A series of 10 action-comedy films released between 1945 and 1949, this is usually simply called the "Trouble" Series. It features the adventures of Tess Trumbull (played by LEAH MASTERS/ Leighton Meester) who is nicknamed "Trouble"--because that's what she always seems to be in, though she always good intentioned and is always trying to do the right thing, alas, she often finds that difficult to accomplish. Set in the imaginary community of Green Valley, Tess is an orphan who has come to live with her wealthy, if eccentric grandmother Lydia on "The Hill"--the town's "best neighborhood" where she encounters the most prominent group of young women called "The Hill Girls" and are led by LEIGH BLAKE (Blake Lively). However, Tess just as quickly becomes friends with the wrong-side-of-the-tracks young women known as "the River Girls", led by feisty KATHY PERRY. Trying to balance two sets of antagonist friends is hard enough, but what soon earns Tess the nickname "Trouble" is the activities of Hill Girl KAY LEYLAND (Kaley Cuoco) who is jealous of Leigh's friendship with Tess and River Girl HAYDEN .PARNELL (Hayden Panettiere)

 

In addition, former juvenile actresses ANN  ROBERTSON  and JUDY  FIELDER who had appeared in the DONNYBROOK  GIRLS were now deemed mature enough to fight each other more seriously. Interesting Ms. Fielder who had been the orphan girl in the D,G, series now played a spoiled Hill Girl, while Ann was her arch-enemy from the River Girl's. ("We had would have sort of the 'under card to whatever was going on with the older girls,"  Ann once told an D-A Fan Club interviewer, "but we had been waiting for years to show what we could do and I really think some of our fights outshone the stars, especially in the later movies. To get a great screen fight you have to really know and trust the other person, We did and if you understand that, you'll understand why our fights comes off so well." .

 

Remarkably these 7 actresses were with the series for its entire run and though there was usually some shifting of supporting cast plus occasional guest stars, Their work together  is the heart of the series and their ability to handle the physical demands of a D-A style action comedy undoubtedly explains why the series successfully carried on the tradition of THE DONNYBROOK GIRLS to the very end of D-A as an independent studio.

 

       LEAH MASTERS (Leighton Meester)        LEIGH BLAKE (Blake Lively) 

            as Tess ("Trouble") Trumbull                   as Brenda Beresford

     

 

KATHY PERRY (Katie Perry) as "Katie Ryan                                

 

HAYDEN PARNELL (Hayden Panettiere)       KAY  LEYLAND  (Kaley Cuoco)

       As "Hallie Hawkins"                                                  As "Kay Lanyon"            

 

JUDY  FIELDER (JODELLE  FERLAND)       ANN  ROBERTSON (AnnaSophia Robb)

      As "Judy Jordan"                                          As  "Annie Walker" 

 

As the series progressed more characters emerged from the background player. In particular British import EMMA  WATSFORD as ANNE CHATSWORTH, who was happy to be dubbed "English Annie" by the Hill Girls to deferentiate her from the River Girls' "Annie Walker" and ALEXA  ST. JOHN as the redhaired black-wearing Valerie "Spooky" Spaulding, who was always the first one to investigate a haunted house, cave, or warehouse. That she somehow became paired with "English Annie" is a tribute to the chemistry the two generated and helped keep the series fresh in its later installments,

 

EMMA WATSFORD (Emma Watson) (5'4)                  ALEXA  ST. JOHN (Alexz Johnson)

(1946-1949)                                                       (      1946-1949)   (5'4)

 

     As "English Annie" (Anne Chatsworth)                 As   Valerie "Spooky" Spaulding

 

Two other late blooming featured players of the series were HOLLY BENNETT (Haley Bennett)  as "Kit Beresford", the cousin of Hill Girl leader

Brenda Beresford (LEIGH BLAKE/Blake Lively) who comes to live with the Green Valley Beresford and promptly gets into an epic swimsuit fight with newly arrived "Nina Pulaski" (NINA GILBERT), a immigrant cousin of River Girl "Katie Ryan" (KATHY PERRY/Katie Perry). Yet as with many of this series rivalries the two gradually evolve into respect and almost-friendship even though they still fight each other with enthusiasm.

