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Episode 94: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! featuring Ryan Myers
86 Plays1 month ago
Friend of the show Ryan Meyers has got our panel going because they’ve brought in almost literally a bang; it’s the cult classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!(1965). This Russ Meyer directed exploitation film sees a trio of go-go dancers off on a spree of crime and sexy situations across the California desert. It’s got violence, sex, kidnapping, drag racing, wrastlin’ and all the good stuff, yet was not positively met at the time. It has since been reappraised (even once famously by noted feminist film critic B. Ruby Rich) and Tura Satana as Varla has entered the annals of time. She’s basically electric and shot like a superhero: a true badass for the times and beyond. We’re talking about the film that John Waters called “the best movie ever made”, so tune in!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:15
Speaker
It's bad to be bad, it's bad to be bad And I guess it's understood That you would, if you could And you know that you should Yes, you know that you should
00:00:40
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to your favorite bad movie podcast. It's the only podcast that's brave enough to ask the question, if this movie's so bad, why do you like it so much?
00:00:51
Speaker
We're your hosts. I would definitely have to say that I am the Varla of the podcast. Really? I would have to say that i would say that i'm the Varla.
00:01:03
Speaker
i would My name is Chris Anderson. Obviously there you hear my lovely wife, Anna Anderson, who's clearly the Rosie of the podcast. Fair enough. Fair enough. Because of your fiery Italian blood.
Guest Introduction: Ryan Myers
00:01:23
Speaker
Unfortunately, we do not have the Billy of the podcast, Mr. Greg Bossy here today, but we do have with us a very special guest. You might know him as a Wichita's foremost quiz master, but today we're dragging him along with us, so he must be our own personal Linda. It's Ryan Myers. How are you, Ryan? I'm doing exceedingly well. I'm glad to finally be here. And if anything, i i like to think of myself as the vegetable of this episode of the podcast, but very likely the like Leonard. i I wish. I didn't want to objectify you like that. No, please. You have my permission.
00:02:05
Speaker
Okay, fair enough. Our own personal vegetable.
Film Introduction: 'Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!'
00:02:08
Speaker
ah Now, ah the movie that we're talking about this week is, of course, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill.
00:02:17
Speaker
Listeners, if you haven't seen Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, here's just a short summary of the film to hold in your mind.
00:02:32
Speaker
A trio of incredibly hot go-go dancers kidnap a young woman after killing her boyfriend. While fleeing the murder scene, they run across family of misogynistic murderers with a fortune stashed somewhere on the property.
00:02:49
Speaker
This action is fast-paced, and it's only getting faster, pussycat. Kill, kill.
00:03:02
Speaker
One comma, two exclamation points. they really They really nailed that aspect of it. Like, the musical Oklahoma would be nothing without the exclamation point. This movie, the punctuation is truly what sets it apart.
00:03:16
Speaker
It's true. It's three exclamation points. Yes, three in total. Yes. And, yeah, I think it is worth that much exclamation.
00:03:27
Speaker
We should be constantly exclaiming, fast your pussycat, kill, kill. Ryan, when I asked you to be on the show, this one was at the tip of your tongue. Tell me about your relationship with Faster Pussycat
Ryan's Personal Connection to the Film
00:03:39
Speaker
Kill Kill.
00:03:39
Speaker
I do not quite remember how I came into this movie. It's one of those, it has one of those titles that is kind of in the larger cultural and pantheon, let's say. It's like if, like, Break Into Electric Boogaloo is S tier. I think Faster Pussycat Kill Kill is right underneath it A or B. It's one of those yeah titles that people joke about. It's a shibboleth.
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, well, there was a shibboleth. Perfect word for it. there is there's There's an 80s rock band that named themselves Faster Pussycat. You can see their larger cultural footprint over, especially like Tarantino films. um I think this absolutely this movie alone, I think, has four or five soundbites that are used in white zombie songs.
00:04:23
Speaker
um it it It stands the test of time for... many different reasons. I think I was able to come into it just in college because it had a great title and it was on YouTube for free.
00:04:37
Speaker
And I said, why not? And I immediately took to it. It has a, not a sense of camp because there's not like an inherent queerness to it, but it has like what I, what I call straight male camp in it, which is like almost wrestling.
00:04:50
Speaker
And I just, I fell in love with it in politics. You hear that phrase. If you go far enough left, you get your guns back. I think it's similar with this movie. I think this movie is so
Russ Meyer's Cinematic Evolution
00:05:01
Speaker
misogynistic and sexist from Russ Meyer's lens that it actually becomes a feminist masterpiece.
00:05:08
Speaker
there's There's a Letterboxd review that I think about all the time with this. And it ah it says that Russ Meyer shoots Tura Satana, who plays Varla, the same way that Don Siegel would shoot Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry later.
00:05:21
Speaker
And it's... he Russ Meyer had, he was a mama's boy. His mother yeah had very large breasts. We'll, we'll get to that. I'm sure. And he's working through his therapy on screen, and but he know shoots her in a way that, you know, he is like totally getting off on, but ah never has a woman looked more powerful on screen. Yeah. Standing in a skin tight black jumpsuit in the middle of a California desert.
00:05:49
Speaker
So I just, I love this movie. I just love it. I have a poster of it. Uh, It is, it just, it just kicks ass. I can't argue with that. It is very ah ah iconic. It is full of images that would sear themselves into you. i had not seen this one before ah it came up, ah but I had ah seen a little bit of Russ Meyer, but none of his real major works. Like I had seen maybe like super Vixen or like one of his like corn pone ones. you know ah
00:06:22
Speaker
So for research, I did watch Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which I thought was a real trip. And who's the screenwriter on that one? That's Roger Ebert.
00:06:33
Speaker
Friend of the show, Roger Ebert. Another classic dressed man. he's Obviously the, these two were a match made in heaven. They were longtime collaborators.
00:06:46
Speaker
Uh, and, ah yeah, I thought that this was a total blast. Anna, had you seen this one before? I hadn't, I only knew it by reputation. um and I also, yeah, I enjoyed it a lot.
00:06:59
Speaker
There's a lot to enjoy. Yeah.
00:07:05
Speaker
it's It's a, ah it's what's fun is especially in his larger filmography, this is perhaps Russ Meyer's tamest film. There's no nudity in this. you see I mean, he made nudies. He, if he could get someone naked, he would. And this has a, none of that. And yet it's a, it's the film he's best remembered for. I think that's a kind of an interesting duality in that. well I think it's,
00:07:30
Speaker
I think keeping nudity out of it in terms of it being historic, that does make it available to a wider audience. I think a lot of people would be more comfortable with it than people are with films with nudity. And it's, it's an interesting dichotomy because obviously it's lasciviousness is also a huge part of what what makes you want to watch faster. Pussycat kill, kill. You want it to be sexy. You want to see dames in it, but I think it's, it keeps it classy. It keeps it respectable. You can, you can tell your friends about it without feeling like a perv or as much of a perv. he, Russ, it's kind of like Federico Fellini, the, the women in Russ Meyer movies, their breasts just keep getting larger and larger and larger the later you get in his career.
00:08:15
Speaker
And this is kind of right on the cusp of, of that. It's all, it's almost like his one last anti hurrah, I guess, before just fully going into the most wild sexploitation there is.
00:08:31
Speaker
Well, speaking of the man's larger career, let's dive right into some context, you guys.
Film Release and Marketing
00:08:37
Speaker
What do you say? Sounds good. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, it's all right.
00:08:58
Speaker
What's going on on screen? wanna hear some details. Gossip stand to all that shit. Can't imagine all the time.
