WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:08.800 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.080 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.360 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.760 today we are going to be discussing a cult classic, 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.479 the nineteen sixty five let's see, what would you call it? 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:30.720 The Go Go murder exploitation film Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.879 I think I'm to understand a favorite of many filmmakers. 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.879 Yeah, especially a filmmaker John Waters. He is the ultimate 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:41.280 champion of this film. And I'm going to be touching 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:46.440 in on his thoughts regarding this film several times, especially 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.280 in the run up to the plot here. But yeah, 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:53.080 this is a very well known cult classic film. And 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.920 as we are approaching the Halloween season here, Joe, when 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.320 I had this discussion, like, well, maybe we should we 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:03.840 should have avoid doing horror movies until we get either 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.360 to October itself or right to the edge of October, 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.720 so as to enhance the punch of all that horror. 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:11.360 So last week we did The Man Who Fell to 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.040 Earth science fiction drama, and this week, yeah, it is 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.880 basically a crime yarn, a sixties go go dancer desert 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:20.759 crime movie. 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.760 What brought you to this pic, rub, you know, I 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:25.880 don't remember specifically. 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:27.679 It's one of those that I've always been aware of, 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:32.039 just because it does have a its B cinema cult 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.839 following footprint firmly. It was more of a bootprint firmly implanet, 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.040 you know, in the face of the American public. So 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.240 I've always been vaguely aware of it, and I've heard 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:45.520 samples from it, seen some stills from it, but I've 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.360 never watched it in its entirety. And yeah, I think 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:50.400 I was just I did a quick brainstorm. It's like, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.800 what's something that doesn't have horror, What's something even further 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:56.000 doesn't have a speculative element at all that would still 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.640 fit the profile for weird house cinema. And I was like, oh, well, 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:01.800 it's got to be faster. Pussycat Kill Kill. 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:04.360 I had never seen this movie before a couple of 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.600 days ago, and I was very impressed by it in 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.000 multiple respects. But one of the ways it impressed me 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:15.680 was how entertaining it is for a B movie. Now, 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:19.160 we love B movies, but a common problem with a 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:22.440 lot of B movies is that they they often have 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:26.160 dull stretches. Not all but a lot. You often get 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.880 the sense that, like, you know, a B movie director 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.639 is trying to like work up to the monster scene 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.600 and that's really what they're excited about, and they're like, Okay, 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:37.040 before we do that, we got to have like a 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.680 love scene here. We gotta have like a character explaining 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.200 how the monster was made to kind of dry, you know, 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.520 a scientist explaining the origin of the monster whatever. And 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.440 these scenes feel kind of perfunctory. It's just like they're 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.160 even the director is not very excited about them. They're 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:54.920 just trying to get through them to show you the 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:58.920 stuff that's that you're really here for. This film was 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.520 made with the idea, yeah, clearly that every moment should 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.680 be thrilling and entertaining in some way, even when it's 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:11.119 just kind of routine plot execution or just exposition that's 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.120 setting up later scenes. The script is written in such 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:18.400 a way that, like every line a character says is 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.720 weird in a way that makes the scene entertaining. Like 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.040 I think the sensibility that russ Meyer and from what 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:30.120 I've read, russ Meyer to a great extent credits one 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:33.679 of the main cast members Tasatana as also being a 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.480 sort of a truth not just a member of the cast, 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.440 but a true like creative influence behind like the movie 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:44.280 and its style. Whoever's responsible for the dialogue in each 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.640 scene knew that it is more important to be entertaining 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.040 than to be realistic. And I appreciate that. 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:53.800 Yeah, yeah, I think this is a strong point. I mean, 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:55.560 you even see it in the title, Like the title 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.800 is faster pussy Cat Kill Kill, And I've read that, 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.000 like the whole take on this is that like you have, 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:03.760 you know, a hint of sex in the title, you 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.240 have speed, you know, racing in the title, and you 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.160 have murder and death in the title. And it doesn't 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.800 actually make all that much sense as a statement or 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:16.400 a title. Like John Waters, when we're in writing about 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.279 the film, often refers to the gang of three here 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.440 as the Pussycats. I don't think they ever refer to 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.839 themselves as such, but you know, fair enough, I guess, 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:27.839 but you do have to sort of twist the title 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:32.080 to make it work in a literal sense. Now, as 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.919 