typical rodeo film. fistfights, bronc riding. ten gallon hats. Stars mamie Van Doren and Jeff Richards. Van Doren has a VERY interesting bio on imdb, if you have a couple minutes... makes for a fun read. pretty x-rated. Richards had a much quieter life; had started as a baseball player, but moved into acting after getting an injury. Some songs sung in the nightclubs. maybe some of them were actually sung by VanDoren. Arthur Hunnicutt is the sidekick. Hunnicutt was oscar nominated for Big Sky... always played the western character, and usually with the big beard. When Kelly (Richards) meets interloper Liz (Carol Ohmart), things get tense. Will that put an end to Jackie? (VanDoren) This Warner Brothers film has many similarities to UA's The Misfits (Gable, Monroe), but Reckless was first! Misfits would come a couple years later, with bigger stars, but the stories are almost the same. Reckless written by Richard Landau... had started out by writing short documentaries; worked up to films and then television series. little bits and pieces of various shows. Directed by Howard Koch; had some pretty big achievments in his life: was president of the Academy, was head of production at Paramount Studios, and was VP of Sinatra Enterprises. not a bad life!

Romance on the Rodeo Circuit

[atlasmb · 6/10 · 28 September 2014]

Kelly Cobb (Jeff Richards) is a cowboy who travels the rodeo circuit. This All-American hunk might resemble Clark Kent, but he knows his way around the ladies. Jackie Adams (Mamie Van Doren) is a trick rider who finds time to sing in the dance halls of the cow-towns on the tour. With her platinum hair and her voluptuous figure, she attracts men even when she is not trying--frequently requiring Kelly to rescue her.

With its rock and roll music and its obligatory fistfights, "Born Reckless" might be another vehicle for Elvis Presley. Although most of the music is performed by someone "on stage", note that Van Doren sings one ballad (backed by an orchestra and choir) on a front porch, lamenting the fact that it's difficult to be patient when a girl is waiting for her man to settle down. So, this film has some elements of a musical.

It also has rodeo stock footage, a lame ending, and a plot as predictable as a poolside fight. Ostensibly it's a story about dreams for the future, but it's mostly a chance for viewers to ogle the two stars. The story is not compelling, but--surprisingly--Mamie's voice sounds pretty good in a couple of her numbers.