00:09:21
Speaker
So, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill was released August 6th, 1965, directed by Russ Meyer. I found one, two, three, four, five, six taglines.
00:09:36
Speaker
Okay. one The sweetest kittens have the sharpest claws. is that true? I mean, all kittens have very sharp claws, I'll say. Yeah.
00:09:50
Speaker
They're very sharp. then They do not know how to sheath them yet. No, unfortunately not. Tagline number two. Don't race the fastest pussycats. They'll beat you to death.
00:10:06
Speaker
That's a good one. Act one spoiler, but true. Yeah.
00:10:12
Speaker
All right. This one's a little bit punchier. Wild wheels, wild women. Ooh. Yeah. That's, I mean, there's no nothing misleading.
00:10:26
Speaker
Here we go. Tagline number four. Russ Meyer's ode to the violence in women. Oh, fuck yeah. Absolutely. Accurate.
00:10:38
Speaker
ah Number five. Superwomen. Belted, buckled, and booted.
00:10:48
Speaker
the The greatest generation and baby boomers find alliteration to be the most clever thing there is. That's right. They're wearing belts in this movie.
00:11:00
Speaker
Transgressive. That means they're probably wearing pants. Think about it. to Last one. Go go for a wild ride with the action girls. Yeah, that's the one on the poster.
00:11:17
Speaker
That's a good one.
00:11:21
Speaker
i mean, all of them are great. i not These all sound like great movies. You know what you're getting into when you read any of those. For sure.
Russ Meyer's Early Life and Career
00:11:29
Speaker
So Russ Meyer was born in 1921 in San Leandro, California.
00:11:35
Speaker
His father was an Oakland police officer who abandoned him and his mother at a young age. When he was 14, Meyer's mother pawned her wedding ring to get him an 8mm camera so that he could make films with guess who Neighborhood kids! Neighborhood kids! Neighborhood kids! Where's where's the Fablemans but about Russ Meyer?
00:11:59
Speaker
Do you know about his autobiography? I've read it. I don't know that i have copy anymore, but I've read it. Oh man, if you did, they're going used for over $700. Oh, it might not be the autobiography. it might be a biography.
00:12:15
Speaker
Oh, he, he published around the year 2000, a three volume hardback autobiography with thousands of pictures. Oh, that, yeah no, I don't have that then.
00:12:26
Speaker
Okay. God, imagine finding that at a rummage sale. Uh, So during World War II, Meyer served as a combat cameraman.
00:12:39
Speaker
And after the war, he moved to Hollywood and started looking for work. He shot industrial films. He did a little still photography and even doing some work for a fresh young magazine called the Playboy.
00:12:52
Speaker
Oh, okay. niolus I hear the articles are great. That's what I read of. Short story by John Updike.
00:13:01
Speaker
Then in 1959, he directed his first feature film, The Immoral Mr. Tease, a comedy about a door-to-door salesman that gains X-ray vision during dental surgery and then uses it to look at ladies without their clothes.
00:13:18
Speaker
Who could have guessed that's where this was going? I mean, to be honest, this sounds like the perfect movie. it ive I've seen it. I've seen it. fine It's You're not going to believe this. It's a little light on plot.
00:13:34
Speaker
Well, I think, yeah, I imagine it's more of a vibes-based watch. Yeah, absolutely. It cost $24,000 to produce, and it made $1.5 million. dollars And it launched a new genre of film, the nudie cutie.
00:13:53
Speaker
Mm-hmm. ah Nudy cuties combined ah humor and non-sexual nudity to create the cinematic equivalent of a cartoon you'd see in Playboy magazine.
00:14:05
Speaker
hu And at a time when America's pornography laws were still largely undefined and still being argued and worked out, this sort of wholesome take on porno could thread the needle for a little while.
00:14:18
Speaker
What did the Supreme Court say? I know it when I see it. Yeah, yeah, and this is like, oh no, this is just so this is a comedy, this is just a sexy comedy. this is It's European. think, yeah, I think comedy is is still, like, I mean, the the fact that there's a genre called the sex comedy, you know, then comedy is very often used to... um
00:14:43
Speaker
You know, less than the naughtiness. Yeah, but not... It acknowledges the inherent silliness of nudity, I think. Yes, exactly. ah Let's see.
00:14:54
Speaker
ah It was sort of a genre of necessity that lost popularity once real porno became more widely available.
Tura Satana's Fascinating Backstory
00:15:05
Speaker
Meyer made a few more nudie cuties before in 1964, he made the switch to more dramatic fare with Lorna. which was sort of a proto erotic thriller.
00:15:16
Speaker
You seen this one, Ryan? Yes, I have. ah Also, it's ah it's it's kind of fine. But ah yeah i in in college, I i watched probably 15 or 20 of them because they're all super easy to find online.
00:15:29
Speaker
Yeah, there's a full run on archive.org. Yeah. o ah so ah He then continued this more dramatic vein in 1965 when he put out Mud Honey, Motor Psycho, and Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. All three in one year.
00:15:48
Speaker
Masterclass. Wow. Motor Psycho is insane and stupid and also has Alex Rocco from The Godfather who played Mo Green in it. Oh, sick. So, it's my understanding that Motor Psycho was about a biker gang, sort of a biker picture, and that Meyer thought, what if I did something like that but instead of fellows on motorbikes it was big breasted ladies in cars who would have guessed that he would have thought that that's where he would make this picture better as if the main characters were ladies with massive honkers gazongas full-on awooga quality yoga
00:16:31
Speaker
the the The Meyer archetype blisters, if you're not familiar, is definitely what one would describe as melones. you know You know, when um ah Sir Mix-a-Lot famously said 36, 24, 36, Russ Meyer is more of
00:16:53
Speaker
Now, dooo dooooo- do ah where was I? Oh, yeah. So he pitched this story to his longtime collaborator, Jack Moran, ah who banged out a screenplay in about four days.
00:17:08
Speaker
Now, Meyer didn't just direct his own movies. He also produced and distributed all of them as well, with the exception of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. That was his only studio picture. This meant that he could give himself a green light to make Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, and he gave himself a budget of $45,000. For the lead role of Varla, he cast Tura Satana, who it turns out is a very interesting character in her own right. She has a documentary about her that came out in the last like five years or so that is really worth the watch.
00:17:44
Speaker
Okay, I saw that that came out. I will i will look into it. So Tora was born in Hokkaido to a Filipino-Japanese silent film actor father and a Cheyenne-Scottish-American circus performer mother.
00:17:58
Speaker
That's ah an an anime-ass origin, I'm afraid. it is It is a very Mad Lib kind of origin story. Yeah, it sounds like someone making up an OC.
00:18:11
Speaker
a So they moved to the States where she was promptly put into a Japanese internment camp during the war. Details of her youth are difficult to sort through, but they include studying the martial arts to exact revenge on a group of men that assaulted her at a young age.
00:18:30
Speaker
Marrying a man named John Satana at the age of 13 and then divorcing him at 14. running away to California to become a burlesque dancer at 15, and forming a girl gang called the Angelese.
00:18:45
Speaker
On top of that, Tora Satana was stunningly beautiful and had massive breasts, so she really was perfect for this picture and this director.
00:18:58
Speaker
Unfortunately, critics and audiences of the time didn't quite get it But over time, it has found its people.
Film's Initial Reception and Legacy
00:19:05
Speaker
It's become a cultural touchstone in countercultural circles. Rob Zombie, Daniel Close, Pee Wee Herman, and Quentin Tarantino have all referenced Pussycat in their work.
