Motorpsycho (film)

Motorpsycho
Motorpsycho
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Russ Meyer
Written by	James Griffith; Hal Hopper; Russ Meyer; W. E. Sprague
Produced by	Eve Meyer; Russ Meyer
Starring	Alex Rocco; Haji; Joseph Cellini; Arshalouis Aivazian; Richard S. Brummer; George Costello; Coleman Francis; Sharon Lee; Steve Masters; Russ Meyer; Stephen Oliver; F. Rufus Owens; Thomas Scott; Holle K. Winters
Cinematography	Russ Meyer
Edited by	Russ Meyer; Charles G. Schelling
Music by	Paul Sawtell (uncredited); Bert Shefter (uncredited); Sidney Cutner (stock music) (uncredited)
Distributed by	Eve Productions Inc.
Release date	August 12, 1965;
Running time	74 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Motorpsycho or Motor Psycho is a 1965 film by Russ Meyer. Produced just before Meyer's better-known Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), the film explores similar themes of sex and violence but focuses on a male motorcycle gang rather than the female gang of go-go dancers featured in the later film. Motorpsycho also contains one of the first portrayals of a disturbed Vietnam veteran character in film.

Plot

A veterinarian's wife is raped by a motorcycle gang led by a sadistic Vietnam War veteran. After the gang kills an old man, the veterinarian and his wife resolve to hunt the gang.

Cast

Haji as Ruby Bonner
Alex Rocco as Cory Maddox
Stephen Oliver as Brahmin
Holle K. Winters as Gail Maddox
Joseph Cellini as Dante
Thomas Scott as Slick
Coleman Francis as Harry Bonner
Sharon Lee as Jessica Fannin
Steve Masters as Frank
Arshalouis Aivazian as Wife
E. E. Meyer as Sheriff
George Costello as Doctor

Production

Russ Meyer, whose previous films had faced stiff resistance from censors, sought to create a more action-oriented film.^[1] The working title of the film was Rio Vengeance.

Haji was a nightclub dancer when she auditioned for the film. Meyer cast her in a smaller role but soon promoted her to one of the lead roles. She later recalled:

Russ worked with a five-man crew, and he took us all into the desert with snakes, lizards, and all kinds of danger. He thought if you were a guy, you could live in a tent out in the desert, but the ladies he treated better. We lived in a trailer. When you shoot in the desert, you come back with dirt in your eyelashes and hair. Our shower was a big barrel with a cork in it, set up on four sticks. You pulled the cork out, got wet, stuck the cork back in, soaped up, pulled the cork back out, rinsed off, and that was it!^[2]

Two actors were injured while filming a scene involving motorbikes and were hospitalized.^[3]

Reception

According to Meyer, the film went "through the roof" commercially, inspiring him to create a similar film with female bikers, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.^[4]

The Los Angeles Times wrote that Motorpsycho and Faster Pussycat "pack as much sex and violence as possible on the screen without bringing in the police. In fact, they're so ludicrously erotic and sadistic they can be taken as parodies of the entire genre of exploitation pictures."^[5] The websites Letterboxd, and The Grindhouse Database list this movie as belonging to the vetsploitation subgenre.^[6]^[7]

References

^ "In the Know". Turner Classic Movies.
^ "Interview with Haji". Shock Cinema. September 1969.
^ RUSS MEYER, ONE-MAN MOVIE MACHINE, IS AT IT AGAIN Lees, David; Berkowitz, Stan. Los Angeles Times 7 Jan 1979: o18.
^ Trashmeister persists in stirring tempest in a D-cup By Rob Salem Toronto Star 8 Dec 1995: E.3.
^ Sadism Rampant in Double Bill Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 11 Mar 1966: c11.
^ "Vetsploitation. List by Jarrett". Letterboxd. 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
^ "Category. Vetsploitation. From The Grindhouse Cinema Database". The Grindhouse Cinema Database. February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2024.

External links

[tcm-1] "In the Know". Turner Classic Movies.

[2] "Interview with Haji". Shock Cinema. September 1969.

[3] RUSS MEYER, ONE-MAN MOVIE MACHINE, IS AT IT AGAIN Lees, David; Berkowitz, Stan. Los Angeles Times 7 Jan 1979: o18.

[4] Trashmeister persists in stirring tempest in a D-cup By Rob Salem Toronto Star 8 Dec 1995: E.3.

[5] Sadism Rampant in Double Bill Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 11 Mar 1966: c11.

[6] "Vetsploitation. List by Jarrett". Letterboxd. 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2024.

[7] "Category. Vetsploitation. From The Grindhouse Cinema Database". The Grindhouse Cinema Database. February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2024.

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