Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
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| Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! | |
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 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! original poster |
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| Directed by | Russ Meyer |
| Produced by | Russ Meyer |
| Written by | Jack Moran Russ Meyer |
| Starring | Tura Satana Haji Lori Williams Susan Bernard |
| Music by | Paul Sawtell |
| Cinematography | Walter Schenk |
| Editing by | Russ Meyer |
| Release date(s) | 1965 |
| Running time | 83 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a 1965 film directed by Russ Meyer, who also wrote the script with Jack Moran. It stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams.
The film features gratuitous violence, sexuality, provocative gender roles, and campy dialogue. It has become a cult film favorite and has been widely referred to in pop culture.
It is one of Meyer's more provocatively titled and explicitly exploitative films, yet unlike most of his films, it does not contain explicit nudity.
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[edit] Plot
Three thrill-seeking go-go dancers — Billie (Lori Williams), Rosie (Haji), and their leader, Varla (Tura Satana) — encounter a young couple in the desert while drag racing. After killing the boyfriend (Ray Barlow) with her bare hands, Varla drugs, binds, gags and kidnaps his girlfriend, Linda (Susan Bernard). On a desolate highway, the four stop at a gas station, where they see an old man (Stuart Lancaster) and his muscular, dimwitted son, known as the Vegetable (Dennis Busch). The gas station attendant (Mickey Foxx) tells the women that the old man and his two sons live on a decrepit ranch with a hidden cache of money.
Intrigued, Varla hatches a scheme to rob the lecherous old man, who is confined to a wheelchair. While Varla and her lover Rosie case the ranch, Billie is charged with guarding Linda and sent to distract the Vegetable. As Billie is seducing the Vegetable, Linda sits with the old man, who tries to rape her. When Billie and the Vegetable hear a scream, they stop their tryst; after finding that Linda has run away, they set out after her. While trying to escape, Linda encounters the old man's other son, Kirk (Paul Trinka), driving toward the ranch. Not knowing who he is or where he is going, she jumps in his truck and begs him to save her. She tells him how Varla killed her boyfriend and kidnapped her. He assures her that she will be safe with him and takes her back to the ranch. Linda, upset and aghast, is reunited with Varla, who tells Kirk the girl is mentally unstable after seeing her boyfriend killed in a racing accident. She concocts a story about Linda being from a socially prominent family who has hired the three women to return her quietly.
The women are invited to the house for lunch. During a mealtime conversation laden with sexual innuendo, they learn that the old man hates the Vegetable because his mother died giving birth to him. After Billie gets drunk and recklessly hints at the real reason behind Linda's presence, Varla slaps her. The outburst upsets Linda, who screams that Varla is a murderer. Believing that Linda is hysterical, the men ignore her claims. After a few drinks, Billie gets completely drunk and passes out.
Meanwhile, Varla seduces Kirk, much to Rosie's dismay. The old man and the Vegetable begin yelling that Linda has escaped again and drive off in pursuit. Once they catch Linda, the old man encourages the Vegetable to sexually assault her. After a brief struggle, Linda expects the Vegetable to rape her. Kirk and Varla arrive, and Kirk rushes to save Linda. Much to everyone's surprise, the Vegetable does not harm Linda. Instead, he falls down sobbing and begging for forgiveness, disgusting his perverse father.
The old man decides that the girls are too much trouble and orders them to leave his land. To Varla's annoyance, Kirk no longer seems attracted to her, and now seems to believe Linda's story. When Varla tells Billie and Rosie to prepare to leave, Billie announces she is leaving the gang. As Billie is walking away, Varla takes Rosie's knife and throws it into Billie's back, killing her.
When the old man and the Vegetable see Billie's corpse, the old man again orders the girls to leave. Varla uses her car to play a game of cat and mouse with the old man in his wheelchair while the Vegetable is distracted by Billie's corpse, which he cradles in mourning. The old man tries to roll into the house, but his wheelchair gets stuck. Varla runs him over with her car and his wheelchair flies apart, revealing the money hidden under the seat of the chair. Varla tells Rosie to retrieve the knife while she collects the money. Rosie asks the Vegetable to remove the knife from Billie's body; after doing so, he stabs Rosie with the knife, killing her.
Varla sees Rosie is dead and tries to run down the Vegetable with her car. After striking him, she pins him against a wall with the car. He lifts the front of the car, burying its back tires in the sand. He then collapses beside the car. Varla abandons the car and uses the old man's truck to find Linda and Kirk. While walking through the desert back to the ranch, they see the truck and think the Vegetable is coming to rescue them. As the truck gets closer, Kirk and Linda realize that Varla is driving. They try to escape, but they cannot outrun the truck. Kirk turns to confront Varla. After a violent struggle, Varla appears to win the fight and is about to kill Kirk. Linda gets into the truck and runs over Varla, killing her, leaving Kirk and Linda as the only survivors.
[edit] Cast
- Tura Satana as Varla
- Haji as Rosie
- Lori Williams as Billie
- Susan Bernard as Linda
- Stuart Lancaster as The Old Man
- Paul Trinka as Kirk
- Dennis Busch as The Vegetable
- Ray Barlow as Tommy
- Mickey Foxx as Gas Station Attendant
- John Furlong as Narrator
[edit] References in pop culture
- John Waters, director of the cult classics Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Hairspray, has stated that this is his favorite film: "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! ... is, beyond a doubt, the best movie ever made." [1]
- Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Tracii Guns initially decided to form his own band named after the movie, but decided to re-use his old band name, L.A. Guns, instead. Close friend Taime Downe then took the name and created the sleaze metal band Faster Pussycat.
- White Zombie frequently sampled this film[citation needed].
- The Killers' music video for "All These Things That I've Done" features images based on the movie.
- The Cramps presented a cover of the film's theme song on their album Smell of Female.
- The Australian show The Bazura Project parodied the film in episode 2.03, as part of the episode's opening sequence.
- In one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander states that "if Giles wants to go after the ... fiend that murdered his girlfriend, I say, "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!".
- In the Xena: Warrior Princess episode "The Play's The Thing", Gabrielle turns a peaceful play into new sexy and violent version with the title "Faster, Chakram! Kill! Kill! Kill!".
- In The B-52's single, "Funplex", Fred Schneider repeats the phrase, "Faster, Pussycat! Thrill! Thrill!".
- The title of Paul Oakenfold's single, "Faster Kill Pussycat," featuring the vocals of actress Brittany Murphy, is based on title of the film
- The song "¡Viva Satana!" by Babasónicos refers to actress Tura Satana and her role in the film.
- In the Quentin Tarantino film Death Proof, the character Shanna (played by Jordan Ladd) wears a shirt that reads "Badass Cinema" along with a print with the basic part of the cover from the movie.
- In The Simpsons episode "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily", Bart and Lisa are seen watching an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show entitled "Foster pussycat! Kill! Kill!" while they stayed with a foster family (the Flanders).
[edit] References
- ^ Waters, John. Shock Value. Dell Publishing: 1981. ISBN 0-385-28903-0
[edit] External links
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