00:19:17
Speaker
And John Waters wrote in his book, Shock Value, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill is beyond doubt the best movie ever made. It is possibly better than any film that ever will be made in the future.
00:19:32
Speaker
He's correct. This should have beaten The Sound of Music for Best Picture. Yeah. yeah this I'm sorry, but move over Jean Dillman, rude whatever. 23 Quoi du Comerite and Edie Bruxelles.
00:19:46
Speaker
I'm sorry. Pussycats number one. Now, other sexploitation films of 1965, just to put a film in its place.
Comparison with 1965's Sexploitation Films
00:19:56
Speaker
Ooh, fun.
00:19:58
Speaker
Bad Girls Go to Hell, directed by Doris Wishman. Doris Wishman rules. She's great. Doris Wishman is awesome. Icon. I'm big fan of Double Agent 73. Night to dismember, if you can find a decent copy. Let's see. Also, this year we have The Incredible Sex Revolution by Albert Zugsmith.
00:20:21
Speaker
Sounds like he should be a Swiss psychologist. We've also got Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, directed by Norman Torag, a classic. Such a delightful movie. I marathoned all of the Beach Party movies, the American International Pictures ones, and dead they're just so fun.
00:20:40
Speaker
They're so freaking fun. And you got to admit, this is like the most wholesome type of pornography you could imagine. This is something you can give like a 10 year old and be like, look at how pretty ladies are. And they'll be like, I'm starting to get it you ah then every everybody, every little boy who had in a crush on Annette Funicella, it ends up gay. That's just how happens. It's how it happened to me.
00:21:04
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe it's better that I don't have kids. I would be too, I'd get all these things backwards. Yeah.
00:21:13
Speaker
You've got Chained Girls by Joseph P. Maurer and also The Dirty Girls by Radley Metzger. And last but not least, another classic adapting an Ed Wood screenplay. You've got Orgy of the Dead by Stephen C. Apostolov.
00:21:31
Speaker
Ooh. Which is, it's just go-go dancing monsters in a graveyard. It's great. that's the that That's just the music video for Everybody by the Backstreet Boys, so I'm kind of into that.
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Imagine if instead the Backstreet Boys were topless women. You know what? i see I see Russ Meyer's perspective now. I can get it.
00:21:53
Speaker
the The appeals of the genre are always apparent. You guys want to talk about the plot of Faster Pussycat? I sure Let's dig in.
00:22:20
Speaker
Plot bumper, listen to me. I'm gonna give you the plot summary. Come on, baby. Here's the synopsis.
00:22:32
Speaker
Plot bumper, plot bumper.
00:22:45
Speaker
So we open on narration and an image of sound waves white on a black screen. And the narrator intones, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence.
00:22:58
Speaker
The word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still remains sex.
00:23:10
Speaker
And it continues on from there. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. it's there are nary a better intro to a film.
Film's Opening Sequence
00:23:17
Speaker
It establishes the tone. It is. ah Oh my God. I, I, and then what the last words he says before it transitions is, or a go, go dancer.
00:23:27
Speaker
And that, Oh, I lose my mind yeah every time. Yeah, it is And visually it's really satisfying. i think it really works. Uh, And I've never seen it done anywhere else. I think it's really cool. Because you can't do it better than that.
00:23:42
Speaker
You can't do it better. So then we smash cut to a go-go club where our three heroines, Varla, Rosie, and Billy, dance to some blaring rock and roll as drunken customers cheer them on. Customers, or listeners, if you want to keep this straight, just think of Varla as sort of the Chris of the group.
00:24:01
Speaker
And Rosie's one of the air. Billy's sort of the gray. Right, right. i I had a question at this point, and I think that it's not, but I was like, oh my God, are they called go-go dancers because men yelled go-go at them? Because that's what the men are yelling at them.
00:24:22
Speaker
And i don't I don't think that's true. I think it's because of the club Whiskey-A-Go-Go was like the first... club that had go-go dancers. That makes sense, but I bet you could convince enough people that that is the case. Right. I'm just going really quick check out entomology
00:24:46
Speaker
go-go dancer.
00:24:52
Speaker
ah ah Go-go dancer originates from the 1960s discotheques derived from the French phrase a go-go meaning in abundance, galore, or a plenty. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah.
00:25:04
Speaker
Sure. Well, you learned something new every day listeners, especially when you listen to this fantastic podcast. Oh my God. ah We smash cut to the three of them racing their cool sports cars through a California desert.
00:25:20
Speaker
When they get to a river, the carefree blonde, the Greg of the group, Billy, hops out and goes for a swim. Varla, the cruel Chris, their severe and severely busty leader, orders Rosie, the fiery Italian, loyal to the end, to go after her.
00:25:42
Speaker
The Anna of the crew, one might say. Right. Rosie and Billy. i will say that the water does not look very clean. No, it looks like a real river water. This is before this is before the the EPA was formed under Nixon, so it it's California desert water.
00:26:00
Speaker
Yeah, I buy that. yeah yeah i buy that Uh, but they wrestle in it for a little while and then they go ashore and then they wrestle on the shore for a little while. And then, then Varla breaks it up and then challenges both of them to a game of chicken two on one, which Varla handily wins.
00:26:22
Speaker
Obviously. i don't know why they're acting like this. I don't understand the nature of their relationship, but I love that everything they're doing is really cool and awesome. this This is basically a 15-year-old in 1965's wet dream. It's just like, what if like women like looked hot and they like drove cool cars and then they they they had a fight? It's it's all very like immature in a way that I find incredibly endearing. Yeah. A movie only really needs to be a series of awesome things.
00:26:57
Speaker
And I think faster Pussycat Kill Kill delivers on that front. it hesitates to not be awesome. Yeah. Yes. They realize ah we need to deliver.
00:27:10
Speaker
And they do. Much like ah Primitive War, the promise of the premise is delivered in Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. So, after the game of chicken, the gals decide to let loose and split a single Pabst Blue Ribbon, which they had in their glove compartment.
00:27:28
Speaker
Woo! They're ready. Suddenly, another car appears on the salt flats. It's being driven by friendly teen Tommy and his bikini-clad girlfriend Linda in the passenger seat.
00:27:42
Speaker
The legend. Yeah, im just a great couple, these two. Real all-American apple pie. he's He's super sweet. He's a hunk. She's the tiniest little thing you ever did see. They are what every married couple was in 1965.
00:27:59
Speaker
which is like 16. Yeah.
00:28:04
Speaker
Uh, so Tommy, he's a bit of a gear head, it seems. And he, he comes out to the salt flats to run some time trials on his car. He asked Linda to hang out with the gals and time, how long it takes him to get from a to B, but Linda gets distracted by John it up with his, her three new friends.
00:28:24
Speaker
When he gets back, Tommy's a little cross with Linda for spacing out on timing him. He did do some damage to his car, pushing it to the limits. And Varla doesn't much care for a man, you know, acting in any way negatively towards a lady.
00:28:40
Speaker
So she challenges him to a race, implying that time trials are for chicken shits and head-to-head racing is the only real deal. I don't beat clocks, just people. ahha Oh God, I eat that up every time. She says it like three times too. This woman hates clocks.
00:29:02
Speaker
If she saw Flavor Flav in like 1989, she would punch him in the face.
00:29:08
Speaker
And Turo Zatanna as an actor is so like intense... She seems only have two very extreme modes. One is that she is going to kill you right now. And the other is she's going to like sit quietly and be like smoking a cigarette and be like, yeah, yeah. What do guys think? Because of the the like level of camp of this movie, it it works. the the The extremes do. If she were playing it down the middle, the wouldn't make any sense.
