{"id":3624,"date":"2015-08-22T15:07:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-22T15:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sixtiescinema.com\/?p=3624"},"modified":"2015-08-22T15:07:40","modified_gmt":"2015-08-22T15:07:40","slug":"she-will-wrangle-no-more-rip-melody-patterson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/22\/she-will-wrangle-no-more-rip-melody-patterson\/","title":{"rendered":"SHE WILL WRANGLE NO MORE. RIP MELODY PATTERSON"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pretty, blonde Melody Patterson (profiled in my book <em><strong>Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties<\/strong><\/em>) will forever be remembered as shapely cowgirl Wrangler Jane on the cult TV comedy series <em>F Troop<\/em>.\u00a0 Patterson was fresh-faced, feisty and\u00a0a bit reminiscent to real-life western heroine Calamity Jane. \u00a0I loved this show and her on it. Most of the online tributes and obits deservedly concentrate on her success here and her short-lived marriage to actor James MacArthur. However, I love 60s biker movies and going to profile\u00a0her 2 appearances in the genre, which many fans may be unaware of.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"F Troop Season 1 Intro\" width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zVwFADi4Y38?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Proving she could play strong-willed women convincingly, the biker film genre took advantage as Melody\u00a0was cast as a Hollywood starlet in <em>The Angry Breed<\/em> (1968) and a former motorcycle gang member trying to go straight in <em>The Cycle Savages<\/em> (1969).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/AB.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3629\" src=\"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/AB.jpg\" alt=\"AB\" width=\"214\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Melody\u00a0was cast as movie starlet named April whose boyfriend was\u00a0 the leader of a motorcycle gang in the exploitation film, <em>The Angry Breed <\/em>(1968). \u201cDuring the late sixties, Hollywood seemed to be always trying to portray itself as being populated by dope-crazed, LSD-taking, weirdoes,\u201d remarks Patterson.\u00a0 \u201cI think that is what this movie was supposed to be about.\u00a0 But I am not really sure.\u00a0 It is the worst movie ever made.\u201d\u00a0 <em>The Angry Breed<\/em> tried to merge the world of violent bikers with the hip pill-popping Hollywood set but it was not a success.\u00a0 The reviewer in <em>Variety <\/em>noted that the film \u201c[had] the look of a mismatch between an out and out sexploitation item and the type of actioner that has proven such a formula for American International.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though billed fifth, <em>The Angry Breed<\/em> starred Murray McLeod as Johnny Taylor, an actor and Vietnam vet, who has just returned to Hollywood with a script from a writer whose life in saved in battle. (\u201cGood God, Murray wore his pants practically up to his armpits and was supposed to be the <em>big<\/em> hero,\u201d jokes Melody laughing.)\u00a0 Johnny\u2019s attempts to sell the script are unsuccessful.\u00a0 Broke, he begins living on the beach in Malibu where he comes to the rescue of Diane Patton (Lori Martin) who is being harassed by a Nazi-clad biker gang headed by Deek Stacey (James MacArthur).\u00a0 Patton\u2019s father Vance (William Windom), a film producer, is so grateful to Johnny he agrees to finance the film.\u00a0 He hooks Johnny up with greedy homosexual agent Mori Thompson (Jan Murray) whose favorite client is none other than biker Deek who wants to star in the film.\u00a0 Mori convinces Vance to throw a costume party to celebrate the film\u2019s start but he and Deek plot to do away with Johnny.\u00a0 At the party, which turns into a freak-out complete with LSD, Johnny\u2019s leading lady April Wilde (Melody Patterson) pursues him but he wants Diane.\u00a0 A crazed Deek in disguise tries to kill Johnny but he escapes thanks to a diversion caused by Patton\u2019s mute maid.\u00a0 The next day on the set Johnny recognizes Deek and has him thrown off the lot.\u00a0 That night Johnny learns that Vance has pulled his financing since he is unhappy about the budding romance between Johnny and Diane.\u00a0 Furious with her husband, his neglected wife (Jan Sterling) sabotages the cable car that takes Vance down to the beach for his nightly swim.\u00a0 Deek shows up bent on revenge and during the struggle with Johnny ends up in the cable car along with Vance.\u00a0 The car crashes killing Deek while an injured Vance realizes the error of his ways.<\/p>\n<p>Recalling the shoot for <em>The Angry Breed<\/em>, Melody says, \u201cThis fellow\u2019s [David Commons] only credit was a ketchup commercial and he thought he could direct a feature.