we'll discuss, this is certainly a film produced through the 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.679 male gaze. It's about go go dancers starring go go dancers, 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:40.839 or at least two of them, and while it's not 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.599 as provocative as you might expect by modern standards. I mean, 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.239 this is a mid nineteen sixties movie that was shown 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.200 at the drive in. You know, it's still clearly intended 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:54.040 to titillate, but it's also action packed. And it's especially 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.920 interesting to read various reviews that talk about it's kind 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.000 of dual nature because at the time of its release, Yeah, 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:01.479 a lot of people saw it as just a sexist 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.960 B movie, and a lot of people didn't like it 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:06.760 to understand, it didn't actually perform all that well, but 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.799 it was later embraced as this kind of iconic counterculture 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:14.480 film with a grandiose vision of female power to match 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.200 the grandiose visions of masculine power found just everywhere else 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.680 in cinema. So this is this film that has been 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.840 very influential. It was a major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.360 Death Proof from two thousand and seven, and both Tarantino 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:32.080 and more recently actor Norman Retis have expressed an interest 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.480 in remaking it in one form or another. I think 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.320 you can ask a lot of questions about what form 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:42.760 a remake of Faster Pussycat Kill Kill would take. In 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.240 the twenty first century, but you know, maybe they have 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.200 a particular vision or visions in mind. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.080 I was actually thinking, without knowing that, I was thinking 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.560 about Quentin Tarantino when I thought about modern filmmakers who 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.000 had clearly been inspired by this movie. I can see 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.840 direct lines of influence going from this movie to Yes 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.640 to Death proove his half of the release that was 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:06.960 originally called Grind Grindhouse. 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.599 Is that what it was called, Yes Grindhouse. 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.840 But then also to the kill Bill series that there 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:17.280 is some strong shared material there. Of course, I knew 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:19.800 about the John Waters connection, and we can talk some 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.479 more about some things that come through in John Waters 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.840 films as well that that seemed to be inspired by 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.719 this movie. But coming back to your comment about Norman 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:31.800 read Us, I have to lodge a complaint that is 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.920 not about this movie, but about how Google search results are. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:35.159 Now. 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.880 We were just recently talking about how, for some reason 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:40.200 it seems like Google search results are just getting worse 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:43.279 and worse. I think I don't know exactly the reason 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:45.000 for this, but I would suspect it has to do 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.200 with just like the Web is getting worse and worse, 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:51.239 more packed with junk, and you know, search engine gaming 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.960 AI generated content and garbage. So the other day, when 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.080 I just googled this movie, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill the 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.720 top result, What do you think it should be? An 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.359 image of the poster of the movie, an image of 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.599 the cast of the movie, or a promo still from it. No, 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.240 it's a picture of Norman riatas oh Man. 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.360 I mean, I love Norman Reada's a very fun actor, 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:14.640 have been in a lot of things I love. But 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.040 come on, now, coming back to John Waters, I did 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:21.120 pick up his book Shock Value where he talked He 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:22.560 talked about a lot of things in that book, but 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.400 he does specifically talk a little bit about Faster pussy 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:30.200 Cat Kill Kill. He writes that this film, russ Meyer's 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.600 tenth film quote is beyond a doubt, the best movie 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.000 ever made. It is possibly better than any film that 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:38.640 will be made in the future. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.360 Don't try to argue with him. You don't want to 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.720 get pulled into this. He's had more practice having this 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:45.920 conversation than you have. 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:48.680 Exactly. I mean, yeah, Like I said, he's the ultimate 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.120 champion of this film, and I think the ultimate expert 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:56.200 on it. He has meditated on this movie more than 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.840 any other person. In this book, he goes on to 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.160 talk about how initially he was drawn in by the 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.040 radio ads during the film's initial release. They promised that 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.400 the movie would leave a taste of evil in your mouth, 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:10.880 and then he went and saw it, and he fell 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.320 in love the picture and ended up seeing it every 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.200 night at the local drive in, often alone, for the 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.800 remainder of its run there. So he cites this movie 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:24.120 as the primary influence on all of his characters in 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:25.240 all of his films. 