Myra Breckinridge (1970)

"Myra Breckinridge is a dish and don't you ever forget it, you motherfuckers."

What do you get when you put Raquel Welch, Mae West, John Huston, Rex Reed (in his first role on screen) and a very young Farrah Fawcett (also her first) with a subversive story about a man's journey to become the most extraordinary women in the world wrapped up in a tale of family revenge?? Myra Breckinridge, of course.... and dare I say one of the most under appreciated cinema gems to come out of a large studio (20th Century Fox).

Adapted from a book by Gore Vidal, which was quite the controversial at the time; Hence the tag line, "the book that couldn't be written is now the movie that couldn't be made" (unfortunately he denounced the film later). In my opinion this story is still ahead of it's time. Gore Vidal was very much known for ruffling the feathers of mainstream society with his unapologetic openness regarding sexuality and gender.

The film opens with Myron Breckinridge (Rex Reed) on the slab, preparing to make all his dreams come true with a sex-change operation (with surgeon John Carradine). Myra (always with Myron at her side, watching her exploits and being very entertained by them) shack up at the Chateau Marmont and begin to put their revenge plot into action. She then goes to the Buck Loner Academy to confront her rich uncle Buck Loner (John Huston, playing a Hollywood has been) and take half of what's his, with the story that she is Myron's widow. She is offered a position at the academy training young acting hopefuls, an aversion to being paid by Buck Loner. There she meets Rusty, a typical homophobic naive but ruggedly good looking young man that she wishes to teach a lesson; as well as his naive and somewhat vapid but, completely sweet girlfriend Maryann (played by Farrah Fawcett) who she is also strangely attracted to. And that's about all I can tell you with ruining the good bits!

BUT, I will tell you this..

The acting is phenomenal! The dialogue is engaging and shockingly progressive (not surprising considering the inspiration). Also I think some of it's charm comes from the film clips cleverly inserted throughout (featuring Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Peter Lorre, Carmen Miranda, Glenn Miller, Laurel and Hardy and Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.).
Also, there was a bit of nastiness between Mae West and Raquel Welch from what I've heard mostly on the part of Mae West; apparently Miss West refused to be in any shot with Raquel and made unreasonable demands regarding wardrobe. The story goes that she was to the only leading lady wearing white and that when that request wasn't met certain items that fit that description went missing.. which may or may not explain why Mae West hold first credit on the film. Either way, it's one of my absolute favorites.

The Abnormal Female(1969)

As I may have mentioned, I'm a big fan of Something Weird Video (a production company with the largest and most subversive film collection of it's kind)

(available at :http://www.somethingweird.com/) Soooo worth a look!! And I mention this because I have a large collection of their titles, The Abnormal Female being one of them (on a triple feature with One Shocking Moment and The Maidens Of Fetish Street. Not to mention all of their DVDs come with galleries of shorts-you get your bang for your buck on these babies.)

The Abnormal Female is an exploration into the lives of several abnormal females and the dark seedy underbelly of a fetishist's life.. swinging, hitch-hiking, flogging, sadism, one night stands with swarthy strangers, auto-eroticism, LSD, self-love, group sex, porn talk, promiscuity and other-such lascivious activities. An underground gem with lots of trashy (but, surprisingly well shot, artistic) black and white sexploitation film. Chalked-full of spicy (mostly realistic) simulated sex scenes, nudity and bad girls doing what they do best!! When the men in their lives doesn't cut it, they find someone who will! A film about needs and fulfilling them.. HOT. Not for the faint of heart BUT, then again nothing I watch is!!! Even further proof that the latest generation is the most subversive, WEVE always been perverts and deviants... WEre just more open about it. So the lesson here darlin is let your freak flag fly! xoxo love and sprinkles.

http://www.somethingweird.com/cart.php?target=search&substring=the+abnormal+female

'Viva': Mondo dissapointment.

Here's a few words about the latest cinematic let-down... 'Viva'

First, I heard about 'Viva' about a year ago, the internet was all abuzz with talk of a new exploitation send-off by new comer Anna Biller (who produces, writes, directs, stars and costumes the film) I looked foreward to seeing it for a very long time HOWEVER- I was largely dissapointed. Here are several reasons why...

