BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA

Filmed in five days , BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA (1966) is a thoroughly craptastic waste of time. This western/horror hybrid has the production values of  GUNSMOKE (actually, GUNSMOKE looked better) combined with all of the sheer, naked horror of an episode of SCOOBY-DOO.

This cheap exploitation quickie was helmed by legendary director William "One Shot" Beaudine. Billy Beaudine got his start in the silent era and he was well known for knocking out films quickly, shooting the majority of scenes in one take. BILLY shows this admittedly efficient method of film making with all of the exterior shots taking place in the same location (the Corriganville Movie Ranch in California) and a handful of sets at Paramount Studios. Shoot the exteriors one day, all of the saloon scenes the next, all of the cave scenes on Wednesday, etc. Oh, that action sequence where a stagecoach is pursued by Indians on horseback? That's lifted from another movie.

The legend is that when the production would stop for lunch, star John Carradine would take his break at a bar down the street from the studio. He'd go in in full Dracula costume and make-up, belt down a few stiff drinks and return to the set for an afternoon's work. I suspect Beaudine tried to get the majority of Carradines' scenes shot before lunch.

BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA was shot at the same time and on the same sets and location as its' companion western/horror film JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER The shoot for both films lasted eight days. The two were released on a double bill. I haven't seen JESSE but after sitting through BILLY once, I'll pass.

You know a movie is bad when the only other recognizable name actor in the cast besides Carradine is Virgina (Mrs. Olsen!) Christine. Billy is played the incredibly stiff Chuck Courtney, while the object of Dracula's desire is Melinda Plowman, a cute blonde with girl-next-door appeal whose hair styles belong more to the 1960s than the 1860s. The script plays fast and loose (really, could it play any other way?) with established cinematic vampire lore with Dracula often appearing in broad daylight in several scenes.

The scariest thing about BILLY is this. John Carradine, who was pushing sixty at the time this film was made, lusts after a young woman who is stated to be all of eighteen-years-old in the script. Of course, actress Plowman is older than that but the sight of Carradine literally slobbering with lust and desire over a girl young enough to be his granddaughter is sad and repellent. I know, I know, he's supposed to be a vampire but let's face it, he's really just a creepy old man with a drinking problem.