RUSS MEYER: The Southern Gothic Films (1965-67)
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"I still wonder why film students babble on about Orson Welles … even the worst films of Russ Meyer are infinitely more interesting than Citizen Kane" (John Waters)Russ Meyer was a former-war photographer who landed at Normandy, fought his way to Berlin, then forged an early career as a burlesque photographer and nudie-cutie film-maker. For b-movie freaks, his films are holy grails of trash featuring pneumatic violent women, sexually incompetent men, desert scenery, fist fights, motorbikes and sports cars.The Russ Meyer season at the Star and Shadow concentrates on what many consider his finest period - the 'Southern Gothic' films of 1965-67.All shows feature fifties newsreels and advertisements, juvenile-delinquency and child-kidnapping horror shorts from the San Francisco Police Dept, and we'll even be having an intermission for ice-cream.
The Star and Shadow's Russ Meyer season will be introduced by Brian Gordon, who has worked in the film festival world as the Golden Gate Awards Director at the San Francisco International Film Festival and Artistic Director at the Nashville Film Festival.In 1979, Brian had the pleasure of spending three days showing Russ Meyer the town when he was in - Denver, Colorado - doing press interviews in conjunction with the opening of Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens. The film screened at the cinema Gordon managed. Suffice it to say that Gordon – already a Russ Meyer fan at that point – became even more of a fan.A year later his life changed when he attended a film festival and saw Mudhoney for the first time.
LISTING
MUDHONEY (1965)MOTORPSYCHO (1965)FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL KILL (1965)COMMON LAW CABIN (1967)
Tickets £4 members / £5 non-members (except Faster Pussycat - tickets £5 members / £6 non-members)
Films in the Russ Meyer: The Southern Gothic Films (1965-67):
22
Film: Mudhoney (1965)
22 Jul 2009, 7:30 p.m.
In the first of our series of films from Meyer's Southern Gothic era, an odd job man gets involved with his employer's wife. Featuring a typical pneumatic female lead, a drunken sadist, a preacher with a mysterious past, and a lucrative inheritance, this is Meyer at his darkest. With a full programme of period shorts, newsreels and advertisements.
23
Film: Motorpsycho (1965)
23 Jul 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Meyer goes motorcycle crazy, as a veterinarian (whose wife is raped by a motorcycle gang led by a sadistic Vietnam veteran) are hunted down and dealt with in suitably Meyeresque style. Presented by Lady K and Lord Leigh Park, the film is supported by a full programme of period road safety and child-kidnapping horror shorts from the San Francisco Police Dept. With a full programme of period shorts, newsreels and advertisements.
25
Film: Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
25 Jul 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Period juvenile delinquency films … go-go dancers … psych sounds from Leeds freakbeat heroes THE BACCHAE and Sunderland's own surf-guitar legends SENOR BEATNIK … PLUS Sounds of Seduction DJs Michael Clunkie and Lord Leigh Park … And framing it all … Russ Meyer's masterpiece, starring his scariest starlet, Tura Satana. FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! Pussycat is the tale of three thrill-seeking gogo dancers in sports cars who terrorise a backwoods family with a hidden stash of loot. We'll have live bands, gogo dancers and period juvenile delinquency films, so tonight promises to be B-Movie heaven.
30
Film: Common Law Cabin (1967)
30 Jul 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Because too much Meyer is never enough, we finish with Babette Bardot and Alaina Capri in a broken down tourist trap along the Colorado River. A tale of alcohol, incestuous backwoods couplings and gogo dancing to surf rock and beat music. Presented by Lady K and Lord Leigh Park, with a full supporting bill of period US holiday and travel shorts.