Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
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Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema Rewind. This is Rob Lamb. And this is Joe McCormick. And it's Monday, so we are bringing you an older episode of Weird House Cinema. This is our episode on the Russ Meyer classic, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. Oh, the crimes to be had. Yes, yes. Let's dive right in. Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. ♪

Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. And this is Joe McCormick. And today we are going to be discussing a cult classic, the 1965...

Let's see, what would you call it? The go-go murder exploitation film, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. I think I'm to understand a favorite of many filmmakers. Yeah, especially filmmaker John Waters. He is the ultimate champion of this film, and I'm going to be touching in on his thoughts regarding this film several times, especially in the run-up to the plot here. But yeah, this is a very well-known cult classic film.

And as we're approaching the Halloween season here, Joe and I had this discussion like, well, maybe we should we should avoid doing horror movies until we get either to October itself or right to the edge of October so as to enhance the punch of all that horror. So last week we did The Man Who Fell to Earth, a science fiction drama. And this week, yeah, it is a it is basically a crime yarn, a 60s go-go dancer desert crime movie.

What brought you to this pick, Rob? I don't remember specifically. It's one of those that I've always been aware of just because it does have its B-cinema cult following footprint firmly. It was more of a boot print firmly implanted in the fanfare.

the face of the American public. So I've always been vaguely aware of it and I've heard samples from it, seen some stills from it, but I've never watched it in its entirety. And yeah, I think I was just, I did a quick brainstorm. It's like, what's something that doesn't have horror? What's something even further that doesn't have a speculative element at all that would still fit the profile for Weird House Cinema? And I was like, oh, well, it's got to be Faster Pussycat Kill Kill.

I'd never seen this movie before a couple of days ago, and I was very impressed by it in multiple respects. But one of the ways it impressed me was how entertaining it is for a B movie. Now, we love B movies, but a common problem with a lot of B movies is that they they often have dull stretches, not all, but a lot. You often get the sense that like

you know, B movie director is trying to, to like work up to the monster scene. And that's really what they're excited about. And they were like, okay, before we do that, we got to have like a love scene here. We got to have like a character explaining how the monster was made to kind of dry, you know,

scientist explaining the origin of the monster, whatever. And these scenes feel kind of perfunctory. It's just like they're even the director is not very excited about them. They're just trying to get through them to show you the stuff that's that you're really here for. This film is

was made with the idea clearly that every moment should be thrilling and entertaining in some way, even when it's just kind of routine plot execution or, uh, just, uh, exposition that's setting up later scenes. The script is written in such a way that like every line, a character says is weird in a way that makes the scene entertaining. Uh, like I, I think the sensibility that Russ Meyer and from what I've read, Russ Meyer, uh,

To a great extent, credits one of the main cast members, Tura Satana, as also being a sort of a true, not just a member of the cast, but a true like creative influence behind like the movie and its style. Whoever's responsible for the dialogue in each scene knew that it is more important to be entertaining than to be realistic. And I appreciate that.

Yeah, yeah. I think this is a strong point. I mean, you even see it in the title. Like the title is Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. And I've read that like the whole take on this is that like you have, you know, a hint of sex in the title. You have speed, you know, racing in the title and you have murder and death in the title. And it doesn't actually make all that much sense as a statement or a title. Like John Waters, when writing about the film, often refers to the gang of three here as the Pussycats gang.

I don't think they ever refer to themselves as such. But, you know, fair enough, I guess. But you do have to sort of twist the title to make it work in a literal sense.

Now, as we'll discuss, this is certainly a film produced through the male gaze. It's about go-go dancers starring go-go dancers, or at least two of them. And while it's not as provocative as you might expect by modern standards, I mean, this is a mid-1960s movie that was shown at the drive-in. You know, it's still clearly intended to titillate, but it's also action-packed. And it's especially interesting to read various reviews that talk about its kind of dual nature.

Because at the time of its release, yeah, a lot of people saw it as just a sexist B movie. A lot of people didn't like it. I understand it didn't actually perform all that well. But it was later embraced as this kind of iconic counterculture film with a grandiose vision of female power to match the grandiose visions of masculine power found just everywhere else in cinema.

