“All good little girls are bad once in a while.”
Ron and June Ormond’s The Exotic Ones (1968) can be summed up by a single shot that proceeds the opening credits. In a close-up of a newspaper is a headline about a “swamp monster” that has killed again. Then, after a few seconds, the newspaper is pulled out of frame to reveal behind it a beautiful woman dancing with tassels glued to her nipples.
The Exotic Ones is a film of two halves. On the one hand its a film about a shady strip club run by a small time hood named Nemo (Ron Ormond) and Bunny (June Ormond) while on the other hand it’s a monster movie. The bayou is juxtaposed with the Bourbon Street nightlife and vice-versa. When the two come together in the third act of The Exotic Ones the Ormond’s take their cues from King Kong (1933) for a slam-bang finish.
The Exotic Ones opens as a travelogue comprised of stock footage of the New Orleans night life. This prologue is narrated of course and works to set the scene for the Bourbon Street location and Nemo’s ties to organized crime. But as the credits roll the stock footage changes to nature pictures shot out in the bayou. As titles roll by the Ormonds dramatize the first of the swamp monster’s (Sleepy LaBeef) attacks.
The first act of The Exotic Ones takes place entirely in Nemo’s club. Women are auditioning for a place in the act with the hope of revitalizing nightly attendance. The Ormonds show one act after another, introducing all the players. It is here that the scheme to catch the swamp monster and put him in an act with Georgette Dante is born. In the second act the film focuses on the hunt for the swamp monster led by teenaged guide Timmy (Tim Ormond). Shots on a soundstage are intercut with stock footage of gators and birds.
The film is padded with strip routines and nature footage; offering both spectacles in ample abundance. Even the third act, which traditionally is the most action packed, is padded out with acts the include the harmonica stylings of the Mulcays. The Exotic Ones is a product made for the local drive-in movie circuit and as such it includes a set of pre-requisite spectacles that range from a poorly staged cat fight to a rampaging big foot type of monster.
The charms or art of a film like The Exotic Ones is in how the authors of the film go about creating a film comprised of these pre-requisite scenes. The Ormonds, by casting themselves, have inadvertently added a reflexive layer to the proceedings. As Nemo and Bunny, Ron and June are playing purveyors of sleaze in a film designed to capitalize on rather sleazy spectacles. Fittingly, The Exotic Ones would be the last film of this ilk that the Ormonds made before turning their sights to religious pictures exclusively.
