Films That Time Forgot

The Last Woman On Earth (1960)

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Reviewed by Nathan Rabin
May 28th, 2003

Like all stories of the apocalypse, Roger Corman's The Last Woman On Earth begins at a poorly dubbed Puerto Rican cockfight, where pipe-smoking big shot Antony Carbone is disappointed to learn that his lovely bride (Betsy Jones-Moreland) isn't interested in bird-on-bird violence. Carbone's handsome young lawyer (Robert Towne, who also wrote the screenplay) is similarly unexcited about cockfighting, and he urges his rich client to think more about the law and less about dueling poultry. Carbone brushes off his attorney's advice, which is rendered moot once a global holocaust devastates humanity. Surviving only through their use of ostensibly global-holocaust-safe scuba gear, the trio eventually reaches a similarly apocalypse-proof jungle, whose vibrant green leaves apparently counteract all that radiation. The three then head into town, where they encounter corpses lining the streets, drink heavily, and unsuccessfully attempt to contact any other survivors. Finally, they head to a state-of-the-art villa, where Carbone admonishes Towne not to get all mopey and depressing just because of the possible end of the human race. But Carbone has more to worry about than Towne's bad attitude after the lawyer makes it apparent that he'd have a romantic interest in Jones-Moreland even if she weren't the titular last woman on Earth. Carbone kicks Towne out of the villa, but Jones-Moreland turns the tables on him and runs off with Towne. Carbone tries to win his wife back, leading to an epic round of fisticuffs in which he accidentally kills Towne, in the process eliminating both his romantic rival and one-third of the planet's population.

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