So this is this film that has been very influential. It was a major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof from 2007. And both Tarantino and more recently actor Norman Reedus have expressed an interest in remaking it in one form or another. I think you can ask a lot of questions about what form a remake of Faster Pussycat Kill Kill would take.

in the 21st century, but, you know, maybe they have a particular vision or visions in mind. I was actually thinking, without knowing that, I was thinking about Quentin Tarantino when I thought about modern filmmakers who had clearly been inspired by this movie. I can see direct lines of influence going from this movie to, yes, to Death Proof, his half of the release that was originally called Crying.

Well, Grindhouse, is that what it was called? Yes. Grindhouse. But then also to the Kill Bill series, there is some strong shared material there. Of course, I knew about the John Waters connection and we can talk some more about some some things that come through in John Waters films as well that that seem to be inspired by this movie.

But coming back to your comment about Norman Reedus, I have to lodge a complaint that is not about this movie, but about how Google search results are now. We were just recently talking about how for some reason it seems like Google search results are just getting worse and worse. I think I don't know exactly the reason for this, but I would suspect it has to do with just like the Web is getting worse and worse, more packed with junk and, you know, search engine gaming, AI generated content and garbage.

So the other day when I just Googled this movie, faster, pussycat, kill, kill the top result. What do you think it should be? Uh, an image of the poster of the movie, an image of the cast of the movie or a promo still from it. No, it's a picture of Norman Reedus. Oh man. I mean, I love Norman, Norman Reedus, a very fun actor. I've been in a lot of things I love, but come on now coming back to, uh, John Waters. I, I did pick up his book shock value. Uh,

where he talks about a lot of things in that book. But he does specifically talk a little bit about Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. He writes that this film, Russ Meyer's 10th film, quote, is beyond a doubt the best movie ever made. It is possibly better than any film that will be made in the future. Don't try to argue with him. You don't want to get pulled into this.

He's had more practice having this conversation than you have. Exactly. I mean, yeah, like I say, he's the ultimate champion of this film and I think the ultimate expert on it. He has meditated on this movie more than any other person. In this book, he goes on to talk about how initially he was drawn in by the radio ads during the film's initial release that promised that the movie would leave a taste of evil in your mouth.

And then he went and saw it, and he fell in love with the picture and ended up seeing it every night at the local drive-in, often alone for the remainder of its run there. So he cites this movie as the primary influence on all of his characters in all of his films. I can absolutely see that in many ways, and I think he...

So in one sense, you can see the the similarity in the way that John Waters movies, I think, often go for that feeling of trying to make every single moment interesting and entertaining rather than going for realism, obviously, right?

And so it's like more important that a character say something that is shocking or funny or entertaining in some way than that they like strictly stay in character or, you know, do something that would be realistic.

But another big similarity I see is this may be a weird thing to single out, but I think you'll have to agree with me is in a very strange and idiosyncratic style of line delivery that is characteristic of this movie, like especially Taurus Satana, but also the character Billy. They have this way of saying lines where they're almost not really accurate.

acting them they are just like shouting their lines like just spitting them out with this forceful venomous high octane delivery for every line just the same every time and uh that comes through in a lot of performances in john waters movies yeah yeah this this feeling especially in this movie that um

It often feel any given scene will often feel like a pro wrestling promo. Yeah. You know, it has that kind of energy. It may be one note, but that note is played super loud and there's no missing it. And it delivers something about that character very loudly. Like I'm specifically thinking of a lot of Divine's line delivery and Pink Flamingo's feels like Varla's line delivery in this movie. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a direct connection there.

So we'll keep coming back to some Waters quotes because, again, I think he's he's the authority of all these all things faster pussycat kill kill. But as we normally would touch in the elevator pitch, I'm just going to read you how John Waters describes this movie as a, quote, violent gothic melodrama built around three bisexual psychotic go-go girls, Varla, Billy and Rosie.

There's an interesting angle that the movie approaches you with, and I wonder what you think about this, Rob. It almost feels like

It's trying to imply that this movie is connected to current events. And those current events, which you must have seen in the news, are that now every day women are like breaking men's necks in the desert. It's just something that's happening in this crazy world we live in today. And this is a movie about that phenomenon. But I don't think that there really was a phenomenon to base this on.

No, I mean, maybe it's exploiting a little bit this idea that they actually call out in some dialogue in the film or it's like women or they're doing all these things now that they didn't used to do. And one of those things is perpetrating violent crimes in the desert. You've come a long way, baby. Yeah.