00:29:40
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah, and it adds like an air of menace once you realize that she just flips like a switch. Like, at at no point are you safe from Tora Satana just destroying you at any given moment.
00:29:54
Speaker
Which is why Rasmire was so deeply turned on. Yeah, yeah, because she's so powerful and dangerous, like a cobra, like a beautiful cobra. So, Tommy is obviously intimidated by this powerful, beautiful, confident woman. And...
00:30:11
Speaker
He backs down. But when Linda insists that would all just be sort of a friendly race between a bunch of friends, he agrees. So they line up and they take off and the race has a lot of back and forth action, lots of exciting stuff. But, uh, whenever they cut to closeups, the cars are clearly stationary and being rocked side to side by stage hands.
00:30:32
Speaker
and that's really fun. It's fun. it It does sort of undercut the excitement, but it is fun. Uh, Tommy, then he takes the lead. But before he crosses the finish line, Varla cuts the track and almost T-bones him.
00:30:49
Speaker
Tommy spins out and Varla crosses the finish line first. When Tommy confronts her about her underhanded racing tactics, Varla beats the living shit out of him and then breaks his spine with her bare hands.
00:31:03
Speaker
That scene is so sick and it still holds up it's It's not just that she breaks his neck It's that she gets him prone on the ground Pulls his arms behind him Puts her foot on his neck And yanks It is so good I haven't seen that done like that In any other media It's it's not really cool And frankly If you've got to go it could be worse That's all i'm saying
00:31:36
Speaker
ah That said, the sight of it is ah too shocking for poor Linda. She passes out.
00:31:45
Speaker
Varla loads Linda into her car, and the gals flee the scene of the murder.
00:31:51
Speaker
Soon, they stop at a gas station to refuel and plan their next move. While they're there, A lecherous gas station attendant tells him about a pair of other customers who are an old paralyzed, an old man who's paralyzed below the waist and his muscle bound idiot son, who I called Peapaw and the boy. It turns out the movie called them the old man and the vegetable.
00:32:17
Speaker
Great Hemingway book. Yeah, they they were Peapaw and the boy to me. Now, Billy is definitely interested in getting to know the boy, but Varla is more interested in the fact that Peepaw lost the use of his legs in a train accident and is now rumored to be living off of a large cash settlement.
00:32:38
Speaker
On top of that, the attendant makes it clear that nobody in town likes Peepaw, and if he were to suddenly disappear, nobody would even look into it or care. well That's really great that that that he stresses that to these these
Varla's Encounter with Peepaw
00:32:54
Speaker
strangers. Yeah, he hates everyone and everyone hates him.
00:32:58
Speaker
Yeah, this guy, he's the real puppet master here. you know That's what you've got to ask yourself. if this were If this movie were made in the 70s or 80s, that role would have been played by Dick Miller so fast.
00:33:11
Speaker
Oh my God, you're right. He would have been perfect in this. Frankly, he could have probably been doing this then. You know, he was, if he had only not been caught up with Corman and caught up Myers. Yeah, it because was active, you're right. Could have been a different world.
00:33:27
Speaker
Now, this is enough for Varla. She and the gals follow Peepaw and the boy home to their remote ranch.
00:33:38
Speaker
Varla slipped Linda a Mickey, so she'll be out for a little while. Rolla wants Rosie and Billy to keep an eye on the drugged and bound Linda while she scopes out Peepaw's property for the possible stash spot.
00:33:52
Speaker
That's a lot of peas in that sentence, and I crushed it. You did. Good job. Thank you. Thank you. i don't like to do my own horn too much. Now,
00:34:05
Speaker
ah let's see. Okay.
00:34:10
Speaker
ah If anybody asks, they were hired to bring her back by Linda's parents, who are wealthy politicians and they want to keep it hush hush. She had run away after her boyfriend died in a car accident.
00:34:26
Speaker
Soon, Varla stumbles on Peapaw's little ranch house. Inside, she sees Peapaw and the boy, as well as Peapaw's normal son, Kirk. Kirk has to head into town.
00:34:39
Speaker
And ah once people on the boy are alone, people starts drawing about how the boy needs to go out there and kidnap another lady for him to murder and or have sex with possibly in that order.
00:34:52
Speaker
It's not confirmed. That's the order. Right. ah It's no good. Varla is now very excited to rob this guy. He hates it when people murder and sexually assault women.
00:35:07
Speaker
Oh, Now, unfortunately, she gets spotted and Peepaw and the boy roll up on the porch brandishing a shotgun. She tells him her cockamamie story and he pretends to buy it.
00:35:23
Speaker
And then she asks if he could spare some water from their water tank and he agrees.
00:35:30
Speaker
Smash cut to Billy bathing in the water tank's water. Naturally. Thank goodness. There's been too much fun. Exactly. We need some cheesecake. Come on. We got to keep it going. ah the And the last time we saw Billy is in the water.
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah. it's It's like she's belong. It's a powerful motif. Yeah. In that people look good when they are wet. Yeah.
00:35:57
Speaker
Yeah. Or possibly ah wearing less clothes due to being a water. Air in the desert. It's hot out there. hot.
00:36:06
Speaker
Now, Linda's woken up, but the gals tell her that she'd be worse off with Peepaw, and Linda believes it as soon as she sees him.
Tense Lunch Scene
00:36:14
Speaker
You know, he is this guy in a wheelchair being pushed around by this giant muscle-bound mute, and he's carrying a gun, and he always has bad vibes.
00:36:23
Speaker
Speaking the devil, Peepaw rolls up and invites the gals to lunch before they take off, but in a vaguely threatening manner. The gals all are kind of hungry, so they agree.
00:36:37
Speaker
But they still have some time before lunch. This has all happened by, I want to say, 9.30 in the morning. It's
00:36:45
Speaker
a weird detail. but day of it So they got up early. i think they stayed up late. I think the go-go gals were up all night. yeah They were out till like 3 a.m.
00:36:57
Speaker
Yeah, and then all of a sudden Tommy rolls up at like 6 in the morning with when they're about to leave. and they're like, well, now we got to murder Tommy. They haven't even slept. They're all freaking out. ah So, what was I? I have no idea what I was saying.
00:37:15
Speaker
Bathing. You're talking about inviting to lunch. Yeah. This this is like the pre-Hollywood new wave Texas Chainsaw Massacre dinner scene. Yes. You could not show in a post-Bonnie and Clyde world. This is the equivalent of it before then.
00:37:30
Speaker
Of course, we've got a little bit before they get to lunch. They need to kill a little time for lunch. Don't don't get too far ahead. This movie's in no right. ah they They still have some time to kill, so Varla takes Rosie to look around the property, leaving Billy to watch Linda.
00:37:46
Speaker
ah Billy would much rather fuck the boy, though, so she takes Linda over to the ranch house, and she's able to sneak off with the boy. Before she can get some serious action, she hears a scream.
00:37:58
Speaker
It seems like Peapaw tried to to make his move on Linda, and that really freaked her out, and she ran off. yeah Yeah, he's he's like, three times her age and like licking his lips all the time. Yeah. Yeah. You don't need to know the specifics. It's very classy that we don't see it. once again, very restrained on Myers parts to not show this wheelchair bound old man groping this young woman. And that is his signature as an artist is restraint. He's like, like Mark Bergman might be the only person that beats him on that front.
00:38:33
Speaker
Look, I'm just saying, I think it's a good call. I think it keeps the movie, it gives it a lighter tone. I think that might have thrown things, you know, the 10% off that it doesn't need. Also, she's too skinny to to to grope for Meyers' tastes.