(let me explain that when I watch a film I take into account every element of that movie: cinematography, music, costumes and scenery, writing, directing and acting. I don't just decide "That movie sucks! I just don't like it" there's always a degree to which i like or dislike a film.)

First- The acting: (holy shit, let's talk about the acting!) Ms. Biller is one incredibly bad actress; and how exactly does one enjoy a film when the puppetmaster behind it can't even deliver the lines she wrote herself?? And I'm not clueless, I know the genre better than anyone I know, I get that it's cheesy one-liners and whatnot. However, I think that instead of making the film an homage to exploitation it simply comes across as someone pointing out how laughable SOME films of the era are. I feel it would have been much more groundbreaking to represent the amazing films (like Russ Meyer or Jack Hill). I also can't help but notice that the co-stars who showed promising acting skills were given minimal parts. So, in short I think her biggest mistake was casting herself in the lead role. (ALSO, she made ugly faces through the whole movie- she should have spent some time practicing her poses in the mirror. Any girl with half a brain knows how to work it.) And, not to be mean but, doesn't the 'sex goddess' need to be sexy? I'm just sayin'.

Next- The directing: It came off to me as being inconsistant. Though it had it's moments and overall was stylish (for the most part) her inexperience showed. I did enjoy the scenes that had a technicolor look to them and the movie did actually look like an 'old movie'. (ONLY more reason for my discontent-seems like a waste.) I also think overall it was just difficult to gage the directing when sooo distracted by the terrible writing. (more on that below)

Also- The writing really irritated me. I have the patience of a saint when it comes to a slow moving movie or dialogue that is less than litterary gold but, this was absolutly redicuous. I found myself shouting outloud at the tv "reeeeally? seriously??" allthough I see what she was trying to do, she went about it in kindof a lazy "it would be soo easy to make an exploitation movie, you don't even have to write well or direct well" way.

Music- Actually the background music didn't bother me, I enjoyed it but, thought there should be more of it(there were alot of times it was too quiet or too minimal). The musical numbers were skimpy and badly written (EXCEPT the Bridget Brno bathtub song, adorable and totally a show-stealer..which is probably why you don't see her for fourty minutes after.) I especially despised the end scene with "just two little girls from the suburbs" considering Gentleman Prefer Blondes is one of my favorite films and it was butchered.

General Complaints: Contrary to popular belief a bunch of granny-panty shots and saggy tits aren't really what they meant by 'tits and ass' and certainly isn't enough to carry an exploitation movie (and I can't help but, think it was intentional that the other naked people in the movie didn't look better than you know who). AND YET AGAIN, the faces 'viva' made the entire time... I have the perfect example: you know when you watch porn and the girl is making a face like she's gonna throw up the entire time? Yep, ugly sex face. And she looked repulsed while kissing 'Agnes' (played by smokin' hot Robbie Ryan- who should have played the lead!!). AND one last thing-- that was the worst rape scene ever and if you know anything about exploitation they are known for that kindof thing and that is how you find yourself saying something as rediculous as "worst rape scene ever".

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

The magical big-breasted acid fantasy that is Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls has in my opinion been overlooked for the most part by audiences. I know I've made no attempts to disguise my undying love for the work of Russ Meyer, Or my great unfulfilled need to be a "Russ Meyer girl"... all of those facts aside, here's why i think this film tops my list (if I were humoring myself into thinking that I could ever pick a top 5, 10 or even 25 without frying my brain) of all time favorite, watch over and over again with the same enthusiasm as ever, quote shamelessly at full volume regardless of the fact that very few people I know can't play along list.

Reason one: They (the Hollywood machine) just don't honor the female form like they used to! My GAAAAWD, he had fantastic taste in women. One might argue that his movies are of a somewhat sexist point of view BUT, I don't subscribe to that black and white guerrilla feminism. I find it encouraging to see a real figure on the screen! Yes, he was all about the most top-heavy type of women and they certainly were dressed up like tasty little morsels but, these female characters time and time again are outspoken, dominant and larger than life; women who go after what they want and get it.. for better or worse.

Reason two: Russ Meyer is the master of one-liners. And by no means do I compare that to silly unnecessary tag lines that live on in infamy thanks to popcorn action films produced for the masses. The dialogue is a fantastic mix of kitschy pop culture of the 60's, sexual liberation and human depravity with a tiny bit of moral message; not too much (just enough to show you the consequences of the characters' actions.)