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.080 I can absolutely see that in many ways, and I 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.880 think he so. In one sense. You can see the 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.800 similarity in the way that John Waters movies, I think 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.360 often go for that feeling of trying to make every 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:43.480 single moment interesting and entertaining rather than going for realism obviously, 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.440 and so it's like more important that a character say 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.920 something that is shocking or funny or entertaining in some 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.960 way than that they like strictly stay in character or 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.280 I don't know, do something that would be realistic. But 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.920 another big similarity I see is this may be a 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:04.760 weird thing to single out, but I think you'll have 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:08.280 to agree with me, is in a very strange and 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:14.160 idiosyncratic style of line delivery that is characteristic of this movie, 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:20.079 like especially Taurusitana, but also the character Billy. They have 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.720 this way of saying lines where they're almost not really 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.600 acting them. They are just like shouting their lines, like 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:33.640 just spitting them out with this forceful, venomous, high octane 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:38.600 delivery for every line, just the same every time. And 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.040 that comes through in a lot of performances in John 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:43.959 Waters movies. 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.880 Yeah. Yeah, this this feeling, especially in this movie, that 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.440 it often feel any given scene will often feel like 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.280 a pro wrestling promo, you know, it has that kind 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.840 of energy. It maybe one note, but that note is 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:00.000 played super loud and there's no missing it and it delivers. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.599 There's something about that character very loudly. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:07.160 Like I'm specifically thinking of a lot of divines. Line 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:11.120 delivery and pink flamingos feels like Varla's line delivery in 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:14.800 this movie. Yeah, yeah, I think there's a direct connection there. 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:17.440 So we'll keep coming back to some Waters quotes because 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:21.760 again I think he's the authority on all these all 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.480 things faster, pussy, get, kill, Kill. But as we normally 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.160 we'd touch in the elevator pitch, I'm just going to 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:31.040 read you how John Waters describes this movie as a 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:35.520 quote violent gothic melodrama built around three bisexual, psychotic go 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:40.600 go girls, Varla, Billy, and Rosie. There's an interesting angle 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.520 that the movie approaches you with, and I wonder what 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.160 you think about this, rob It almost feels like it's 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:52.559 trying to imply that this movie is connected to current events, 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.240 and those current events, which you must have seen in 0:10:55.280 --> 0:11:01.120 the news, are that now everyday women are are like 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.760 breaking men's necks in the desert. It's just something that's 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.400 happening in this crazy world we live in today, and 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.800 this is a movie about that phenomenon. But I don't 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.560 think that there really was a phenomenon to base this on. 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:14.560 No. 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:18.360 I mean, maybe it's exploiting a little bit this idea 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.080 that they actually you call out in some dialogue in 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.360 the film, or it's like women or they're doing all 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.600 these things now that they didn't used to do. In 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.840 one of those things is perpetrating violent crimes in the desert. 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:30.719 You've come a long way, baby. 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:33.440 I mean, I'm sure it happens sometimes, but I don't 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.120 get the feeling that this was like there was a 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:40.880 sudden spike in the sixties of women just doing assassinations 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:42.800 related to auto racing. 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.000 Now, I mean obviously, Yeah, women have always engaged in 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.560 murder and violence just as men have. I mean, we 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:53.040 have tales in the Old Testament and various myths and 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.920 legends and so forth. There are plenty of there have 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.960 been plenty of varlas throughout history. All right, let's go 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.240 ahead and listen to the trailer audio for a faster 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.480 pussycat kill kill. 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:11.480 If you want, ladies and gentlemen, gold gold for a 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:15.480 wild wild ride with the watusie cats. But beware, the 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.400 sweetest kittens have the sharpest claw or your own safety. 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:25.559 See Faster pussy Cats Kill kill, wild women, wild wheels, 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:30.040 Race the fastest pussy cats and they'll be Jill, not dead, 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.199 sober woman, faulted, wild and FOTD. 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.960 You're plating yourself on this kid, then hanging itself for nothing. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.240 For nothing, got nothing to do with the money jeers. 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:48.400 The money Jack and Jill. They make them Moffia look 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:54.679 like Brownie must have all. Yeah, ten percent of your 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.880 action be enough for anyone, too much for one man 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:02.400 to handle. And again you never can town. You girls 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.480 a bunch of newdists. You just uh short of clothes 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.319 right now, You're first on my list, and I always 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:15.960 got top. You'll only go one chill and your channel's 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.760 busy tune in and outside. You really shippy, am benefm? 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:22.960 So who do I get to take care of the 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:23.680 muscle man? 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.760 You got two of everything and some left over? 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:30.400 You did one? 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.120 You want a big crust or side darling? 