 

HOLLY BENNETT (Haley Bennett) (5'7)         NINA GILBERT (Nina Dubrov) (5'6 1/2)

As  "Kit Beresford"                                          As "Nina Pulaski"

 

THE  FILMS

1) HERE COMES TROUBLE (1946)

2) MORE TROUBLE (1946)

3) TROUBLE DOUBLED (1946)

4) TROUBLE IN THE RING (1947)

5) TROUBLE  ON THE RUN (1947)

6) MAGIC TROUBLE (1947)

7) TOUCHDOWN TROUBLE (1948)

8) TROUBLE TAKES A TRIP (1948)

9) TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1948)

10) TAG TEAM TROUBLE (1949)

 

THE STORIES:

 

(1) HERE  COMES  TROUBLE  (1946) 

 

Tess Trumbull (LEAH MASTERS) arrives in the suburban community of Green Valley following the death of her parents in an unspecified accident to live with her grandmother Mathilda (Tilda) Trumbull. A friendly girl, but with definite ideas of right and wrong, Tess is first introduced to the Hill Girls, young women who live in the "right" part of town. They are led by Brenda Beresford (LEIGH BLAKE). Tess likes the tall, athletic Brenda, but is less pleased with Kay Lanyon (KAY LEYLAND) who resents Tess' friendship with Brenda, a situation that gets worse when Kay dares Tess into a wrestling match that Tess wins ("my Dad always thought a girl should know how to defend herself so he taught me how to wrestle and box.").

 

Later, Tess goes exploring in the town and encounters Katie Ryan (KATHY PERRY) who comes from the wrong side of the tracks. Tess then discovers that Katie is the leader of the "River Girls" who are looked down upon by the Hill Girls. Tess likes Katie and doesn't tell her she's from The Hill, however this is quickly figured out by Hallie Hawkins (HAYDEN PANETTIERE) and her sister Annie (ANN ROBERTSON). Worse, the Hill Girls find out thanks to tattletale Judy Jordan (JUDY FIELDER) that Tess has been seen hanging out with the River Girls. The two groups actually get into a fight arguing over who Tess is supposed spying for, This gets Tess the nickname "Trouble".

 

Then as the hot summer weather rolls in, the Hill Girls who had been expecting to spend the summer around the Country Club pool find themselves banned for fighting. Tess has discovered what she thinks is a perfect, but deserted swimming hole at one end of her grandmother's property, a place called Hidden Cove, It's only when she leads the Hill Girls there that she finds out it's actually the well-kept secret of the River Girls. Since it is grandmother's property, Tess is pressured to have the RG;s evicted, but she knows by now that this is the RG;s one pleasure in Green Valley and doesn't want to do it. So now it looks like all-out war for Hidden Cove and there is at least one pitched battle of bathing suit clad ladies. Finally Trouble offers way out: Brenda and Katie can wrestle to decide who gets the Cove. This is agreed to--but then Tess finds out that Kay is actually concealing an injury and insists on taking her place. It is a rousinfg battle fought in and out of the water. Trouble finally gets the pin, but begs the two sides to share the Cove. They finally agree to this, but each occupies their own half and eye each other warily. Trouble doesn't like this and says she;ll find a way to bring the two sides together yet. Brenda and Katie both tell her she's "Only asking for trouble." Tess smiles and says: "Well, that IS my name now."

 

AS usual with D-A it is the fights scenes that sell the movie. Even though the cast is filled with relative newcomers, they show a real flare for the kind of brawling/wrestling that was the studio's trademark. Of special note, although their parts are small, both Ann Robertson and Judy Fielder showed their years of watching older actresses at D-A had taught them a lot and they would subsequently be granted increasing amounts of fight time on screen. (In the world of D-A to gain extra screen time for your fight scenes was always a sought for prize especially for rising players). They had a particular flare for acrobatics which would grow as the series progresses. ("We both studied Fighting Gymnastics and judo," Judy Fielder explained to an interviewer, "it really made us stand out on film. Frankly. I think some of those Hong Kong martial arts pictures stole our stuff for the guys.")

 

In any case, the studio bosses were delighted with the initial effort and quickly authorized the production of still more films at the rate of 3 releases per year.