I mean, I'm sure it happens sometimes, but I don't get the feeling that this was like there was a sudden spike in the 60s of women just doing assassinations related to auto racing. No, I mean, obviously, yeah, women have always engaged in murder and violence, just as men have. I mean, we have tales in the Old Testament and various myths and legends and so forth. There are plenty of there have been plenty of varlas throughout history.

All right, let's go ahead and listen to the trailer audio for Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. Ladies and gentlemen, go, go for a wild, wild ride with the Watusi cats. But beware, the sweetest kittens have the sharpest claws.

For your own safety, see faster pussycats. Kill, kill. Wild women, wild wheels. Race the fastest pussycats and they'll beat you. Cadet, superwoman, belted, buckled and booted. You're wasting yourself.

- I'm not hanging this up for nothing. - For nothing? It's got nothing to do with the money! She is the money! Jack and Jill, they make the mafia look like brownies. He's a big one, ain't he? Got muscles all the way to his ears. Yeah. Ten percent of your action would be enough for anyone. Too much for one man to handle.

And again, you never can tell. You girls a bunch of nudists or you just short of clothes? Right now you're first on my list. And I always try to be tough. You've only got one channel. And your channel's busy tuning in outside. You really should be AM and FM. So who do I get to take care of? The muscle man? You got two of everything. And some left over. You did want...

You want it big? Breast or thigh, darling? Why don't you take one of each, son? They both look tender. He's got a big motor to feed. A big one, yes it is. My motor never ruts down, baby. We were too rough the last time. All right, here's how it works. Everybody's got to go.

You name it, we've got it. Faster pussycat kills, delivers tons more than the opposition. Unladylike karate chops, ungentlemanly haymakers, spirited gymnastics, corrective table etiquette, sandbox jousting, or a muscle-bound cat wrestling with a roaring sports car that's intent upon squashing him like a grape.

Bizarre kidney and chassis rattling chases. And for the first time on the screen, a haymaking, belly busting, karate chopping, judo flipping fight to end them all. Superwoman against man. The prize, life itself. Slashing, tackling, gouging, hacking, flipping, belting, smashing and blasting. Muscle to muscle, bone to bone.

For an incredible evening's entertainment, a film so totally satisfying, see Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat. Kill! Kill! See, really sells it. You can imagine being the young John Waters hearing that or some version of that trailer for the first time.

As for availability on this one, I do wish it was easier to get a copy of it or to have an official stream of the movie. It doesn't seem to be widely available on disc right now, and I couldn't find an official stream. Videodrome has a copy of it here in Atlanta. But yeah, given this film's cult status, I would want it to be more available than it is.

But if you look hard enough, I think you can probably find it somewhere. So if you need a break and go see this movie, come back. We're going to talk about the cast and some of the filmmakers. And then from there, we're going to get into a more spoilery discussion of the plot.

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All right, well, let's start, yeah, at the top with the director, the producer, the editor. He also has a story credit. It's Russ Meyer, who lived 1922 through 2004. American exploitation director known for campy exploitation films from the 1950s through the 1980s, with a couple of brief returns after that.

He directed the 1970 film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, the only film that film critic Roger Ebert ever wrote. I think that movie was also not super well received when it came out, but I've heard people kind of appreciate it now. It's also allegedly just wild. The moment to moment weirdness quotient is apparently quite high. Yeah.

So Meyer's film immediately prior to Faster Pussycat was 1965's Motor Psycho, same year, same release year, about a violent gang of male bikers. So he essentially flipped the script on that for this movie, focusing on female characters instead. His films are often categorized as being violent.

very technically proficient, ludicrous in their dialogue, campy, and often using leering low angle shots. But those low angle shots often do create this sense of weird kind of almost like mythic tension. Like it makes, it makes the characters in the film feel larger than life. I mean, not just their physical bodies, but like their, their sort of hero or villain status. I would say they're,

that Russ Meyer's style is very much in that category of schlock, but not hack. Somebody who is creating...

what is supposed to be, you know, yeah, lowbrow exploitation cinema, but who actually is bringing quite a bit of of style. And in a weird way, you could almost say say taste to to the experience. Yeah. Like you say, never a dull moment. If nothing else, you're just wondering what it what are these characters going to say next? And at any moment, someone might get like slapped in the face as well.