Reason three: The music!!! Oh man. I loooove 'the Kelly Affair/Carrie Nations' (credit actually goes to the dynamic duo Lynn Carey and Barbara Robinson, their versions were used for the movie) and I had to admit that Strawberry Alarm Clock was pretty amazing as well (turns out there's more to them than 'incense and peppermints'); all of which has an amazing, almost addicting psychedelic 60's sound! What's not to like?

And the final reason being that this movie as well as others was a testament to that old school, gritty, meat n' potatoes film making that is certainly and sadly a thing of the past. I think a lot of credit is due to his artistic vision, an element that set his films apart from other sexploitation of the era. This movie could never be called boring, the story sucks you in to the world of fame, inebriation, self destruction and preservation of the self in the pursuit of ones dreams. I think that the balance of depravity, drama and an affection that Russ Meyer seemed to have for each character comes through in this film. Also, the sets and wardrobe are done with the utmost care and attention to detail, which I respect very much.

The Sadist rocked my panties off!

Call me a geek but this film had me at the intro! The screen is all dark except his eyes.. A narrator describes the sadist. CLASSIC. Some of the legendary Arch Hall Jr.'s best work; if you are not familiar he was the poster child for troubled, rough-and-tumble delinquent youth of his era. But, seriously the film opens with three adults in a car which is experiencing some kind of engine trouble (on their way to a baseball game.. they took the dirt road to save time) They pull off the road at what appears to be a garage.. though they inevitably find out is abandoned. Soon after the trio arrives they discover that things are amiss at the small town garage... what follows is a nail-biting psychological thriller..a battle of will between level headed upstanding members of society and a duo of outlaws hellbent on taking revenge on authority figures much like the ones that harmed them in the past. Features an outstanding sellection of music (some of which was also featured in Faster Pussycat Kill Kill), quality acting, interesting story and all the excitement and depravity you can expect from this genre.
I LOVE IT.

Classic cartoons revisited...Episode one

I tend to be very old school about technology. I prefer my records to cds, my vhs still work just fine and my cartoon favorites are from the 30's to the 60's. Lately I've been apreciating youtube since I was able to locate all the cartoons I grew up on(my grandma used to send me vhs tapes with alot of 30's and 40's cartoons when I was a kid and that's how I got into it). My favorites always tended to be on the more subversive side, often inspired by classic horror movies. Here are few highlights of some noteworthy episodes:
Warner Brothers- Chuck Jones
The Halloween episodes: classic! Cute and creepy is my favorite combination.

Witch Hazel- Broomstick bunny:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZBksMGKc6U

Bewitched bunny:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEalL-toaPI

Gossamer - Water, water everyhare:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLpOh2GSknE

Hair-raising hare:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lcTj0ZcNeU

More!! - Hyde and hare:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUqMrxudui4

Transylvania 6500:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCyBlWpb8Og

Other Chuck Jones:

Pepe le pew- Really scent:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpNRs7RjgVc

The Stripper (1963)

Cupcake rating (1-10):

This film was based on a play by William Ingle about a relationship between an older woman and a younger man. It's a drama with complex characters. The acting is pretty fantastic; Joanne Woodward (she also starred in 'The three faces of Eve' based on a real documented case of multiple personality disorder, a really great psychological drama) is superb as a mysterious woman who left her little town with big dreams of being a dancer but, instead winds up in a cheap vaudeville act. She winds up stranded in her small town after her sleazy manager/boyfriend referred to as "Daddy" ran off with the show's money. With no other options she turns to a family she knew growing up; they offer a place to stay and an inevitable relationship blossoms between Lila (Woodward) and Kenny (Richard Beymer); his overbearing mother (Claire Trevor) doesn't approve. Each characters come bubbling to the surface cause turmoil with each other. Lila's "daddy" blows back into town and wisks her off to her most degrading act ever... And coincidentally my favorite scene! Also, such notable moments as the intro and the magic show scene. I think it's stylish and interesting. Not to mention, it's fun to imagine what people in 1963 thought of the subject matter.

All my love and sprinkles! Cupcake Katie B xoxo