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I want to start off my reviews on a semi-serious/semi-humorous note with a film I've loved since my prepubescent years, Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. Now when I was a young kid, I was a huge fan of shlock B-Z-movie entertainment, with Attack of the 50 foot Woman and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Those were the classics outside of the classics, but lets face facts here, when you start to grow older and you want to look are pretty girls, not a lot of options are open to you. That's where Russ Meyer changed my life with his low budget sexploitation flicks... but they weren't demeaning to women, and they weren't pornography either, they were entertaining flicks about busty women who didn't take **** from their male, (or female), counterparts. In a film which John Waters called, "The Greatest Film of All Time", Russ Meyer's magnum opus Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! opens with a warning to any prepubescent male, much like myself at the time, that:
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence, the word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still remains... sex. Violence devours all it touches, its voracious appetite rarely fulfilled. Yet violence doesn't only destroy, it creates and molds as well. Let's examine closely then this dangerously evil creation, this new breed encased and contained within the supple skin of woman. The softness is there, the unmistakable smell of female, the surface shiny and silken, the body yielding yet wanton. But a word of caution: handle with care and don't drop your guard. This rapacious new breed prowls both alone and in packs, operating at any level, any time, anywhere, and with anybody. Who are they? One might be your secretary, your doctor's receptionist... or a dancer in a go-go club!"
BAM! Cut to the girls in to go-go club! Meet meanest, toughest, bustiest women you've laid eyes on. But they are the forbidden fruits of this cinematic-tree because the minute you cross them, they'll beat you... to death. As perverse as it may sound, this is where Russ Meyer triumphs. He creates wonderful camp entertainment, it may very-well be sexploitation, but as I mentioned before, its far-far from pornography! As John Waters would later put it in The Simpsons, "Its camp! The tragically ludicrous! The ludicrously tragic!" Such a line could easily sum up Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. However, summing the film up in that context would be missing all the wonderful quirks of the movie itself.
Yes, the dialogue may be shotty; yes, the plot may be full of holes; yes, the actings not all there... but for the film itself... there is a lot of care going into the film actually. Russ Meyer isn't haphazardly putting together a film that won't stand up. In fact, for all its issues, it should fall apart, but it doesn't. It stands up tall because its filmed with a conscience. Had it not, it not only would have been totally disregarded as toilet-trash, but its camp value wouldn't have survived. That's part of the films bizarre genius.
For anyone who is even remotely interested in camp, I highly recommend Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I think you will be pleasantly surprised!
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!(1965)
I want to start off my reviews on a semi-serious/semi-humorous note with a film I've loved since my prepubescent years, Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. Now when I was a young kid, I was a huge fan of shlock B-Z-movie entertainment, with Attack of the 50 foot Woman and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Those were the classics outside of the classics, but lets face facts here, when you start to grow older and you want to look are pretty girls, not a lot of options are open to you. That's where Russ Meyer changed my life with his low budget sexploitation flicks... but they weren't demeaning to women, and they weren't pornography either, they were entertaining flicks about busty women who didn't take **** from their male, (or female), counterparts. In a film which John Waters called, "The Greatest Film of All Time", Russ Meyer's magnum opus Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! opens with a warning to any prepubescent male, much like myself at the time, that:
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence, the word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still remains... sex. Violence devours all it touches, its voracious appetite rarely fulfilled. Yet violence doesn't only destroy, it creates and molds as well. Let's examine closely then this dangerously evil creation, this new breed encased and contained within the supple skin of woman. The softness is there, the unmistakable smell of female, the surface shiny and silken, the body yielding yet wanton. But a word of caution: handle with care and don't drop your guard. This rapacious new breed prowls both alone and in packs, operating at any level, any time, anywhere, and with anybody. Who are they? One might be your secretary, your doctor's receptionist... or a dancer in a go-go club!"
BAM! Cut to the girls in to go-go club! Meet meanest, toughest, bustiest women you've laid eyes on. But they are the forbidden fruits of this cinematic-tree because the minute you cross them, they'll beat you... to death. As perverse as it may sound, this is where Russ Meyer triumphs. He creates wonderful camp entertainment, it may very-well be sexploitation, but as I mentioned before, its far-far from pornography! As John Waters would later put it in The Simpsons, "Its camp! The tragically ludicrous! The ludicrously tragic!" Such a line could easily sum up Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. However, summing the film up in that context would be missing all the wonderful quirks of the movie itself.
Yes, the dialogue may be shotty; yes, the plot may be full of holes; yes, the actings not all there... but for the film itself... there is a lot of care going into the film actually. Russ Meyer isn't haphazardly putting together a film that won't stand up. In fact, for all its issues, it should fall apart, but it doesn't. It stands up tall because its filmed with a conscience. Had it not, it not only would have been totally disregarded as toilet-trash, but its camp value wouldn't have survived. That's part of the films bizarre genius.
For anyone who is even remotely interested in camp, I highly recommend Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I think you will be pleasantly surprised!
My Rating:
4 1/2 Star of 5
4 1/2 Star of 5