Motorpsycho!, 1965.
Directed by Russ Meyer.
Starring Haji, Alex Rocco, Steve Oliver, Lane Carroll, Russ Meyer, Sharon Lee, Coleman Francis, Holle K. Winters, Arshalouis Aivazian.
SYNOPSIS:
A vet and a sexy widow team up take on a violent biker gang who attacked their respective partners.
Following on from their superb 4K UHD restorations of his Vixen Trilogy, Severin return to Russ Meyer’s back catalogue to give his violent 1965 exploitation cheapie Motorpsycho! similar treatment.
Something of a dry run for his Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! masterpiece, with which this movie was shot back-to-back, Motorpsycho! stars Alex Rocco as Cory Maddox, a veterinarian married to Gail (Holle K. Winters). Gail is attacked by a vicious trio of bikers, which leads Cory to seek revenge and to meet a Cajun woman named Ruby Bonner (Canadian model Haji), whose husband gets killed by the same bikers. The two team up to take on the gang out in the desert, where no one is watching.
A gritty and sleazy take of revenge, Motorpsycho! is unusually restrained when it comes to the usual Russ Meyer trademarks of buxom beauties frolicking across the screen; don’t be alarmed, for there is plenty of titillation as breasts defy the laws of physics and manage to be the focal point whenever a woman is on the screen, but they stay within the confines of the actor’s clothing… just about.
Elsewhere, however, Meyer is a little darker and not quite as jovial as he would come to be later on, as he takes Cory and Ruby on a journey where circumstances change their personalities very quickly and they must take on the biker gang, led by the brutal Brahmin (Steve Oliver). The director’s quick editing style adds a lot to the movie, making it move along with a youthful energy that its lead actors embody, especially Alex Rocco, who barely stops for breath throughout the whole thing.
But this being a Russ Meyer movie, it is the sex that sells it, and although Haji never gets fully naked or misbehaves like the usual Meyer female leads, she oozes positive sexuality. This framing of rebellious female characters is expanded upon in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, where there is a whole crew of strong women to be enchanted by, but here it feels like less of a spectacle and more, for use of a better word, heartfelt, more grounded.
With crisp and sharp black-and-white photography, an audio commentary with film historian Elizabeth Purchell and filmmaker Zach Clark and some funky colourful artwork ((the standard Blu-ray also includes an interview with Haji and Alex Rocco), this edition of Motorpsycho! makes a cool addition to the Russ Meyer 4K collection that Severin – in partnership with The Russ Meyer Trust – are drip-feeding us, but if you go into it expecting the hugely OTT Russ Meyer-isms of the Vixen trilogy or his later works then you might feel a little underwhelmed.
Meyer would go on to perfect what he started here with Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! the same year, but in the absence of that movie on 4K UHD, if a slightly greasier, less comedic take on his exploitation style is what you require then this movie will scratch that particular itch.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