 

2) MORE TROUBLE (1946)

 

With essentially the same cast as the first film, the series showed a growing smooth self-confidence. The highlight of this one is the battle royal between the Hill Girls and River Girls for teritorial possession of an old roadhouse that has become the RG's social center. The River Girls have set up a place to dance and listen to records in a property that belongs to Katie Ryan's  (KATHY PERRY/Katie Perry) uncle. Trouble finds out that a number of Hill Girls would like to bring their dates there, including Brenda (LEIGH BLAKE/Blake Lively) and goes to talk to the RG's about it. She is then tricked by the Hallie (HAYDEN PARNELL/Hayden Panettiere) into thinking it's been approved. Meanhwile Hallie lets her sister troublemaker among the HG's Kay know she's fooled Trouble. This allows Kay to warn the other HG's that this could be a trap. Thus when the HG's and their dates arrive andf they are confronted by the RG's, it looks ike Trouble has led them into an ambush. Naturally, a brawl breaks out and a neighbor calls the police. However in one of the more humorous scenes, when the cops arrive they think it must be the guys who were fighting (apparently unaware of what Trouble learned in the first fiilm: "When Green Valley girls fight, guys just get out of the way and wait for it to be over.") so they inspect the guys for signs of fight, while the girls try dersperately to conceal their shredded dresses and disarrayed hair. Fortunately it works, but Tess is, once again in Trouble with everyone.

 

If that weren't enough, it turns out Kay's banker father holds the mortgage on the old roadhouse and it seems Uncle Patrick is behind on his payments. Kay hints she might get Dady to evict the RG's, though the more fair-minded Brenda does not like the idea. However Annie (ANN ROBERTSON/AnnaSophia Robb) and Judy (JUDY FIELDER/Jodelle Ferland) find out Kay and Hallie set Trouble up with Hallie getting slipped money by Kay. Though  Annie's RG and Judy's HG. they like Tess and think the behabior of Kay and Hallie "stinks". They tell everyone . Kay and Hallie loudly deny all, but they can't keep their stories straight and soon end up fighting each other before being banished by both sides.

 

Tess' honor restored, she proposes that the Hill Girls prove themselves worthy with a battle royal in the Roadhouse. Everyone likes this. Next comes one of the series most popular sequences: the girls get ready going through clothes change after clothes change (the HG's having the bigger wardrobes of course) befdore winding up in essentially the same sweat shirt and shorts outfits. ("Jeans would have been more practical, you could pad them and hide the bruises better, but our fans wanted leg so we gave them leg,"  Leah Master explained to a D-A Fan Convention to wild cheers and applause of the fans).

 

What follows is one of the most acrobatic an exciting indoor fights D-A ever did. Girls do flying through the air, but grab something, swing around and go back into the fray. Since the rule is Elimination By Ejection From The Building there are some quite colorful exits through windows and doors. Kay and Hallie try to sneak the back door, but are literally punched by everyone still inside before being hurled out a side door into a big mud puddle. They then start fighting each other again.

 

Af the finale Brenda and Katie throw shove Tess out the door, then fight to the finish which Brenda wins with a flying mare she learned from Judy to propel Katie out the door. She then collapses herself as everyone revoices.

 

Later, all the girls party. Kay and Hallie are still lurking about, but Judy and Annie find a big tub of ice water to pour on them, as Trouble thinks she's finally gotten all the girls together, but the soaked Kay and Hallie seem far from finished.....

                                             

3) TROUBLE DOUBLED (1947)

 

Probably the most fast--paced frantic farce of the entire series. This opens with a new touch: a voice over narrator (KRISTEN BELMONT/Kristen Bell)) who slyly observes: "It's said everyone in the world has an exact double somewhere and some believe if they should happen to meet--trouble follows. Well, as Tess Trumbull, the girl alrerady known to the folks of Green Valley as 'Trouble', found out--'trouble' wasn't the half of what happened when HER double came to town. Like all good scary stories--this one started on a dark and stormy night..."