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:37.559 Why did you take one of each? Son? A? Uh, 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.960 both look tender. He's got a big motor to feed. 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:44.320 But did you you did? 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:51.560 My mother never wrote shot baby rock would. 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:52.440 Be rough the last time. 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.600 All right, here's how it works. 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:02.839 Everybody's gotta go your name it. We've got faster pussy hats, kills, 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:07.880 delivers tone board on the opposition on ladylike karate chops, 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:13.920 ungentlemanly haymaker, spirited gymnastics, corrective table attic sandbox jousting, or 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.960 a muscle bound chat wrestling with a roaring sports car 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.680 that's intent upon squashing him like a grape bazaar kidney 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:23.400 and chessie rattling chases and for the first time on 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:27.560 the screen, a hay making, belly busting, karate chopping, judo 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.840 flipping fight. Go in them all, sober woman against man, 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:37.560 the prize life itself slashing, tackling, gouging, hacking, clipping, felting, smashing, 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:41.680 and muscle to muscle, bone to bowl or an incredible 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:47.000 evenings entertainment. A film so totally satisfying see Russ Meyer Faster, 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:48.720 pussy Cat Kill. 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:55.440 Chill See really sells it. You can you can imagine 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.840 being the young John Waters hearing that or some version 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.440 of that trailer for the first time. All right, as 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.000 for availability on this one, I do wish it was 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.360 easier to get a copy of it or to have 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:10.000 an official stream of the movie. It doesn't seem to 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.920 be widely available on disc right now, and I couldn't 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:18.120 find an official stream video Drum has a copy of 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.520 it here in Atlanta. But yeah, I've given this film's 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.320 cult status. Would I would want it to be more 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.880 available than it is. But if you look hard enough, 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.400 I think you can probably find it somewhere. So if 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.920 you need a break and go see this movie, you know, 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.800 come back. We're going to talk about the cast and 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:36.960 some of the filmmakers, and then from there we're going 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.480 to get into a more spoilery discussion of the plot. 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:49.640 All right, Well, let's start, yeah at the top, with 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.760 the director, the producer of the editor. He also is 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.360 a story credit. It's Russ Meyer, who lived nineteen twenty 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.520 two through two thousand and four, American exploitation director known 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.200 for camp, be sex ploit tis films from the nineteen 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.760 fifties through the nineteen eighties, with a couple of brief 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.440 returns after that. He directed the nineteen seventy film Beyond 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.120 the Valley of the Dolls, the only film that film 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:11.840 critic Roger Ebert ever wrote. 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.320 I think that movie was also not super well received 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.680 when it came out, but I've heard people kind of 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:24.040 appreciate it now. It's also allegedly just wild. The moment 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:28.520 to moment weirdness quotient is apparently quite high. 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:33.600 So Meyer's film immediately prior to Faster Pussycat was nineteen 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:37.440 sixty five's Motor Psycho same year, same release year, about 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:41.080 a violent gang of male bikers, so he essentially flipped 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.600 the script on that for this movie, focusing on female 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:48.520 characters instead. His films are often categorized as being very 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:54.040 technically proficient, ludicrous in their dialogue, campy, and often using leering, 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:57.960 low angle shots, but those low angle shots often do 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:02.200 create this sense of weird kind of almost like mythic tension, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.520 like it makes it makes the characters in the film 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.120 feel larger than life. I mean not just their physical bodies, 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.760 but like their their sort of hero or villain status. 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:17.280 I would say that russ Meyer's style is very much 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:22.000 in that category of schlock, but not hack. Somebody who 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:26.520 is creating what is supposed to be you know, yeah, 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:31.359 lowbrow exploitation cinema, but who actually is bringing quite a 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:35.080 bit of style and in a weird way you could 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.719 almost say say taste to the experience. 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.960 Yeah, Like I say, never a dull moment. If nothing else, 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.480 you're just wondering what are these characters going to say next, 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.480 And at any moment someone might get like slapped in 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.159 the face as well. Again, John Waters idolized russ Meyer, 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.320 called him quote the good old boy of exploitation films, 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.480 and in Waters' view on things, quote exploitation films are 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.000 the only ones that come close to that dreaded word art. 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:08.960 That's an interesting idea. I almost feel like I've heard 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.760 John Waters talk about this in some other context, that 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:16.520 there's almost kind of a like a horseshoe theory of taste, 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:20.440 where for some reason, a lot of people who seem 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:24.000 to have some of the highest tolerance for I don't know, 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:31.560 avant garde art and you know, the like the I 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:33.399 don't know what you call it, the kind of fine 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.200 art that really asks you to be open minded and 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.640 go outside of your comfort zone. For some reason, are 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:44.199 also often people who are into very low brow B 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:45.520 movie type stuff. 