00:38:48
Speaker
That's true. That's true. To him, it would be perverse to grope this Oh, yeah. ah Now, as Linda runs through the desert, she sees a truck and waves it down.
00:38:59
Speaker
Through tears, she explains what's happening to a very confused driver for a little bit longer than you would expect. And then he offers her a lift out of there. Little does she know that this driver is, in fact, Kirk, the normal son. And he drives her right back to the ranch house. What a twist.
00:39:18
Speaker
This is horror movie stuff. This, to me, is very, yeah like you said, Chainsaw Mass. You see that in several movies. It's good. There was more tension and menace, like genuine menace in this movie than I was expecting.
00:39:33
Speaker
The menace is specifically misogynistic. Yes. Which is interesting to see that foregrounded because I don't think Russ Meyer puts himself in the same category as the old man.
00:39:51
Speaker
And honestly, don't know that he should. far as I know, he didn't murder anybody. That's why I think this movie is so fun to talk about because it like like also on just like a like a sexual politics level, it shows how men can kind of categorize themselves like that. Like, Russ Meyer ah could have ah like a sexually assaulted someone, but he's like, yeah, but I didn't do that. And the kind of excusing themselves and building barriers. It's, it's all this movie is fascinating on just like a large level.
00:40:29
Speaker
I think, yeah, there's a lot to read. Yeah. There's a lot. This is a rich text for a viewer to, to read through. This is not something that you can, you know, sort of dismiss, I feel like, or rather it's something that if you wanted to pour through it, you could tear it around, you know, a Rubik's cube that you can play with a bit.
00:40:52
Speaker
uh, now, uh, when Varla finds out about all these shenanigans with Linda, she's understandably upset. So she slaps Linda around a little bit before dragging her off to kill some more time before lunch. Still not lunch. This is still probably around 11. Uh, now, uh,
00:41:14
Speaker
Billy runs off with the boy to give it another go. ah but a passing train spooks him. Uh, so that doesn't end up working out. Obviously his father's traumatized from getting hit by a train and, uh, yeah,
00:41:28
Speaker
it's it Now it's intergenerational. This is the point where Billy has one of my favorite friggin' lines in the movie. ah the The vegetable, the boy, as we call him here, is sitting there just pumping iron. And Russ Meyer is making sure he's an equal opportunity ogler. Because yeah real this man's biceps can be shown. They are. and I mean, he's shirtless. He's pumping iron. he is He's a hunk. And Billy's trying to seduce him, and The vegetable, the boy. he is ah he and He couldn't care less. He's pumping iron. And she says, ah she says look here.
00:42:05
Speaker
ah You Tarzan, me Jane. Now how about you drop that branch and let's swing while. it's just that kind of overt 60s goofiness that I just love. Billy has a line earlier in the movie where she says, um ah like ah like an iron fist cast in a velvet glove.
00:42:26
Speaker
And and oh just those little extra touches make this movie. It's written. It's almost too writerly for its genre. yeah but It's, it's a heightened film. And so it works to have this heightened language. And yeah, that, that ah iron fist and a velvet glove was the, the Daniel close took that for the name of in one of his graphic novels. and Oh, that's right. Oh, okay.
00:42:54
Speaker
That's why it sounds familiar. Now, let's see. Slaps around Billy, runs off the boy, trains, spooks them.
00:43:05
Speaker
ah um The birth of the boy is what kills the mother. That's why there's no mom there. Right. Oh, okay. I thought that was not how I read that. I thought that he murdered his mother.
00:43:17
Speaker
Oh, I thought it was because he was such a humongous, giant baby that he killed her in childbirth. Okay. Yeah, that's what that's how I... Cause that's the reason he's so big and hunky. He was born with all those muscles.
00:43:30
Speaker
I read it that he's like a Lenny for mice of mentor, but maybe it was both. Yeah. Cause he just says you killed your mother and I never forgave you. So who can say that's true. Uh, vagary.
00:43:46
Speaker
Yeah, I guess. Once again, a rich text. ah Because I thought of that happening and sort of the horror of then having to raise your son after that. And how could you you do that? And you're in a wheelchair, so you're also dependent on him. The the the relationship between these two characters is so incredible to me. Actually, they just both became drag artists and made whatever happened to Baby Jane. Yeah.
00:44:11
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. It is. It does have that level of though, like psycho, uh, sexual complication to it. yeah Cause also they are tag team murderers slash rapists. Go procure me a woman.
00:44:26
Speaker
So lunch, as you might imagine is weird. Yeah. Linda is now surrounded by a two groups of people that want to kill her.
00:44:40
Speaker
And so she's sort of unsure how to proceed. Varla tries to cozy up to Kirk by erotically eating a piece of corn on the cob. Our second erotic corn on the cob scene that we've covered on the show.
00:44:56
Speaker
Yeah. That's real weird that that happened twice. Yeah. Check out our episode on troll to listeners. Now, ah Billy mouths off about something, which makes Varla slap her, which makes Linda start screaming and crying.
00:45:15
Speaker
And this causes lunch to sort of break up.
00:45:19
Speaker
Varla goes out to make time with Kirk, hoping to maybe woo the secret of where the money is hidden out of him. Rosie soon follows after to peep on them.
00:45:30
Speaker
And then Billy gets passed out drunk incredibly quickly, affording Linda the chance to escape.
00:45:40
Speaker
Peepaw and the boy, they ride out into the desert to find her in their truck. Well, Varla and Kirk head out in her car. We learn a little bit more about Peepaw and the boy's bizarre backstory. Peepaw got hurt saving a girl from getting hit by a train. And that's why he hates women.
00:45:59
Speaker
That's why he hates women. It showed up in a lady that got hit by the train. oh The boy accidentally killed her mother, possibly in childbirth, possibly by petting her head too hard and snapping her spine. And so he's had to raise him since they have a very strange relationship with
00:46:25
Speaker
The fellows find Linda first and the boy hops out of the truck to grab her while Peepaw drags himself across the ground towards her in a way that's very disturbing. It's shot real low to the ground. it there's There's no comfort in it. He's coming like toward the camera. It is is it's ah it's actually unsettling.
00:46:46
Speaker
And is it it's honestly i have made an even more shocking shot from the fact that almost nothing is filmed low to the ground. No, because breath is higher off the ground.
00:46:57
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. There's, I don't know, there's a shot earlier where ah Billy's walking towards the camera and when she reaches it, you realize that it's been at hooch level the whole time. Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:13
Speaker
this Yeah, he's very deliberate with that sort of thing. ah Now, did did to the boy, he he gets kind of overstimulated by all this.
00:47:25
Speaker
And he breaks down weeping. ah Varla and Kirk show up, and Kirk tries to comfort his brother. But Varla knows that the boy is a killer of women and declares that his weeping is all crocodile tears.
00:47:41
Speaker
After that, there's a fairly complicated discussion of carpooling back.
00:47:49
Speaker
Do you want to ride with me? no we're going to walk. Do you want to ride with me? now we'll take the truck. and ah But it ends with Kirk and Linda walking back to the ranch, Peepaw and the boy taking the truck, and Varla riding back alone.
00:48:09
Speaker
When Varley gets back, she finds that Billy has now sobered up in, I want to say, the half hour since she was blackout drunk. She's like 5% body fat. Like, it doesn't take a lot for her.
00:48:22
Speaker
That's fair. She's also kind of like Wolverine. now Like Greg! Yeah. So, she wants to leave the friend group now. She's like, I don't know if we should still keep being friends, so I'm just gonna go.