 

Thunder and lighting, rain pouring down, outside a building labeled RESEARCH DEPARTMENT NO ADMITTANCE, a door suddenly burst open, a young woman in trench coat and rainhat carrying something bursts out. Just as quickly  two white coated women appear in hot pursuit, but the first woman manages to knock them down in the muddy ground. She then jumps into her car. A furious blonde woman (JERI LYNN RYDER/Jeri Ryan) appears in a car and orders her underlings to jump in. There is a wild pursuit through rainswept roads but the fugitive car shoots off a cliff to meet a fiery destruction. The pursuers think she's dead, but the thief is hiding (we never quite see her face due to the rain hat and the darkness), then she climbs into the pack of a passing truck with the GREEN VALLEY FREIGHT CO. on the side.  We see the young woman open the package and check: she pulls out what look like silk stockings and smiles craftily: "Good, Rebecca Raden, you have just struck it rich." We see she looks just like Tess Trumbull (LEAH MASTERS/Leighton Meester).

 

Of course the truck is headed for Green Valley where Rebecca, who is an industrial spy is almost immediately mistaken for Tess and gets parted from the stockings which turn out to be made of a revolutionary "never run" fabric and which could be millions to the holder of the formula which has been printed on the stockings in invisible ink!

 

It doesn't take long for Rebecca to be mistaken for Tess and unfortunately for her it is Tess' two biggest enemies Kay (KAY LEYLAND/Kaley Cuoco) and Hallie (HAYDEN PARNELL/Hayden Panettiere). Angry that now they are outcasts from their former Hill Girl and River Girl associates, they are nevertheless puzzled to see "Tess" climbing out of the back of a truck with a mysterious package. They follow her and attempt to steal the package only to take a nasty beating. Where did Trouble learn all the new moves the bruised pair wonder?

 

Meanwhile the blonde, who turns out to be "Madame LaFleur" finds out no body was found in the wrecked car. Her two underlings (TAYLOR COLT/Taylor Cole & JADE SONG/Brenda Song) go back to the scene and learn a neighbor saw someone climb into a truck headed for Green Valley. The three of them head for the town, but promptly spot Tess and snatch her thinking she is the thief Rebecca.

 

Elsewhere, Rebecca keeps trying to make contact with someone so she can get out of town, but keeps running into people who think she is someone else. After being jumped by Kay & Hallie, she thinks it must be Madame LaFeur's agents after her, so she immediately attacks anyone who approaches her. This includes Brenda (LEIGH BLAKE/Blake Lively). Kate (KATHY PERRY/Katie Perry), Judy (JUDY FIELDER/Jodelle Ferrland) and Annie (ANN ROBERTSON/AnnaSophia Robb). The result is that Tess is now wanted by every Hill & River Girl in town! ("Well, she always said she wanted to bring us together, now she had," Hallie comments nastily as she and Kay are restored to the good praces of the River Girls and Hill Girls respectively).

 

Tess finally escapes from Madame LaFleur and her henchgirls (more fighting) but gets captured by an angry River Girl posse led by Hallie. At the same time the Hill Girls led by Kay finally overwhelm Rebecca. It has been agreed that if the wayward "Tess" is captured she will be brought to the Roadhouse for judgment. Imagine everyone's surprise to disocver there are now two Tess Trumbulls. Just as this is being sorted out Madamae LaFleur shows up

having taken Judy and Annie prisoner after the two saw Tess escaping from their hideout and tried to figure out who they were. Madame LaFluer has brought in three more agents (D-A veteran fighters NICOLE AYERS/Nikki Aycox, MISSY PRESTON/Missy Peregrym; and LAURA PRINCE/Laura Prepon, always welcome to D-A fight fans), so she feels confident in confronting the Green Valley girls at the Roadhouse.

 

Here Madame LaFleur realizes Rebecca has hidden the stockings by wearing them, she has a handy ultraviolet ("black light") projector. She forces Tess and Rebecca to raise their skirts and finds out which one of them is Rebecca. As Madame and her girls struggle with Rebecca, Tess realizes she is near a set of room lights. She turns them off. Chaos enuses, Rebecca almost succeeds in getting out the back way but Tess spots her with the black lamp. She takes off after Rebecca, chases her through the woods down to a creek where she and the spy get into a long, fierce battle that only ends when Rebecca is knocked cold.