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.480 Yeah, yeah, that's sort of you know, putting yourself in 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:53.480 a place of open minded vulnerability where art can potentially 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:55.920 hurt you. But like it's it's what does it make 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.359 me feel? It's creating feelings and then I'm supposed to 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:02.320 make sense of those feelings. Yeah, it's not unlike the 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.800 place you have to put yourself in with various exploitation films, 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.880 though to be sure, not all exploitation films are created 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.879 equal and in many different ways. All right, Moving on 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.880 to the screenplay itself, written by Jackie Moran, who lived 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.320 nineteen twenty three through nineteen ninety. As a writer, he 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:21.760 only worked on a handful of produced screenplays, all russ 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.120 Meyer pictures, but as an actor, his credits go back 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.879 to Believe the mid nineteen thirties. As a child and 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.520 youth actor appeared in various old serials such as Buck Rogers, 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.840 as well as a nineteen thirty eight adaptation of the 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.240 Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Oh and he was also in 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.200 a nineteen thirty nine film called Gone with the Wind. 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:44.000 So I mentioned that a lot of what makes this 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:50.720 movie unique is the high grit of the script, you know, 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.159 like the way that each line just kind of like 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:57.159 grips you and rubs your brain. And I don't know 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.600 exactly where to put the credit for this. It should 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.600 should we be thinking about this as like a feature 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.840 of Jackie Moran's screenplay, or since this seems to be, 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.640 from what I've read, a characteristic of Russ Meyer films, 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:15.399 is this something that's coming more from Meyer's influence? But 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:17.960 then again, as I said, also, I've read that that 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:22.320 tourist Satana is usually given credit for shaping a lot 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:24.159 of the tone and style of the movie. 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:28.240 Yeah, I mean, you probably want to side with Varlain 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:31.640 this one, because otherwise she's gonna chop you and Kidney. 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:35.080 So I mean, it does seem like a lot of 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:38.040 those lines are coming from the heart. So yeah, I 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:39.879 don't have a lot of clarity on this, but I 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.560 kind of have the suspicion that the screenplay was one place, 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.239 and then maybe the actors and or the director on 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:48.960 the set kind of like punch things in a different direction. 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:49.520 Hmm. 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:54.640 Okay, well, let's talk about Toura Satana, not Santana, as 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:58.359 I sometimes keep mispronouncing it. This is this is her 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:03.640 show name. Lean into the sort of evil nature of 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:08.120 her persona. So Satana lived nineteen thirty eight through twenty eleven, 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.240 and yeah, this she plays the leader of our gang 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:15.159 of three of violence loving fem fatale, criminal, mastermind, and 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:19.840 goth queen of the Desert. Satana was born Tura Yamaguchi. 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.520 She was a Japanese American exotic dancer and burlesque performer 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.600 turned actor. She started out in the early sixties with 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:29.679 bit parts for TV and film, including the TV series 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:33.520 hawaiian I and The Man from Uncle. Then came this film, 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.199 followed by an uncredited role as a dancer on sixty 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:40.040 six is Our Man Flint, and then the role of Satana, 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.520 essentially playing herself to some degree in the nineteen sixty 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:48.440 eight low budget sci fi horror film The Astro Zombies 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:51.080 starring Wendell Corey and John Keradine. 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:54.960 That's a movie I have seen and remember almost nothing about, 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.679 which is a feature of most films I've seen starring 0:21:58.760 --> 0:21:59.600 John Keradine. 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.920 Oh well, you know, Peep busted. He's in a lot 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:05.000 of films, but he's in a lot of forgivable films, 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:08.239 It's true. Astro Zombies is definitely one of those. It's 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:10.119 a classic B movie in many ways. It has this 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:14.800 super cool mask, very cool poster, but as I remember it, 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:20.280 a very plotting pace. I believe Satana plays the Mad 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:23.600 Doctor's evil hinch woman, but I cannot remember a thing 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.160 that anyone does in this aside from you do get 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:29.080 some creeping astro zombies from time to time. 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:31.560 That was a Ted V. Michels movie, wasn't it. 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.320 I think so? So After this, she was in seventy 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:39.160 three Is the Doll Squad, a kind of Charlie's Angels 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:42.840 inspired romp. She left acting after that, but emerged again 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:45.200 in the two thousands, appearing in two thousand and fours, 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:47.959 Mark of the Astro Zombies, two thousand and nine, Sugar 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:52.280 Box Rob Zombies, The Haunted World of l Superbisto, and 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.359 Astro Zombies M three cloned in twenty ten. I mean, 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.359 what can you say though, she's a force of nature 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:02.600