Saturday, February 9, 2013

Motorpsycho

Motorpsycho; action/ crime, USA, 1965; D: Russ Meyer, S: Alex Rocco, Haji, Holle K. Winters, Stephen Oliver, Joseph Cellini, Sharon Lee, Arshalouis Aivazian

A motorbike gang consisting of Brahmin, Dante and Slick drives across California and harasses girls. One day, they rape Gail in her house, so her husband Cory goes on to pursue and take revenge on them. Following them, he stumbles upon the wounded Ruby whose husband was also killed by the gang. The leader, Brahmin, finds a gun and shoots his colleague Slick. His other member Dante escapes from him. Brahmin starts shooting at Cory and Ruby from a hill, but is blown up by dynamite when he descends down.

Once a solid hit, "Motorpsycho" is today forgotten and overshadowed by Russ Meyer's own film released the same year, "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" - the reason why the first was "disposed" off while the second one became a cult classic, even though they both have a similar story - three gang members assaulting someone - lies in the fact that "Motorpsycho" is typically cliche, while "Pussycat" turned that cliche upside down and offered something new and original by having three girls play the gang members. "Motorpsycho" again follows Meyer's exploitation formula: men harassing women, violence, murder, sexism...But, unfortunately, they are all again shown in banal and cheap ways, without offering something innovative (except for being one of the first movies that showed PTSP caused trauma when it is hinted near the end that the violent gang leader is a Vietnam War veteran). The scene where Ruby sucks out snake's poison from Cory's leg is ultra-trashy and unintentionally comical, the dialogues are blatant while the actions of the protagonists often do not make any sense. As always, Meyer somehow found busty women to play small roles throughout, who do best out of their thin roles, this time by newcomers Arshalouis Aivazian and Sharon Lee.

Grade;+

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