Supervixens (1975)

Russ Meyer’s Supervixens - what can one say about this movie? It’s a Russ Meyer movie. It has lots of sex, lots of women with very large breasts, some very disturbing violence, it’s bizarre and it’s funny. The interesting thing about the violence is that it’s explicitly linked to fear of female sexuality – the macho tough guy cop beats up women because he’s sexually inadequate. The most sexually repressed people are the most screwed-up people in this movie, which kind of makes one nostalgic for the 70s in a way. Remember hen sex was supposed to be good for you? I’m not sure to what extent Meyer intended his movies as a satire on American culture, but they can be read that way. Obsessions with cars and violence certainly figure largely in the three Meyer movies I’ve seen so far. It’s basically a road movie. The hero, Clint, leaves the gas station he works at (run by a certain Martin Bormann, ex-war criminal but now nice guy) and sets off on a journey into a weird wasteland of deserts and rural Americana after he finds himself the prime suspect in a murder. He has a series of adventures, sexual and otherwise. He encounters Superlorna, Supercherry and Supersoul, and finally meets the Supervixen. She’s kind of a nice girl version of his old girlfriend, Superangel. It’s all done in typical Meyer style. The insane chase through the desert involving a souped-up Volkswagen and a dune buggy containing Clint and SuperEula is particularly bizarre. As for the ending, it’s so strange that really words fail me. The cast includes plenty of Meyer regulars, including John Lazar (Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell from Beyond the Valley of Dolls) and Haji from Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (who is now Superhaji). Overall, bizarre but entertaining. It’s over-the-top, but it lacks the extreme over-the-topness of Beyond the Valley of Dolls, which remains my favourite Meyer film.

8 out of 10