 

The local police finally arrive to sort things out. It turns out Rebecca had stolen the formula from the original inventor, then tried to doublecross Madame LaFleur in an argument over her fee. The whole thing is turned over to the Federal authorities where when last we see her Rebecca is industriously scheming to make a deal by turning on her former employers, but not before she tells Tess: "I never want to you see you, your fighting girl friends or this town again!" Tess leans forward and gives her a hard hard punch to the ribs as she whispers: "You ever do come back--I'll back sure no one ever mistakes you for me again." The gasping Rebecca is dragged away the Feds. Meanwhile the chief of police scolds the girls for not just calling the police: "You should leave apprehending criiminals to the professionals. It's just not fitting for young girls to go around subduing criminals and such." The River and Hill Girls manage to nod politely and assure the officer they won't do it again.

 

(And interesting installment--the face pace--and farcial story make the 65 minute running time fly by. The addition of Madame LaFleur and her henchwomen seem to have been added to give the Green Valley Girls some "new faces" to fight.

GUEST CAST:

 

  JERI LYNN RYDER (Jeri Ryan) as                             LEAH MASTERS (Leighter Meester as

              "Madame LaFluer"                                                  "Rebecca Raden"

 

 

As Madame LaFleur's Henchwomen:

NICOLE AYERS (Nikki Aycox)                    TAYLOR COLT (Taylor Cole)

 

 

     MISSY PRESTON (Missy Peregrym)                                                          LAURA PRINCE (Laura Prepon)

 

 

JADE SONG (Brenda Song)                          &  KRISTEN  BELMONT (Kristen Bell) as "The Narrator"

 

4) TROUBLE IN THE RING (1947)

 

The series was clearly popular with the B-movie moviegoers and this gave the bosses the chance to explore other angles within the cast they had put together. This illustrates that as the heretofore largely background characters of "Anne Chatswoth" (though almost always called "English Annie") played by young English girl EMMA WATSFORD (Emma Watson). (Once asked why she signed at Double-Action, she replied: "I always loved sports and the more physical contact in them the better, though this didn't make me popular with the opposing teams or the referees. My father was a set designer at D-A and I found out they wanted girls willing to learn hwo to fight. I just knew that was where I belonged. I only wish i had gotten there sooner.") and "Spooky Spaulding" played by redheaded ALEXA ST. JOHN (Alexz Johnson). ("I wore black right from the start because I knew people would notice it. I mean I even wore black bathing suits. My character didn't even had a name until one of Assistant Director's started called me 'Spooky'. The writers got wind of it and wrote it in. My biggest break was discovering how well Emma Watsford and I could fight together. even though we didn't get a lot of screen time in the early films. It was in the fourth one we got our big chance and neither one of us let it go. We worked on our fights before the shooting ever started. It paid off. The shooting was fast (as usual), intense (as usual) and worked out great. This is my favortite D-A movie."

 

One again, KRISTEN BELMONT (Kristen Bell) returns as the Narrator who comments: "When it came to hobbies  there were some Green Valley girls who had enthusiasm that were a little peculiar.. Even so, Tess Trumbull never expected the Valerie Spaulding's fondness for old buildings to cause her to be once again called "Troiuble'...."

 

The atory opens as River Girls "Hallie Hawkins" (HAYDEN PARNELL/Hayden Panettiere) notices "Annie Walker" (ANN ROBERTSON/AnnaSophia Robb) and Valerie "Spooky" Spaulding (ALEX ST. JOHN/Alexz Johnson)  sneaking around one of the boarded up, but interesting buildings that Green Valley seems to specialize in. Being naturally sneaky herself, Hallie assumes they must be up to no good and insists they take her along. (We learn Valerie is called "Spooky" because of her fondness for dark clothing and spooky old buildings--today she'd be called an "urban explorer" but at this time she's just curious and ever hopeful of actrually encountering a ghost).

 

The building Spooky has made the object of her interest turns out to be a shuttered boxing gym with the ring still set up in the center. On the wall are old posters advertising wrestling matches for women. "I know what this place was," announces Annie, "it was Francie Fallon's Gym. She used to train women wrestlers and have matches here." Hallie thinks that is cool, but the ever-curious Spooky has discovered a stairway up to the  second floor. Suddenly the door at the top of the stairs opens and a shadowy figure appears with a lamp "GET YOUR HANDS UP!" Hallie panicks and runs for it. Annie is torn, but follows. However Spooky stands her ground.