00:48:39
Speaker
they're coworkers That's complicated. Yeah, it is weird. its like I think maybe we shouldn't hang out outside the go-go club anymore, you guys. this is But Varla, she doesn't much care for that, so she borrows Rosie's switchblade and throws it right into Billy's back, killing her instantly.
00:48:57
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Oh, no. There's there's the another like low hip-level shot of that... the switchblade opening before she chucks it. And the way Meyer shoots Billy, ah freezing, ah falling up and then falling in front of the camera. So good.
00:49:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He really crushes it. This scene. Now, uh, people on the boy, they come back to find Billy lying face down in the dirt with a knife in her back.
00:49:27
Speaker
And the boy is clearly upset.
Climactic Confrontation and Resolution
00:49:29
Speaker
He had a thing for Billy. They were trying to do the nasty. Now, Rosie and Varla hop into Varla's car, and Varla orders Rosie to run over Peepaw, which he does, and it kills him.
00:49:44
Speaker
Thank God. Yeah, one less guy to worry about. And it also reveals where his cache was hidden. it was inside his wheelchair the whole time. Mobile. ah Mobile. He's like a... That's pretty smart, actually. Yeah. Yeah. it's They wouldn't expect you to keep it on yet.
00:50:03
Speaker
So Varla gathers the cash and tells Rosie to go get the knife out of ah Billy's back. ah When she gets over there, the boy's weeping over her, so she tries to get the boy to give it to her, and instead the boy stabs her to death with it. He gives it to her.
00:50:21
Speaker
Yeah, he gives it ear gives her the knife, that's for sure. ah then You know, now that Rosie's dead, I realize that that we do need to make clear that this whole time she's had an It's a Me Mario type accent. all like She's that real i Italian. That is way too kind. Her accent changes about 17 times in the movie.
00:50:45
Speaker
I don't know what you mean. Maybe you guys, have you been to Tuscany? That to me read Tuscany.
00:50:53
Speaker
and it's it's true. It's very adding an a to the end of every word. um Yeah. i and But yeah, her very her name is Haji, which like yeah is elsewhere in the world. It's classic, like sixties. Everything outside of the USA is one country kind of attitude. Right.
00:51:12
Speaker
Right. Yeah.
00:51:15
Speaker
So, uh, Varla or, uh, let's see. Just, Varla hops in her car again and then pins the boy up against the wall with her car. tries to resist it with his mighty muscles, but ultimately the effort proves too much for him. And he sort of dies.
00:51:34
Speaker
It was a little bit unclear. It's that. Okay. But that's, that's the scene for me. The, The scene where he's pushing back on the bumper and his arms are like full flexed. I'm like, Russ Meyer, you are just a little bit gay because there's no need to do that. Like he gives you like the bicep money shot there. It is so good.
00:51:55
Speaker
It is so good. And yeah, it's, it's like he gets tired to death almost. Yeah, his heart gives out. But it also, it shows that, like, even the mightiest man is no match for the cruelty of these powerful women. exactly It's true. They can dominate anyone.
00:52:12
Speaker
ah Now, Varla then hops into Peepaw's truck. Maybe she doesn't want to drive the one that is. Oh, no, it got stuck in the dirt, her car. Yeah. Because the boy was so... Because it revving and revving. and Yeah.
00:52:27
Speaker
It dug itself. She would have to rock herself out for, like, an hour to get out of that. So Varla then rides out to the desert in Peapaw's truck, where she finds Kirk and Linda. She hops out and tells Kirk that he killed her his entire family.
00:52:41
Speaker
And the two of them wrestle for a little while until Linda hops behind the wheel and sideswipes Varla, killing her. I killed her like she was an animal, like she was nothing, she cries. But Kirk tells her it's not really a big deal.
00:52:58
Speaker
The...
00:53:06
Speaker
yeah Yeah, yeah. He's like, well, she was an animal, so so don't worry about it Mind you, we've been talking about how Tourist Satan is operating at a 10 this whole movie. But Susan Bernard, who plays Linda, doing the same in the opposite direction. She is at a 10 of frantic...
00:53:26
Speaker
frenzied, harried-ness. Yeah, she's having a real bad day. She sells that that line like an animal. And then, yeah, ah Kirk's just like, yeah, but like she was kind of a jerk. so and Yeah, such is life.
00:53:41
Speaker
Such is life. she Yeah, she really was a scream queen in this movie, I would say. I think that this yeah laid that groundwork. you know ah But final thoughts, five-star ratings,
00:53:56
Speaker
Where did people will land in terms of watchability and weirdness for faster pussycat kill, kill Anna, why don't you kick us off? Oh, I would. Well, final thoughts.
00:54:10
Speaker
I wanted to say that ah it's so interesting ah This is one of the movies that has been the most influenced by camera angle that I've ever seen.
00:54:23
Speaker
Because, Brian, you mentioned that Letterboxd review on filming them like they're Dirty Harry. i think he he films he films the women like they're Kaiju, like they're Godzilla. I love that. Because it's it's from...
00:54:41
Speaker
You know, it we're we're just looking up at them just all the time in in almost every shot. and And that, because we're not looking at them head on, we're not looking at them from an equal perspective, I think really makes the misogyny of the movie...
00:55:07
Speaker
Interesting. I don't know. i think while it's like, it's obviously objectifies women, but it actually objectifies them in an interesting way. it is The only time you ever that I can recall, see a woman shot from like the top down is when there some characters standing outside a car and they're talking to somebody sitting in one.
00:55:28
Speaker
It's this. Pagogyny does not come from just like a pure hatred of women. It comes from a fear of them. And because Russ Meyer's mom was such a controlling, demanding woman, he had in in just like this innate fear of women. So he's not looking down on them, condescending. He's looking up at them in fear. And that misogyny is his way of acting out against it. ah you Because, you know, it's fight or flight and he's choosing fight, but in a patriarchal way.
00:55:56
Speaker
It's yeah saying yeah saying like Kaiju. That's so good. Cause it's true. They are, they're showing underneath because can see Russ Meyer was an appreciator of under boob as well. Like you can get all that cleavage from the top, but it's, it's, it shows how just truly like, like everybody has said here, so powerful.
00:56:14
Speaker
They are forces of nature. Yeah. Yeah. And I think in addition to that upward angle being the angle that you shoot to your dirty Harry or a kaiju, would say it's also the angle that you would be looking at these women if you were on your knees in front of them.
00:56:31
Speaker
And I think that's also relevant. Kind of worship. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I think that makes it very watchable ah because it is very, because it is very interesting and it is also very fun.
00:56:47
Speaker
Even, you know, it it it flirts with darkness and sexual violence, but it's not really interested in ah following through on those because it's not that kind of movie.
00:57:01
Speaker
It's a different kind of movie. So I would give it out of four. okay that That darkness and sexual violence is much more prevalent in Russ Meyer's other films, if anyone's going to seek out more of those. ah You do see a lot more, like, that is very clearly assault and meant to be.
00:57:18
Speaker
um But this movie's restraint on that is the reason why I think it's his best film. And I'm i'm no i'm no prude or anything, but it it just, it it works in that regard. yeah Well, what about weirdness, Anna? Where'd you end up there?
00:57:35
Speaker
I would give it about i would give it about a three, I think. um Because it's... ah
00:57:48
Speaker
I mean, I guess maybe it's it's not that weird. It's a little weird, though. it it's yeah straightforward for what it is. Yeah. I don't think it's weird in what it's... Within the confines of what it's trying to do.
00:58:04
Speaker
you know Right but weird in the context of like Other movies yeah it's not Like you can't understand it It's more that it's odd Um I landed very similarly to you, my dove. I give it four stars in terms of watchability. to me I think the production values might alienate certain people who care about that sort of thing. You know, I think the audio can get a little bit dodgy here and there, which is can always make things a little bit more frustrating to watch.
