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Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)


Russ Meyer – Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

What would American cinema be without a provocateur like Russ Meyer? The word “provocateur” here is meant as nothing less than a tribute to the man’s long, idiosyncratic career and unmistakable taste. Nicknamed The King of Nudies, Meyer directed over thirty films ranging from feature-length productions to shorts, even dabbling in documentary. Films like Lorna, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Vixen, and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! have long since achieved cult status—and rightfully so.

Vixen (1968), for instance, was only the second film in the U.S. to receive an X-rating that year. It was even banned in the state of Ohio. The first X-rated film of 1968 was The Girl on a Motorcycle, starring Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon.

“I think it’s regrettable that people are denied the freedom of viewing and enjoying as others enjoy the freedom of worship.” – Russ Meyer

Say what you will about Meyer’s films—they are, at the very least, entertaining and often downright fun. Some of them even carry a satirical or observational edge. As Meyer himself once put it: “They’re comedies. They’re cartoons.” Likely tired of endless debates about obscenity, softcore versus pornography, and whether or not his films cross the line, he framed them instead as genre-defying.

Despite their often minuscule budgets, Meyer’s films looked surprisingly polished—stylish, even. Much of that comes down to his own hands-on approach: he produced, shot, wrote, and directed most of his films himself. A true auteur in every sense of the word. Across the Atlantic, even critic Roger Ebert collaborated with Meyer on several scripts, including Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979) and Up! (1976).

It’s no wonder, then, that Russ Meyer has left an indelible mark on American pop culture. His influence isn’t confined to cinema alone—just watch the music videos for White Zombie’s Thunder Kiss ’65 or Queens of the Stone Age’s 3’s & 7’s, and you’ll see echoes of Meyer’s style all over them. And that’s a good thing.

“We know how fast we can go. You can time that heap with an hourglass.”

The film opens with go-go dancers and a jukebox blaring The Bostweeds’ Faster Pussycat. Great camera angles—or maybe my eyes are drawn elsewhere. Either way, it’s a brilliant way to start a movie: women dancing and rock ‘n’ roll.

Varla, Rosie, and Billie are a fierce trio who love driving fast, racing, and when things don’t go their way—well, fists fly. After a brawl in the desert with a Ricky Nelson lookalike and his simple-minded girlfriend, things quickly escalate. The women catch wind of a stash of cash hidden at a nearby homestead. Standing in their way? A cunning, shotgun-toting old man and his towering son, known only as The Vegetable.

Let’s just say—it runs like a well-oiled machine.









    


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