 

Hallie and Annie report back to their leader "Katie Ryan"  (KATHY PERRY/Katie Perry) who is appalled they ran off and left Spooky. It so happens that Tess (LEAH MASTERS/Leighton Meester) is visiting  so she offers to get a couple of Hill Girls to come with them (the other River Girls being busy that afternoon). Brenda Beresford (LEIGH BLAKE/Blake Lively), Judy Jordan (JUDY FIELDER/Jodelle Ferland) and Anne Chatsworth--"English Annie" (EMMA WATSFORD/Emma Watson) come along. They discover that Spooky Spaulding being held in an over the shoulder torture rack. English Annie, immediately rushes over only to have the redhair woman administering the torture rack coolly toss Spooky at her spending the young women down ion a tangle. The other girls are too startled toi organize and get taken out one and two at a time by the last moving redhead. However it looks like sheer weight in numbeds will be too much for the older women when Spooky finally gets loose from English Annie to cry: 

 

"This is all a big mistake! She was showing me her moves! This is Francie O'Fallon's sister Patsy!"

 

Tess finally turns the main lights on we clearly see that "Patsy O'Fallon" is being played by REGINA ADAMS /Rachel McAdams (who had finally convinced her D-A bosses to let her play something other than snooty society girls in need of sound thrashing). It turns out she owns the gym though it has been closed for years ever since her Francie abandoned the enterprise to go off and fight in the big city. Worse, because Patsy disliked Francie's promoter/manager, he caused her to be blacklisted by other wrestling promoters so her career has gone nowhere. The girls convince Patsy that she should reopenb the gym and train girls starting with them. Two of her most enthusiastic students are Spooky and her arch-rical English Annie.

 

REGINA ADAMS (Rachel McAdams)          SCARLETT JEWEL (Scarlett Johansson)

as "Patsy O'Fallon"                                    As "Francie O'Fallon"

 

Tess the discovers that Francis O'Fallon is fighting at a nearby town and goes over to see if she can't reconcile the sisters. However, she finds out that Francie (played by SCARLETT JEWEL)  believes that Patsy stole money from her. Worse, her oily manager (the real embezzler) gets worried and decides he'd better put a stop to this. It turns out Francie actually owns a half-interest in the gym and demands Patsy shut it down. This leads to a brawl and Patsy gets tossed into jail. Tess finds herself blamed for having brought Francie to town in the first place. Fortunately, Tess with the help of Spooky and Annie uncover proof of what the manager is up to. The manager's slinky assistants KRISTA ALLENSON & SUSAN SWAN

 

 

 

then step in to regain the documents. It doesn't look good for our girls, but luckily for them Hallie and Kay, always suspicious of Tess have followed her and summon the rest of the girls to rescue the trio. Tess is then able to prove to Francie that her manager has been cheating her and framing her sister. Francie and Patsy work the fellow over before he is rescued by the police, who cart him and his female accomplices off to the county jail.

 

Francie was to make it up to Patsy by getting her back in the "bigs", but Patsy would rather run the gym. Howeever to get it off to a good start. Francie agrees to wrestle Patsy at an exhibition. This takes up about last 15 minutes of the film with a series of interesting matches including Tess & Brenda Beresford vs Kay Lanyson & Hallie Hawkins (fianlly admitting they are a team); Spooky Spaulding vs "English Annie Chatsworth, a real great fight with a surprising amount of aerial action for this period ("that was our gimmick," Alexa St. John explained, "the wrestling fans were really impressed"; and finally climaxing with a fierce struggle in which Patsy O'Fallon finally manages to pin her sister Francie by the narrowest of margins.

 

"Once again," our Narrator comments, "Tess had been able able to restore peace and harmony to Green Valley, but Green Valley girls never did seem to like peace and harmony for very long and so soon enough Miss Trumbull would find a new crisis to remind everyone of her nickname..."

 

The film also proved a a surprise career shift for both Regina Adams and Scarlett Jewel who found their team up as "The Fighting O'Fallons" leading the additonal film ring action.