00:58:35
Speaker
ah But this movie does feature beautiful, evil, big breasted women. So So there you go. You got that. ah Now ah for weirdness, I gave it, yeah, three stars. I think there's sort of a surreal reality to it. And this sort of surprising viciousness that we've talked to that I thought was very odd. And I think also Meyer is a little bit,
00:59:02
Speaker
He has some odd habits in terms of editing. He gets a little bit choppy. I don't know if it's because he doesn't get enough coverage or what, but even on Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, he has a very discombobulating way of editing things. i don't know how he landed with that as part of his style, but it's definitely there, and it it does lend a little bit weirdness to this.
00:59:25
Speaker
What about you, Ryan? What do you think? ah For me, I would say watchability is a five, just because truly... it from beginning to end, it's something you can't really look away from. There's not a lot of downtime, even in the quieter, group even in the quieter scenes, there's pepped up dialogue. There's a, a swanky little saxophone in the background to set the, the tone. Um,
00:59:50
Speaker
it like yeah it It could be alienating because some people don't like ah like a pre-Hollywood New Wave style. um i mean Everyone I've shown ah this movie, everyone to whom I've shown this movie, is they've just eaten it up. Because it is so deeply itself. um I don't remember where I read it. might have been Letterboxd, might have been Reddit. Somebody said that this is the movie that is promised to you whenever you watch something that is supposed to be like a grindhouse flick.
01:00:19
Speaker
yeah Because you might go in and be like, oh, well, no. you this You get everything you expect out of this. This is like the the pinnacle of that. For weirdness, I'd probably say like ah like a two.
01:00:31
Speaker
it's pretty It's pretty straightforward. It does its thing. That dinner scene is what pushes it, or the the lunch scene, rather, is what kind of pushes it up. Because it does it does get a little odd there. Otherwise, this is this is something that could have come out in 2004 and been the worst piece of sexist material you've ever seen. But because it's 1965, it kind of saves itself. But yeah, I don't don't think too weird. it's It's not like late career Fellini or some wild genre film.
01:01:03
Speaker
no, no. It's not that. Well, those are our reviews. But I found a couple of reviews that are perhaps less favorable. and We're goingnna talk about them in the review review. Okay.
01:01:18
Speaker
Okay.
01:01:30
Speaker
You wrote review of the film, now we're going to review you.
01:02:06
Speaker
All right. So I found three reviews of a faster puss, get kill, kill. The first one comes to us from IMDB. They gave it one out of 10 from user Willie Ray.
01:02:17
Speaker
the review was titled despicable. Hmm. Boy, do I have a series of animated films he'd like then.
01:02:31
Speaker
That's the one word. Probably the worst film ever made by degenerates. Acting sucks, and the plot is just an excuse for sick people to act out their morbid fantasies.
01:02:48
Speaker
That's movies for you. and scream No wonder this country started going downhill during the nineteen sixty sixth And we now, that's when it happened.
01:03:01
Speaker
And now we live in a society that does not value human beings. Millions of people now enjoy watching people kill each other for no justified purpose to satisfy their bloodlust.
01:03:18
Speaker
We do. And at the top of the list are people here who provide a positive review and give it a rating above a five. i i This is incredible. First of all, I appreciate that we got a, we live in a society ah review before Joker 2019 came out. I cannot tell if this person is 89 or if it is some 16 year old who thinks that they're not like the other guys. Like,
01:03:48
Speaker
That is atrocious. I live for that. Just one last kicker on there. A society that values pure evil like this film has no hope and will eventually destroy itself.
01:04:03
Speaker
Okay, he's right about that, but for the wrong reasons. We're definitely hitting that last part. Correlation and causality are very different. ah All right. These other two, i found two more. They were from both. They're both from Letterboxd.
01:04:18
Speaker
The first one, one half star out of five from Alma. Oh, God. I'm only approximately 30 minutes in, but this is so bad. This is the most male centrist, male gazey, proximally fetishist movie ever. Oh my God. I've never seen anything more obviously written for a man.
01:04:41
Speaker
Yeah, she gets it. I mean, okay. Yeah. And? That's like going to go get yourself a burger and, you know, it you're complaining it's got too much ground beef in it. and That doesn't make any sense. there There are people who just cannot view art beyond what is presented to them. They don't understand context or tone or style. And I feel like that's a case of that.
01:05:10
Speaker
To say that the movie's male-centric? Yeah, it is. And being able to remove yourself a layer or two and realize that that's what makes it fun or funny or interesting, anything, is the reason you watch it. If you watched this movie and you were like, wow, I'm really absorbed in the drama of these go-go dance... No, you're not watching it right.
01:05:29
Speaker
No. But I will give that review credit for using male gazey in a way that's almost right. Much closer than usual. That is true.
01:05:40
Speaker
A lot of people seem to think it means when a man looks at a woman in a movie. No, no. This is male gaze. I will give her that. Yeah, the director quite literally.
01:05:51
Speaker
Last one, one out of five stars from user Another Phony. I was drinking with my dad and his friend, and his friend put this film on, and I don't remember much. Just titties knocking around and that Japanese lady being a dickhead. out 10 review.
01:06:15
Speaker
yeah Yeah. That is accurate. The titties were swinging and Tora Satana was, uh, she was being a dickhead. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe your dad and his drinking buddy just aren't the right crowd to watch this with. Maybe you need to expand your social circle a little bit, brother. it's I don't know. I feel like that'd be the right crowd depending on who your dad is. Yeah. Well, it didn't work out for him. He only gave it the one star.
01:06:40
Speaker
Boo. Get a life. Yeah, give it another shot. Open your heart. You guys want to play a little game? oh yeah. All right. We're going to play a little bit of this, that, or the other.
01:07:08
Speaker
As I ask you this question, The answer will be one of three.
01:07:21
Speaker
I ask myself, what will they answer? Will it be A, B, or C?
01:07:33
Speaker
A, B, or C? And each time I ask you question, there's one thing that I want to know. Is it this, is it that, or is it the other?
01:07:49
Speaker
Is it this, is it that, or is it the other?
01:07:58
Speaker
That's right. It's this, that, or the other. Now, Ryan, you are famously Wichita's premier quiz master. No pressure on me with a game here. I'll take that title.
01:08:09
Speaker
easy But also, one thing I wanted to suggest to you while we're on the topic of quiz masters, you famously will give out clues for the next week. But I propose when this episode comes out, everyone that week has to listen to it to get this clue. The answer is Michael Rappaport.
01:08:31
Speaker
He's been having a ah week, isn't he? Yeah. Yeah. So make a question where the answer is Michael Rappaport. People will get that answer if they listen to this episode.
01:08:45
Speaker
So ah what we're doing is this, that, or the other. What I did is I found ah films that featured either Tura Satana, who played Varla, Haji, who played Rosie, or Laurie Williams, who played Billy. I want you to tell me which one was in this movie. I'm going to give you the title and a brief plot description.
01:09:03
Speaker
Oh, God. That's going be delightful. This is a buzz-in game. You'll buzz in by saying your own name. If you get it wrong, your opponent has the chance to steal. Is everybody ready?
01:09:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. All right. Question number one. Tickle me. A singing rodeo rider gets hired at an expensive all-female dude ranch slash beauty spa and falls for a pretty fitness trainer who's under constant threat from a gang who wants her late grandfather's cache of gold that's hidden in a ghost town.
