I watched this as a sort of, and I emphasize "sort of", companion piece to 'Where the Crawdads Sing'. 1961's 'Poor White Trash' is really just a re-edit of the 1957 film 'Bayou', featuring a new theme song, more provocative title and advertising campaign, and some mildy erotic body double shots inserted.
A bland romance between a New York architect visiting New Orleans for a job (Peter Graves) and a local Cajun girl (Hungarian-American actress Lita Milan, who would serve briefly as the First Lady of the Dominican Republic around the time this re-edit would come out). Things are complicated for the couple by a crooked store owner with the hots for Lita played by Timothy Carey, who was the Tom Green looking solder executed for cowardice in Stanley Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory'.
Peter is a passive type himself, which he blames fot his inability to get ahead in life ( loseing the contact he was in New Orleans to get because of a lack of gusto). However when Lita is sufficiently threatened he finds his courage and Timothy ends up with a hatchet in his back. There's something off about the message. This is a mostly bland picture whose chief virtues are loction shooting and Timothy Carey's suitably weird performance. *1/2
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