 

TROUBLE ON THE RUN (1947)

   "Ah Green Valley, like many a small city, it has it's own special traditions. One of which was the annual "Powder Puff Run" through Wildwood Park. The young ladies of the community get to show off their athletic abilities (not to mention their legs) all for the benefit of the Green Valley Community Chest. Now how such a basically simple event get Tess Trumbull (LEAH MASTERS/Leighton Meester) into trouble once again is a tale I more than happy to share. It all began one sunny morning when Tess and her friends Brenda Beresford (LEIGH BLAKE/Blake Lively) and Katie Ryan (KATHY PERRY/Katie Perry) saw the posters for this years' Powder Puff Run go up on Main Street..." (So begins our Narrator, once more KRISTEN BELMONT/Kristen Bell).

 

Still being new to Green Valley, Tess is dismayed to find out the River Girls have been largely excluded because they can't afford the entry fee (it's the fees that raise money for the charity). She argues with Brenda about this. Brenda offers to arrange for the Hill Girls to pay the entry fees, but this deeply offends the proud Katie, who decided the River Girls will raise money to allow as many members that want to sign up. Meanwhile last year's winner, Hill Girl KAY LEYLAND/Kaley Cuoco) doesn't the competition from the River Girls and gets her RG conspirator "Hallie Hawkins" to help try to turn a car wash into a brawl. Unfortunately for the scheme, the customers think the swimsuit clad fight is part of the show and happily contribute even more.

 

Meanwhile, unknown to everyone. The two female bank robbers "Tess"  and "Camilla"  (newcomers CASSIE FREEMAN  and SUMMER GRAYSON) have decided the race would be the perfect time to stick up the local bank and evade police roadblocks.. They lurk around in the background waiting for their chance even entering the race as part of their escape plan.

 

CASSIE FREEMAN (Cassidy Freeman) as        SUMMER GRAYSON (Summer Glau) as

                       "Tess"                                                     "Camilla"

 

One unforunate aspect of the fight is that Tess is once again blamed for the conflict, but she is determined to enter the race herself. Meanwhile, the thwarted Kay Leyland and Hallie hatch a new scheme--they will change the markers for the course sending everyone into the mud of "Haunted Hollow"--everyone but Kay herself who expects to be out in front and claim she has no idea who changed the markers. However this scheme fails because "Spooky Spaulding" (ALEXA ST JOHN/Alexz Johnson) always likes to watch the race from Haunted Hollow so she sees Hallie's dirty work along with "English Annie" Chatsworth (EMMA WATSFORD/Emma Watson and resets the markers, though not before Kay falls into her own trap.(And so does Hallie trying to pull her out).

 

As for the race itself, once Kay mysteriously disappears (only to stagger in dead last covered with mud), it comes down to Tess vs Brenda vs Katie. Katie manages to win a photo finish. Furious Kay tries to attack Hallie,m thinking the girl had double-crossed her, but Spooky and English Annie reveal they changed the markers back. Caught trying to cheat, Kay and Hallie look to be in big trouble from their former friends. Then word comes that the bank has been robbed! In the confusion, Kay and Hallie take off, but Judy Jordan (JUDY FIELDER/Jodelle Ferland) and Annie Walker (ANN ROBERTSON/AnnaSophia Robb) go after them. Judy and Annie stumble onto the two women bank robbers, who infiltrated the race as out-of-town contestants, but use the race to get to their concealed getaway car. They are changing clothes when Kay and Hallie come upon them. Then the Green Valley girls spot the stolen loot. Then robbers grab guns and it doesn;t look good for the local girls, but Kay and Hallie see what's happening and jump in to help their former friends. The guns get knocked into a swamp, so the rest of the fight is a barehanded brawl. By the time the rest of the River & Hill Girls arrive, the two crooks have been overpowered and tied up. This gets Kay and Hallie back into the good graces of the other girls and they also confess to having caused the brawl that everyone blamed on Tess. Tess slaps them both in the face which they accept as a just punishment and this helps restore them (more  or less) to the girls' good graces.

 

"So once more peace broke out in Green Valley and Tess Trumbull could breath a sigh of relief. Of course, this being Green Valley she wouldn't be feeling so content for long."

 

The footrace while the highlight of the plot, though the actresses involved said they trained very hard for it. However it was only natural that the Car Wash Brawl was what fans most remembeed. They also remembereed the pair of dangerous, but comically bickering female banker robbers (CASSIE FREEMAN and SUMMER GRAYSON). The film also allows more time to the background characters which sctually benefited the series in the lomg run by building up rooting value for these secondary fighters.