CELEBRATING 70 YEARS! : THE WILD WOMEN OF CHASTITY GULCH .. WARNER TELEVISION . . USA 1982 ..

 

ABC PRODUCTIONS
Presents
An AARON SPELLING Production

THE WILD WOMEN OF CHASTITY GULCH

Starring

JOAN COLLINS as Annie Mc Culloch

PRISCILLA BARNES as Maggie Mc Culloch

HOWARD DUFF as Colonel Isaacs

PAMELA BELLWOOD as Sarah

PHYLLIS DAVIS as Sugar Harris

JEANETTE NOLAN as Gertrude

MORGAN BRITTANY as Lannie

DONNY OSMOND as Frank Isaacs

LEE HORSLEY as Captain John Cain

LISA WHELCHEL as Amy Cole

Director of Photography - Richard L Rawlings A.S.C

 Teleplay by Earl W Wallace

  Art Director - Paul Sylos

   Edited by Patrick Kennedy

    Costumes by Nolan Miller

      Music by Frank DeVol and Tom Worrall

         Executive Producer -Aaron Spelling

           Produced by Shelley Hull

             Directed by Philip Leacock 

(c) 1982 ABC WARNER TELEVISION  100 MINS COLOUR

A group of gutsy ladies must band together to protect their town during the civil war, when all the men go off to fight. Things hot up, when a female doctor Maggie McCulloch arrives in town to visit her Aunt Annie. She soon discovers that Annie runs the local brothel! But Annie has not got long to live and vows to protect her girls, with the aid of her no nonsense niece.. The scene is set for a battle.. Who's sole winners will be The Wild Women Of Chastity Gulch!!

Joan with Priscilla Barnes

During her annual hiatus from filming 'Dynasty', Joan made a series of tv movies, appearing here in a guest role.This 1982 effort, produced by Aaron Spelling features a veritable who's who of 80's television. Joan plays the local madame in a small town during the civil war and brings a touch of glamour to the wild west! But then again most of the star cast are hardly wallflowers!

Joan with Susan Kellerman, Morgan Brittany, Phyllis Davis & Priscilla Barnes

'Three's Company' star Priscilla Barnes stars as the new arrival in town, who ruffles more than a few feathers. Other familar faces include 'Dallas' star Morgan Brittany, famous as the evil Katherine Wentworth on the classic night time drama. Phyllis Davis who appeared in the classic Aaron Spelling crime drama 'Vegas' plays a typical goodtime girl called Sugar! With few moments of drama, including Joan's death scene, the film has a few moments of comedy, not sure if this was intended! Joan's 'Dynasty' co-star Pamela Bellwood and 'Matt Houston' star Lee Horsley also appear..

Joan with Howard Duff

There is little background info regarding the film, as it was a tv movie, largely forgotten about now, is still worth a look for it's always entertaining cast. Donny Osmond turns up as a wounded soldier who grabs the attention of the ladies.. Joan would team up with Donny many years later in the video version of the hit musical 'Joesph'.. 

Warner Television press sheet

New York Times :

By John J. O'Connor

Oct. 29, 1982

''The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch,'' a Sunday movie on ABC at 9 o'clock, carries one of the more exploitative titles of the season. The women in question are hardly bawdy, never mind wild. And the film features no such place as Chastity Gulch. The action takes place in a Civil War mining town named Sweetwater, Mo. But an Aaron Spelling production is generally reluctant to avoid exaggeration or the promise of violence.

''The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch'' opens with just about all the town's menfolk riding off to join the Confederate Army. They are seen saying goodbye to their wives and sweethearts and then, somewhat sheepishly, waving to the flashier women gathered on the balcony of Annie's School of Dance. In addition to being madam of the bordello, Annie, played with lots of hard-edge makeup and hair spray by Joan Collins, owns half the town through the generosity of her clients. The ''good'' women may detest her, but they can't get rid of her.

As the men are leaving, Maggie (Priscilla Barnes) is arriving, direct from medical school in Baltimore. Maggie is Annie's niece, but she has no idea where the money for her tuition has been coming from. After seeing the house and meeting Annie's girls, Maggie is ready to get out fast, but her aunt, who turns out to be fatally ill, persuades her to stay on for six months. In no time at all, Maggie finds herself refereeing a knockdown brawl among the women of the town, who find Annie's place a public nuisance, and Annie's girls, who retort with lines like, ''Go hang by your corsets.'' Annie herself keeps reaching for another glass of gin.

Annie finally persuades both sides to try working together to protect the town while the men are away. This tentative arrangement becomes a necessity when a nasty band of Union soldiers, led by a sadistically twitching Howard Duff, rides in. Mr. Duff's son has been wounded, and he is threatening dire reprisals if something isn't done to save him. His men have captured a handsome Confederate physician (Lee Horsley), but he is temporarily disabled. Maggie, of course, will have to perform the operation under the Confederate doctor's guidance. On top of everything else, the wounded son is played by none other than Donny Osmond, who is clearly going to survive when he begins flashing his famous mouthful of teeth

In the end, the women are forced to work together vigorously when the Union villains become threatening again. There is a final noisy shootout, and when the Rebel men return, all of the women seem resigned to sharing them equally. There is a slight hint of orgiastic pleasures to come.

This entire enterprise is one of the more startling curiosities of the season. Also in the cast are Pamela Bellwood, Phyllis Davis, Jeanette Nolan, Morgan Brittany and Lisa Welchel. 

Warner Television press kit sheet

This tv movie is seldom screened outside the USA and to my knowledge has never been on dvd.. As it features a wonderful cast of familar faces, hopefully it may get a release from Warner Archive at some point..