01:09:38
Speaker
Did this star Tora Satana, Haji, or Lori Williams? I'm going to say Ryan. I'll buzz in. I know that this is an Elvis Presley movie. um I'm going to say it's Haji.
01:09:53
Speaker
I'm sorry. It wasn't Haji. Anna, can you steal? Laurie Williams. You're correct. Question number two. Wham, bam. Thank you. Spaceman.
01:10:08
Speaker
No way. One of the last nudie cuties. I've seen this one. It's not bad. ah Two aliens from a dying planet are on a mission to impregnate Earth women.
01:10:22
Speaker
Wham, ma'am. Thank you, Spaceman. That's the whole one. That's it. Anna. Tourist Satana.
01:10:32
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. It wasn't Tourist Satana. Ryan, can you stand? Let's go with Haji.
01:10:40
Speaker
That's correct. It's all tied up. Question number three. It came up earlier in the show. The incredible sex revolution. A troubled woman named Peggy Bardot reveals her sexual issues to a psychologist through flashbacks of her past experiences. He works to uncover the source of her problems.
01:11:04
Speaker
That's like surprisingly. Okay. Anna. Lori Williams. That's correct. Laurie Williams played scavenger hunt woman.
01:11:14
Speaker
That just seems surprisingly lofty. Yeah. Question number four. The haunted world of El Superbisto. Ryan.
01:11:27
Speaker
A washed up luchador. Please wait till I finish reading the A washed up luchador and a super spy investigate Nazi zombies, a nefarious scientist, and a stripper with a satanic birthmark.
01:11:38
Speaker
Ryan. and That's Tora Satana. That's correct. She i she played a character named Varla in it, I'm pretty sure. Yes, she was the voice of Varla. It was an animated picture. Rob Zombie.
01:11:52
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, okay. Question number five. Question number five. Taxi dancers. A young woman arrives in Los Angeles and is forced to take a job as a taxi dancer in a strip club to financially survive.
01:12:09
Speaker
Anna. Anna. Haji.
01:12:15
Speaker
That's correct. Haji played vanilla. Bunny. Yeah. as She would have said in this movie.
01:12:27
Speaker
Question number six. Who's been sleeping in my bed? Actor Jason Steele, who plays a surgeon on popular TV shows, is the insecure fiance of art teacher Melissa Morris.
01:12:43
Speaker
His poker pals unhappy wives confuse Jason with his TV role and pop up at his house to check out his bedside manner. Ryan. Who's been sleeping in my bed, Ryan? It's Taurus Atana.
01:12:57
Speaker
That one's Taurus Atana as well.
01:13:02
Speaker
Question number seven.
01:13:06
Speaker
Astro zombies. The plan to build a superhuman. How? By murdering innocent, convenient victims and using various bits of them.
01:13:18
Speaker
The result? Creatures on the rampage. Ryan. Ryan. Taurus Satana. That one's Taurus Satana.
01:13:31
Speaker
Really getting a run on the tourist satanic. She's the one that knows.
01:13:38
Speaker
Question number six. It's a bikini world. Male chauvinist Mike attempts to get an intelligent burgeoning feminist named Delilah into his harem.
01:13:51
Speaker
When she resists, Mike then poses as his brother, Herbert, but falls in love with Delilah in the process. It's a Bikini World.
01:14:03
Speaker
Isn't that always the way? Anna. true. Anna? Lori Williams. Correct. Of course, name Delilah, the downfall of man.
01:14:15
Speaker
i guess It's true. Lori Williams in that one played girl. Ooh, meaty. Yeah. Question number nine. The amorous adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
01:14:31
Speaker
A body musical spoof of the Cervantes classic featuring songs too risque for your radio waves like Hey Handsome Night, Itty Bitty Whore, and Pregnant You Won't Get.
01:14:46
Speaker
Wow. I'll say Ryan. Ryan, I'll guess Haji. Ryan. That's correct. ah I'm sorry. Congratulations. Did you say Itty Bitty Whore?
01:14:59
Speaker
Itty Bitty Whore, one of the many classic songs you can hear in the Amherst Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. And Sancho Panza. It's not just Don Quixote who's whoring. Well, congratulations, Ryan. Get zoops.
01:15:17
Speaker
You're our big winner this week. What? Oh, and look at that. It's the Batty Awards. Woo! Woo!
01:15:31
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:15:41
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:15:47
Speaker
Congratulations to all the nominees.
01:15:54
Speaker
That's right. Congratulations to all our nominees. It's the Batty Awards. Anna. Do you have a Batty Award? Well, yes, I do. Good.
01:16:07
Speaker
Thank God. It's going to ah vala's Car. Car is Porsche i um Specifically, it's going to the fact that there's a whole bit where the gas station attendant is trying to find the opening to the gas tank on the car, and it turns out it's on the right front fender.
01:16:37
Speaker
ah And I can it That just made me think of being Back in college when I drove Saab And the ignition was on the floor and anytime somebody would Borrow my car i would have to be like Oh yeah the ignition is on the floor Because I still can't picture it It's it's just right by the parking break Naturally Which is also a normal place Yes.
01:17:08
Speaker
Fair enough. I'm going to give my baddie award to the best alternate film that I would want to see. i want to see the movie about Varla's lie. I want to see the three go-go dancers that have been hired to track down a missing girl.
01:17:21
Speaker
That also sounds really good. And it's great that for just like three seconds in the movie, Meyer invites you to imagine another incredible movie. You get two for the price of one.
01:17:34
Speaker
it's I am surprised he didn't, given his he a prolific filmography. Yeah, sooner or later. Ryan, do you have a Batty Award? ah Yeah, just the concept of clocks.
01:17:48
Speaker
They really piss Farlaw off and it gets it gets it gets Tommy killed. if If this dude would have nutted up and actually raced real people, ah he would have been spared.
01:17:59
Speaker
every every Pretty much everybody in this movie other than Kirk and Linda would have been spared. Yeah. So ah the concept of time. Yeah, abolish time. Just like that one place, i think, in northern Norway.
01:18:14
Speaker
Get rid of it. We don't need it anymore. It's outdated. You'll be there when you're there.
01:18:21
Speaker
I'll be there soon. Listeners, thank you for being here. It was great to have you. Ryan, it was great to have you. for you have anything you want to plug? ah No, I just I'm really grateful that I got to come on and talk about one of my truly one of my favorite movies ever. It is. It's in my letterbox top four. i a fantastic choice. I eat this movie up and I'm glad you both enjoyed it.
01:18:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. No, it was great to watch. Well, I'll come back anytime. All right. We will put you on a returning guest list. We'd love to have you. Listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. If you tuned in from Trivia Night, remember Michael Rappaport.
01:19:06
Speaker
And ah remember to come back next week when we will be having our episode about Super Mario Brothers with returning guest Julie Setting. And don't forget to check out the link tree in our show notes. There you can find our Instagram. You can find our Blue Sky. You can find our new sub stack. You can find our YouTube channel.
01:19:27
Speaker
And if you hit up any of those and you shoot us a DM, you can get into our Discord server where we are watching movies. We are watching television shows. We are hanging out We were having fun.
01:19:37
Speaker
You could get in there. What else you got going on? Am I right? And, uh, yeah. Until next week, be good and, uh, goodbye.
01:19:50
Speaker
Goodbye. she's not going anywhere.
01:20:02
Speaker
It's sad she doesn't say what's wrong from life.
01:20:36
Speaker
In her life there'll be no time for love You'll never take her Make up your mind You will find Pussycat She's living reckless Pussycat She's riding high you think that you can tame her Well, just you try
01:20:57
Speaker
Come on and come on and Yeah, come on and try.