\u00a0 How he got all of us\u2014it was a good cast\u2014in this movie to begin with I\u2019ll never know. I haven\u2019t the foggiest idea what my character was supposed to be doing and why.\u00a0 I ran around for a week sporting a mustache.\u00a0 It was difficult wearing it trying to flirt with Jimmy MacArthur, who was dressed in a Nazi uniform.\u201d Mustache or not, Patterson was a knockout and got MacArthur\u2019s attention\u2014so much so that they were wed two years later.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/cs.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3627\" src=\"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/cs.jpg\" alt=\"cs\" width=\"182\" height=\"277\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The following year Melody Patterson had a more defined role and gave a convincing performance as Lea a troubled young woman trying to go straight while keeping her distance from her former biker gang in the violent film, <em>The Cycle Savages<\/em> (1969) directed by Bill Brame.\u00a0 Interestingly, the movie was produced by Top 40 deejay Casey Kasem and record executive Mike Curb, who later became the lieutenant governor of California.\u00a0 As the trade ads proclaimed, \u201cHot steel between their legs\u2026The wildest bunch on wheels!\u201d\u00a0 The film also featured a great exploitation cast including Bruce Dern, Chris Robinson, Scott Brady, Gary Littlejohn and Maray Ayres. Though panning the film, <em>Variety<\/em>\u2019s critic commented that \u201cthe whole cast really tries.\u201d\u00a0 Melody remarks, \u201cBruce Dern was wonderful and an absolutely an exciting actor.\u00a0 Chris Robinson and I had the same manager so we knew each other pretty well.\u00a0 I loved the director because he was an editor and knew what he was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/0YSkQTSiaQQ<\/p>\n<p>An artist named Romko (Chris Robinson) gets on the bad side of crazed gang leader Keeg (an intense Bruce Dern) for sketching him and his outlaw bikers as they terrorized the patrons of a hamburger drive-in.\u00a0 Keeg is determined to retrieve Romko\u2019s sketches because they could incriminate him and his renegade roughnecks in a white slavery operation they run.\u00a0 They slash Romko\u2019s midsection and his neighbor Lea nurses him after Keeg threatens her to keep Romko away from his apartment.\u00a0 To stall Romko, Lea allows the artist to draw her nude while the gang ransacks his pad looking for his drawings. Lea falls for Romko and they make love but when the police come to investigate his attack they reveal that Lea was a decoy for the gang and was pressured to distract him.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Keeg and his gang have coerced a high school girl over to their lair where they give her LSD and gang rape her.\u00a0 After being rejected by Lea, the bikers capture Romko and torture him by squeezing his hand in a vise.\u00a0 A pistol-packing Lea arrives to save him but she lacks the courage to shoot anyone.\u00a0 As the police close in, the gun is grabbed by biker chick Sandy (Maray Ayres), who chases a fleeing Keeg and shoots him dead.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/cs2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3628\" src=\"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/cs2.jpg\" alt=\"cs2\" width=\"1024\" height=\"567\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a better experience working on <em>The Cycle Savages<\/em> than <em>The Angry Breed<\/em> though I can\u2019t say it was a better movie,\u201d comments Patterson.\u00a0 \u201cI was in the midst of my Method acting period and it seemed like everybody was taking long pauses before saying their lines.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t like doing nudity but I agreed to do a back shot and a love scene.\u00a0 That is when I found out that I had a curvature of the spine.\u00a0 My mother was on the set to make sure everything was on the up and up. It was done with the utmost care and on a closed set.\u00a0 What I found amusing the most was that the sketch of me drawn by Chris\u2019 character was a lot bustier than I was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RIP Melody Patterson. You will be missed.<\/p>\n<p>For more on Melody Patterson, link below to purchase my book\u00a0<em><strong>Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"1170\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.com\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_9cnUowUdl8g2Qj&#038;asin=B00BL8V2ZC&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pretty, blonde Melody Patterson (profiled in my book Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties) will forever be remembered as shapely cowgirl Wrangler Jane on the cult TV comedy series F Troop.\u00a0 Patterson was fresh-faced, feisty and\u00a0a bit reminiscent to real-life western heroine Calamity Jane. \u00a0I loved this show and her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}