Again, John Waters idolized Russ Meyer, called him, quote, the good old boy of exploitation films. And in Waters view on things, quote, exploitation films are the only ones that come close to that dreaded word art. That's an interesting idea. I almost feel like I've heard John Waters talk about this in some other context that there's almost kind of a.

Uh, like a horseshoe theory of taste where for some reason, a lot of people who seem to have some of the highest tolerance for, I don't know, uh, avant-garde art and, uh, and you know, the, uh, the, the, like the, uh,

I don't know what you call it, the kind of fine art that really asks you to be open minded and go outside of your comfort zone for some reason are also often people who are into very low brow B movie type stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, putting yourself in a place of,

open-minded vulnerability where art can potentially hurt you but like it's it's what does it make me feel it's creating feelings and then i'm supposed to make sense of those feelings yeah it it's not unlike the the place you have to put yourself in with various exploitation films though to be sure not all exploitation films are created equal in in many different ways

Alright, moving on to the screenplay itself, written by Jackie Moran, who lived 1923 through 1990. As a writer, he only worked on a handful of produced screenplays, all Russ Meyer pictures. But as an actor, his credits go back to, I believe, the mid-1930s. As a child and youth actor, he appeared in various old serials, such as Buck Rogers, as well as a 1938 adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Oh, and he was also in a 1939 film called...

Gone with the Wind. So I've mentioned that a lot of what makes this movie unique is the sort of high grit of the script. You know, like the way that each line just kind of like grips you and rubs your brain. And I don't know exactly where to

put the credit for this. Should we be thinking about this as like a feature of Jackie Moran's screenplay? Or since this seems to be, from what I've read, a characteristic of Russ Meyer films, is this something that's coming more from Meyer's influence? But then again, as I said also, I've read that Tura Satana is usually given credit for shaping a lot of the tone and style of the movie. Yeah, I mean, you've

You probably want to side with Varla on this one because otherwise she's going to chop you and kick your kidney. So, I mean, it does seem like a lot of those lines are coming from the heart. So, yeah, I don't have a lot of clarity on this, but I kind of have the suspicion that the screenplay was one place and then maybe the actors and or the director on the set kind of like punch things in a different direction.

OK, well, let's talk about Tura Satana, not Santana, as I sometimes keep mispronouncing it. This is this is her show name leaning into the sort of evil nature of her persona. So Satana lived 1938 through 2011. And yeah, and this she plays the leader of our gang of three, a violence loving femme fatale criminal mastermind and goth queen of the desert.

Satana was born Tura Yamaguchi. She was a Japanese-American exotic dancer and burlesque performer turned actor. She started out in the early 60s with bit parts for TV and film, including the TV series Hawaiian Eye and The Man from UNCLE. Then came this film, followed by an uncredited role as a dancer on 66's Our Man Flint, and

And then the role of Satana, essentially playing herself to some degree in the 1968 low budget sci-fi horror film The Astro Zombies starring Wendell Corey and John Carradine. That's a movie I have seen and remember almost nothing about, which is a feature of most films I've seen starring John Carradine. Oh, we know he he he.

Peep, I said he's in a lot of films, but he's in a lot of forgivable films. It's true. Astro Zombies is definitely one of those. It's a classic B movie in many ways. It has this super cool mask, a very cool poster. But as I remember it, a very plodding pace. I believe Satana plays the mad doctor's evil henchwoman. But I cannot remember a thing that anyone does in this. Aside from you do get some creeping Astro Zombies from time to time.

That was a Ted V. Mickles movie, wasn't it? I think so. So after this, she was in 73's The Doll Squad, a kind of Charlie's Angels-inspired romp. She left acting after that, but emerged again in the 2000s, appearing in 2004's Mark of the Astro Zombies, 2009's Sugarbox, Rob Zombie's The Haunted World of El Super Bisto, and Astro Zombie's M3, cloned in 2010. I mean, what can you say, though? She's a force of nature in this movie.

Alluring as intended, but also just believably mean and above all cool. Like she's so cool that even though she is, and a lot of people have pointed this out, like she is arguably the villain or one of the two main villains in the picture. But at the same time,

And you're rooting for her the whole time, or I was. It's like even as she's engaging in kidnapping and mass murder, I'm kind of on Team Varla the whole way. And yeah, it's just an amazing performance. And you can't look away. You can't stop listening. What is she going to say next? Who is she going to hit next? I love how she's just automatically, immediately rude to everyone. Yes.

