Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw is a 1976 film directed by Mark L. Lester.
The "outlaw" is Lyle Wheeler, a young drifter who occasionally participates in quick-draw competitions but doesn't seem much interested in getting a job. He steals a sweet 1970 Ford Mustang just for the heck of it and, after pulling into some dusty town in the southwest, notices a car hop named Bobbie Jo. The gloriously sexy Bobbie Jo (Lynda Carter in her film debut) doesn't much enjoy being a car hop and is tired of the nagging from her useless alcoholic mother Hattie. Lyle doesn't even have to ask for Bobbie to come with him; instead she hops into his car and tells him to drive off.
In another dusty New Mexico town they meet Bobbie's friend Essie, who eagerly joins them. When they nearly get arrested for grand theft auto, they seek out Bobbie's stripper sister Pearl (Merrie Lynn Ross) for advice. This proves to be a mistake. Pearl's boyfriend Slick asks Lyle for a ride, but as it turns out he wanted a ride so he could rob the payroll of a trucking business. When the security guard gives chase, Lyle winds up shooting him in the head. Now all five members of their little group are wanted fugitives. Eventually they become a full-on criminal gang.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: A couple of times Pearl starts getting a bit Lady Macbeth, criticizing her boyfriend for letting Lyle lead them, and criticizing Slick for giving Lyle some of the $50 to pay the farmer. Slick blows her off and nothing ever comes of it.
- Anti-Hero: Five rebellious young people crisscross New Mexico, stealing cars and robbing banks. Along the way they do stuff like murder a security guard, murder another security guard, slit a man's throat as he begs for mercy, and rob a gun store and shoot up the people that chase after them. (It's lovely Bobbie Jo who fills a guy full of lead from an automatic weapon, then shouts "I made him dance!" as the gang speeds away.)
- Artistic License – Law: The only thing he's wanted for is auto theft, but Lyle justifies his decision to speed away from the cop by saying "They hang car thieves in this country!" No, no they don't.
- Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Bobbie Jo is a Ms. Fanservice who spends the entire movie wearing either halter tops or shirts tied up under her breasts to show off her midriff.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: In the scene where Bobbie Jo comes home from work, she starts off by calling her mom "mama", but as Mom continues to nag at her an irritated Bobbie Jo starts calling her "Hattie". When Bobbie Jo brings Pearl home towards the end of the film, Pearl, who clearly has no use for her mother, calls her "Hattie" throughout.
- Dramatic Irony: The foursome spends some time hiding out in a barn. Mr. Potts the genial farmer bids them goodbye and says "Ain't those nice kids? Why they'd never hurt anybody." This is after the "nice kids" have committed multiple murders.
- Every Car Is a Pinto
- A cop crashes his car, but the car lands upright on its wheels and the cop is able to get out. Then, the car bursts into flames.
- Somehow, after the gang has made their escape from the trailer park, the trailer they were in bursts into flames.
- Fanservice Extra: The two topless strippers at the strip club where Bobbie Jo and Lyle meet Pearl.
- Fixing the Game: Lyle wins $40 by beating some guy at pinball, but he, Bobbie Jo, and Essie have to beat a hasty retreat after the man and his friends accuse him of cheating and pull out knives. After they're safe on the road Lyle admits that he was cheating, with a magnet in his hand that he used to yank the ball around.
- Foreshadowing
- When they are first getting to know each other and Bobbie Jo asks Lyle whom he admires, Lyle says Billy the Kid. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Lyle will meet a bad end.
- Not long after they've gone away together Lyle teaches Bobbie Jo how to shoot. Naturally this also becomes important later.
- Idiot Ball:
- Lyle meets a leather goods salesman at a gas station. The leather goods salesman, bragging about the leather interior of his car, invites Lyle to sit in the car. He then gives Lyle the keys so Lyle can start the engine and feel it purr. Lyle proceeds to drive away with the car.
- The barber called a deputy, who brings his shotgun and gets the drop on Lyle and Slick. Does the deputy tell the barber to call for backup? No, he hands the gun to the weak, terrified barber while he calls for backup. Lyle and Slick jump the barber and take the gun.
- Lingerie Scene: Merrie Lynn Ross doesn't have a nude scene like Lynda Carter but Pearl is wearing a nightie when she's tending to Slick's gunshot wound, and she strips to bra and panties to go swimming.
- Magical Native American: Lyle, Bobbie Jo, and Essie sit naked in a pond somewhere with a Magical Native American they call "Grandfather" who passes out magic mushrooms; Lyle has a vision. Amusingly, the film doesn't bother to explain how they met Grandfather or happened to trip on 'shrooms with him, and after the movie cuts to the next scene Grandfather is never seen again.
- Ms. Fanservice: Lynda Carter, everybody! Toplessness from the Back, bare midriff, Skinnydipping, two sex scenes, and spending most of the movie wearing shirts that are unbuttoned and tied up under her breasts.
- Name and Name: Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw
- No-Tell Motel: The fugitive foursome gets a room at a motel that advertises "XXX Movies" and Deep Throat on the sign out front, and "Hot sex films" and "Hourly rates" at the reception desk.
- Police Are Useless: The gang is chased by a sheriff and his cops, who are both brutal and amazingly incompetent. In one scene, after Essie has phoned the sheriff and told him where they are, they corner the gang in a trailer. However, they simply fail to block the trailer park's exit, allowing the gang to escape, and that's after they shoot Essie In the Back by accident. Later they think they have cornered our anti-heroes in a sleazy motel. The sheriff demands their surrender via megaphone, and, after the gang doesn't answer, the cops pour a hail of bullets into the room. Turns out the desk clerk got confused and gave them the wrong room. They kill three innocent people.
- Shout-Out: A pretty obscure one for this cheesy 70s exploitation film. The deputy who temporarily gets the drop on Lyle and Slick in the barbershop identifies himself as "Abel Gance
." - Skinnydipping: Lyle, Bobbie Jo, Essie, and a Magical Native American relax naked in a pond somewhere and drop mushrooms.
- Spiteful Spit:
- The asshole sheriff, trying to intimidate the leader of the hippie commune, spits tobacco juice into whatever the hippie leader is having for breakfast.
- Bobbie Jo spits at the sheriff as she's being hauled away at the end.
- Stupid Crooks: Lyle and Slick are not the brightest.
- Lyle had no idea Slick was going to rob that office, but he still shoots the security guard in the head (and that was after he failed to notice Slick acting shifty and holding something inside his jacket).
- After they are wanted for multiple counts of murder, they decide to both get shaves in a barber shop, which allows a sheriff's deputy to get the drop on them. Then, after they turn the tables, they could have tied the deputy and the barber up and gotten away, or they could have kidnapped the deputy and the barber and forced them to help the gang get away. Instead, Slick chooses to 1) slit the deputy's throat and 2) leave the barber behind alive as a witness to the murder.
- They escape the trailer park, but Essie is killed. Instead of just, you know, driving to a different state, Lyle decides to become a bank robber and terrorize the area just to piss the sheriff off.
- Threesome Subtext: Essie sure is quick to join Lyle and Bobbie Jo on their adventures. They're never shown having sex, but they do go skinnydipping together, and the scene at the trailer park establishes that they share a bed.
- We Interrupt This Program: The pop music on the radio cuts to "We interrupt this program to bring you a special bulletin," which is how the gang knows that Lyle's car was seen at the shooting and they are now wanted for murder.
- You Can Leave Your Hat On: Bobbie Jo says her sister works in "show business". She works at a strip club, which is where they find her.
