Supervixens (1975)

The ultimate trash classic from cult director Russ Meyer, the man known for his obsession with large-breasted woman and an eye for absurdist humour and bizarre situations. SUPERVIXENS mixes in some rough thrills and spills with its serious storyline of an innocent man and the deranged cop he encounters in his life, and of course the many beautiful women also involved with the pair come foremost. But along with the conventional format of the thriller picture, there also comes plenty of sexploitation in the bountiful forms of Meyer's favourite stars (Shari Eubank, Uschi Digard, Christy Hartburg, Sharon Kelly, Deborah McGuire, Haji) and a weird helping of offbeat humour which you just can't see anywhere else these days. In fact the film has plenty of diverse elements, with something for every male viewer watching.Utilising the scorched desert as a backdrop for his strictly adult tale, Meyer fills the screen at every opportunity with barely-clothed and unclothed women, who give various over-the-top performances as typically sex-mad nymphos hungry for our young hero's loins. The most notable performer in the film is Shari Eubank, who excels in two different roles as firstly the abusive, bitchy wife, and secondly the altogether sweeter Supervixen who runs a café out in the middle of nowhere. Her beauty and her acting combine to make her an unforgettable force to be reckoned with. Charles Pitts proves to be a handsome if unmemorable leading figure, whilst the rest of the cast offer up some distinctive - if not brilliant - portrayals of weird characters, my favourite being the sex-mad farmer and his young Austrian wife, who are literally addicted to having sex.A nasty edge of violence comes in the form of the burly Charles Napier, giving here what is perhaps his definitive performance as a sick, psychopathic and murderous policeman, whose scene with Shari Eubank in the bathroom is sadistic and cruel viewing, guaranteed to make any viewer wince with the on-screen brutality. Otherwise the combination of sex, nudity, fighting, car chases, scorching heat, and crazy situations is magic stuff, a winning formula that makes this highly entertaining viewing and much, much more than just another soft core porn film. Funny, scary and always shocking, this is vintage Meyer at his prime.

Russ Meyer loves breasts, and he's a filmmaker, but it's mostly the breast thing. That doesn't mean that he's not good at what he does, which is making raucous comedies where there's a dumb, well-hung klutz (Charles Pitts, in thankfully his only significant point in his career as Clint Ramsey), the dual role of the schizo-girlfriend (SuperAngel) and later her re-incarnation as a gas station attendant (SuperVixen), and the enemy of the film, the diabolical, totally evil Harry Sledge (Charles Napier, a classic part in a long character actor career). Much of this is just silly, very silly, and strange, deranged, illogical, and probably would be seen on the surface as sexist. But looking past the fact that there are a lot of naked women who continually throw themselves at Clint, there is something more to Meyer's psychology here. It would probably be something of a big point had the film been used in Zizek's The Pervert's Guide to Cinema: it's like a classic farce- yet still a somewhat truthful farce- about male desire.Take the fact that while Clint is on his 'journey'- running from the scene of a crime he didn't commit, which was the murder and burning down of the dig that SuperAngel was living in- he continually gets into situations where the women present want to desperately ride him till Tuesday...but then there's always another man. There's a fascinating push-and-pull (no pun intended...maybe a little) to how the men treat the women in the picture. Until Clint agrees to stay with SuperVixen and take care of the gas station does he finally seem to relax, as before with the guy in the car, the farmer, the motel owner, all had women as their next of kin or significant others that were persona non grata. Behind the hilarity that ensues as Clint gets practically raped in a hayloft by a German girl, or when a mute/deaf black chick tries to get Clint to have his way with her in a desert, there is subtext- desire is defined by property. By the time Clint gets to SuperVixen, and finds out her man ran out on her weeks ago, it's like they're suddenly whisked away to the Garden of Eden (rather, in Arizona, as is one of the funniest sections of the flick), as they run around naked in ecstasy. Freud would have a field-day.But one must not forget the Harry Sledge character who, like Hopper in Blue Velvet or Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart, is as Zizek described a larger-than-life, absurdist figure of man's libido. Maybe it was subconscious or not, but there's a lot to do in Supervixens with the idea of potency, or impotency. Harry can't get it up, the truth of it, and it becomes a sudden turn to see Harry suddenly stomp SuperAngel (albeit, in one of the most illogical scenes I've ever seen in any movie, taunts him for five minutes while locked in a bathroom following a bad sexual experience) and burn the place down as a means of compensation, an inherent lack of drive leading to the demise of anyone around him. While this seems to go overboard in the last twenty minutes of the film, when he returns in and becomes an ultimate terror upon Clint and SuperVixen, there's probably more one could read into in terms of symbolism than your average Bunuel movie: the dynamite shooting out of a chute, the one stick next to SuperVixen's most private of private spots, and all raised to the level of delirium.The more I thought about it after the movie ended, the more it seemed to make sense, the idea of the ID blown-up in, of all things, a Russ Meyer movie. But this will be moot to most viewers who are just looking for what it there in a Meyer movie- sex and craziness, usually at the same time. As the first of his films I've seen, it's already apparent how equally proficient and tacky he can be: he's a master at editing, and casts his actors like it's a slight step above Z-grade porn. Which, of course, adds to its hysterical attitude, as we see one of the worst male actors of the 20th century play off of girls who rarely have a dirty smile off of their faces (save for when they're taunting Sledge, or getting caught by their daddies or husbands). And because Meyer, in the Mel Brooks sense, rises below vulgarity, his picture works so well even as it shouldn't. It deserves to be shown in grindhouse theaters and be found in the dirty sections of video stores. That it's an unlikely classic to be found in either of those places is hard to deny.

Trashy chesty women, an evil cop and a sad idiot.... there you have it!!! shari eubank is absolutely fabulous and ultra sexy!!!! especially as the sweet cheeky supervixen.... Porn for the soul. There are a lot of mixed feelings about super angel's murder... if you can look beyond the gore and cruelty you do kind of see a funny side to it... this was way before Trantino's kill bill gore fest and quite shocking for its time. though loads of comedy sex and silly story lines keep the film rather funny and exciting. the highlight being supervixen and her gas station oasis and dream haven in the middle of nowhere.... but watch out the bad cop's back!!!! the ending is rather silly and totally comic!!! . a load of laughs with one the sexist woman on screen ever!!!!!!! a must for fans of cult trash!!!!

Russ Meyer, like David Lynch or Alejandro Jodorowsky, creates his own world in his movies and invites you to visit. And while I may not want to LIVE there, I sure do like to visit! You either love Meyer or you don't, it's as simple as that. Most fans seem to regard either Faster Pussycat or Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls as his best movies. I worship them both but my particular favourite is Supervixens. This movie is like no other ever made, with it's surreal mix of buxom babes, humour, violence, car chases and dynamite that has to be seen to be believed! Charles Napier fans note that this is his definitive performance playing psycho cop Harry Sledge, which may or may not be a reprise of his role in Cherry, Harry and Raquel! I dunno. Other Meyer regulars pop up including Haji, Stuart Lancaster and the criminally underseen John Lazar(Z-Man). But the real find here is Shari Eubank in a duel role. She unfortunately only made one other movie after this, Chesty Anderson,USN (with Timothy Carey!). She will always be remembered by lovers of trash cinema everywhere. You haven't lived until you've seen Supervixens!