She is. She's rude and cutting to everyone. No one is safe. And it's just one step away from murder at all times. Also, I'm pretty sure in all her fight and action scenes that we're not looking at a stunt double, are we? No, no. I believe she did all her own stunts. And I'm to understand she also did her own fight choreography. So when we see her beating up various folks and throwing them to the ground and chopping them like she she brought the technique.

I'm trying to think of another movie. I know there are movies like this, but I can't call examples to mind right now. A movie where really essentially the main character is also the main villain. And you're just you're basically on their side and seeing the world through their eyes, even though they are in a technical sense, the bad guy that must be defeated at the end. Yeah, like we discussed talking about Riddick. There's there's always this temptation to.

to have this sort of redemption arc to your, your anti-hero. And that is not what goes on here. Yeah. You know, you might be fooled into thinking that's where it's going at some point, but it's not. She does not get a, get a heart. She is not a go-go dancer assassin with a heart of gold. She, she has a heart of a drain cleaner. I would say a heart of the most caustic toxic substance possible.

Um, she, maybe you could say she has a heart of radon. Yeah. Mm.

All right. So she's the leader of our trio of go-go witches here, our gang of three. Up next is the character Rosie, played by the actor Haji. Haji is her screen name. And based on her New York Times obit from 2013, this was a nickname that her uncle gave to her. So she was born Barbarella Catton in 1946. Hmm.

So Canadian-American dancer turned actor. She also appeared in Motor Psycho. She also pops up in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. She was in 1970s Bigfoot starring John Carradine once more.

Christopher Mitchum as well. She was also she also pops up. It's kind of in the background in some bigger films like she's she's in John Cassavetes, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie from 76 starring Ben Gazzara. It's like a bit role as a dancer. She also pops up in the 1981 horror film Demonoid starring Samantha Egger. I've seen part of this. This is like set in Mexico and has some sort of a demonic disembodied hand.

Oh, Demonic Hand movie. You know what? We've mentioned so many of those in passing in episodes since we did The Beast with Five Fingers and Mad Love. I wonder if we should just do a whole like Hand Monster series. We easily could. Yeah, there are a number of them. I mean, a number of them are based on the hands of Orlok and part of that direct tradition. But then, yeah, you have other films like the

the Michael Caine film, The Hand and so forth. Was that the one directed by Oliver Stone? It is. Yeah. Oliver Stone directed that one. Where you find out that the CIA was actually behind The Hand all along. Yeah. I think it's a rare, you know, it's from that period of time when he almost directed a Conan the Barbarian movie. All right. So the character Rosie in this different, different style, different presentation, uh,

She doesn't really have time for any of the crap that's going on in this movie. She isn't necessarily down with all of Varla's violence, but she is devoted to Varla nonetheless. Haji's performance is, I would say, richly entertaining. At times it seems like maybe the greenest. She has this, I think she's doing an Italian accent in this. I'm not entirely sure. I interpreted it as an Italian accent, yes. Yeah.

Waters in the book I referenced earlier says, quote, she's a mean Mexican with a weakness for switchblades who emphasizes her many moments of disgust by spitting or picking her teeth with whatever is handy. Yes, she is the most disgusted of our three antiheroes. Yes, that is her one note played loudly. Disgust, but also occasionally disgust.

a little bit like she's the only one of the three that also shows like a little bit of empathy.

or even remorse at times so in a weird way she has more her her role has more range i i agree she's the only one of the three that seems to have any hint of a of a soul or kindness at all and it's not much of a hint but there's a little spark in there somewhere she is often set against the third of the gang billy they're they're kind of uh butting heads a lot of the movie

Yeah, Billie is played by Laurie Williams, born 1946. She's our blonde, sassy, provocative, wisecracking sensation junkie who's just always down for a swim or some just extracurricular dancing, fighting, a little racing, you know, whatever, whatever. She's up for anything. She's also ridiculously laugh-out-loud seductive in a manner that reminds me of Gina Maroney from 30 Rock.

