1964: Advance to the Rear

STELLA STEVENS

Martha Lou Williams seems to be a brothel maiden...

But she's really a confederate spy, playing up to the Union soldiers...

One of her confederates wants to be chummy on the ship...

So she throws him over-board...

Sneak attack...

Turning the tables on a captor...

One of SS' more powerful roles, she continually out-smarts, out-maneuvers and frustrates all males who try to control her, including the man that loves her, Glenn Ford... In  the easy-going mood of this amiable comedy some rather startling character/plot points are casually introduced with the mores of 1964 showing a definite cultural shift: there's no pretense she's a showgirl or party girl - it's clear she's a prostitute... And rather than a demure Southern Belle dependent on the "kindness of strangers," she's an aggressive Vixen who pushes men around, clubs them over the head, tricks and pulls guns on them, a FemmeForce to be reckoned-with... Because this is such an easy-going comedy, she does wind up giving into the man she loves, but there's a clear indication Femmes-as-Enemies were indeed changing for the mid-60s...

Archetype(s): Dupetress - Vixen

Paraphilia(s): Conkaphilia ; Emasculaphilia