So many moments where she's being sexy and it's just hysterical. She just like sees a man with muscles 50 feet away and it's like, hey, hot stuff. Exactly. Now, Williams was not a go-go dancer, but was a beach party film actor for the most part. Her other credits include mostly dancer roles, but in some notable films, including 1963's The Prize starring Paul Newman and

The Elvis movies Viva Las Vegas and Kissin' Cousins in 64, as well as the Elvis movies Girl Happy and Tickle Me, both in 65. So multiple Elvis movies here. She was in Our Man Flint in 66. She has a passenger role as an extra in 1972's The Poseidon Adventure and an uncredited victim role in 1974's 99 and 44 Out of 100% Dead, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Richard Harris.

Waters in shock value says, quote, Billy is the film of the group. The main things on her mind being sex and alcohol in her white short shorts, halter top and knee high patent leather go-go boots. Billy is forever breaking into torrid go-go steps whenever trouble arises. Yes, she. So they're professional go-go dancers. But Billy likes to go-go dance when they're off the clock. And her her gang, her fellow gang members say,

We'll say, you know, hey, why are you doing that? You know, that's we we left that behind at work. And she's like, I do what I want. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She does in a way like she's the perfect opposite, but equal of Varla because they both do whatever they want. They have their own compass, but the things they want to do are drastically different.

Hey, everybody. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is sponsored by Capital One. In my house, we subscribe to everything, music, TV, even cat food. And it rocks until you have to manage it all, which is where Capital One comes in. Capital One credit card holders can easily track, block, or cancel recurring charges right from the Capital One mobile app at no additional cost.

With one sign-in, you can manage all your subscriptions, all in one place. Learn more at CapitalOne.com slash subscriptions. Terms and conditions apply. Experiencing the news each day can feel like a journey.

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OK, so we've got our vicious murdering gang of go-go dancers. We got to have some innocent people in here to to to be victimized by them. Right. That's right. And so that the main victim being Linda, played by Sue Bernard, who lived 1948 through 2019.

She plays a likable American every girl. And the gang of three, of course, not impressed with her here. But Bernard has an interesting history. She was the daughter of legendary glamour and pinup photographer Bruno Bernard. She was an author, actress, model and businesswoman. She was a Playboy model in 1966. This was her first film role, followed by a couple of notable films, I guess. 1969's The Witchmaker and 1972's Necromancy.

A noteworthy family connection is that at one point she was married to actor and playwright Jason Miller, who, of course, is famous for having played Father Damien in The Exorcist. Ah, yes. Father Karras. Yeah. And their son...

His was actor Joshua John Miller, born 1972. He has a number of interesting credits, but his first film role as a child actor was playing the hero's son, Willie, in Halloween 3, Season of the Witch.

Okay, wait, how many degrees of separation is that from Halloween three to faster pussycat? We, um, I guess it involves a family connection. Yeah, it's a family connection. So it's harder. Uh, but, uh, it's, it's close enough. It's in close orbit. I'm just imagining a film that could have been like the go-go murder gang here versus, uh,

uh, uh, Tom Atkins from Halloween three. Doesn't, doesn't he seem like the perfect victim of their treachery? Yeah, I could see him taking a beating from this bunch. Now, speaking of taking a beating, um, the character Linda has a boyfriend named Tommy. Um,

And Tommy is one of, if not the only likable male characters in the whole picture with some caveats. We'll come back to that. He's a kind of square and nice guy who just wants to work on his car, improve his race time and spend spend a little quality time with his girlfriend, Linda. He doesn't, you know, leer at any of the women or speak to them in a sexist manner. And you might think this means, well, this might be the hero of our picture, but he's certainly not.

No, no. He's a nice guy, which means he's marked for death. Marked for death. We'll get to that death in a bit because it's pretty spectacular. Played by Ray Barlow. I don't think any dates are known for this actor. This was one of only four credits for him. Alongside 1967's A Countess from Hong Kong and the 1971 TV series The Goodies. Oh, and also a single episode of Highway to Heaven from the late 80s. Hmm.

All right, now we do have another sort of villainous trio to cancel out.

Our main villainous trio. But these are this is a male villainous trio of a family they encounter in the desert, the leader of which is the old man played by Stuart Lancaster, who lived 1920 through the year 2000. American actor with credits going back to the early 60s. He appears in the original Outer Limits episode Tourist Attraction, but he's mostly known for appearing in Russ Meyer films and various other exploitation titles.

However, you can also find him in such films as 1973's God Monster of Indian Flats and Tim Burton cast him in two films. He plays a retired man in Edward Scissorhands and he plays the Penguin's doctor in Batman Returns. What? Oh. Not a role I remember, but, you know, I can...

You can see the kind of thing Tim Burton was going for in that weird, weird Batman sequel, Batman Returns. We could do Batman Returns on Weird House Cinema. I think we could. Does Penguin go for a checkup in there? I really don't. I don't remember when this would be. If this would be like a flashback to when he's a baby, like maybe that's the Penguin's doctor or maybe it's sometime later. Yeah.

Because there's that whole intro to the character that involves, who is in that? Who plays his father? Pee Wee Herman plays his father. Yeah. Oh, I'd forgotten that too. Well, so anyway, this character, the old man, it's playing on the principle that we talked about just recently with Danger Diabolic. In a movie where you have an anti-hero, though I don't know if you call Varla an anti-hero, just where your main character is bad. Yeah.

it always helps to up the ante by having them meet a character who is much worse. Yes. So yeah, our main characters, uh, character or characters are bad and they do murder. But what if there's somebody who also wants to do murder, but is even grosser? Yeah. And that's, that's the old man, as we'll discuss. He's a, he's, he's pretty villainous. Uh, he lives in the desert with two of his sons, one of which, uh,

I forget if he even has a name aside from the vegetable. They call him this because he doesn't say much, but he's a big muscle guy. And then the other son, the elder of the two sons, is Kirk, played by Paul Trinka, who lived 1932 through 1973, mostly a bit player on TV. This is his most well-known role. He also appeared on Hawaii and I, My Three Sons, Gomer Pyle, USMC, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, and an episode of Night Gallery.

Now, we also hear a little bit from the narrator. We'll touch on that in a second. The narrator for this film is John Furlong, who lived 1933 through 2008. American actor who I believe got his start in Russ Meyer films and worked for him several times, you know, often being dubbing the director's voice or being this narration voice.

He ultimately accumulated a lot of TV and film credits over the course of his career, having appeared in the likes of 1974's Blazing Saddles, 94's Wyatt Earp, and 1998's Vampires, the John Carpenter film, along with many others.

And as for the music on this one, I'm not going to go into a lot of depth here, but Iko Kantor was the music director who lived 1930 through 2019. Interesting fella and a name that weird cinema fans may have noticed in the credits before, you know, sometimes kind of stands out. He worked a lot doing the music for various films, but also was a producer himself.

Um, as far back as 1971 and such films as kingdom of the spiders, 1979 is the dark and 1984 is mutant starring wings, Hauser and Bo Hopkins. We could come back and do kingdom of the spiders as well, because that is a killer tarantula movie starring captain Kirk. Yeah.

Yeah, it's also referenced in a Warren Zevon song, rather. So I always like a nice musical nod to B-cinema.

All right. Shall we get into the plot? Yes. Now, I think this is another movie where we're not going to recount every scene in order. I think instead, maybe we'll talk about the intro in some detail, maybe the, you know, the first chunk of the movie and then do a basic recap on everything else and then focus on some some things that stand out. But first thing, this movie begins with a narration and has one of the all time great opening lines I've heard in any film.

Yes, we hear that rich, velvety narrator's voice say, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence. To violence. It goes on to say, the word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still remains sex.

Huh? Okay. So the opening narration here, it goes on for a while and there's, while this guy's talking, it's just sort of a black screen with these lines that are undulating as if showing like a, like an audiogram or something, you know, they're, they're vibrating with the sound of the narrator's voice.

And the narrator goes on to explain in a rather wordy and roundabout manner that America's most trusted brand, violence, is still in business, but it is under new management. Women. The narrator says, you know, you guys out there, you might think women are beautiful. You might think women are nice, but also they will cut your head off with a power saw. The women of today, they murder all the time.

That's right. Women are more dangerous than they've ever been in human history. This is a new breed of violence out there. All righty. And so the narration ends with him saying, who are they? One might be your secretary, your doctor's receptionist, or a dancer in a go-go club. Smash cut to a go-go club.

Yeah, and this is where we get our first look at our trio of evil go-go dancers here. All black and white sequins and tassels. Yeah, we didn't mention it already. This is a black and white film and it looks pretty gorgeous.

And we have the theme song playing in the background. But also we have, we keep cutting to these brutish men who were chanting at them. They're chanting, go, go. And I was wondering, I didn't even look this up though. Is this the origin of the term go-go dancer? It's just, you're supposed to yell go and shout go at them. I have no idea. But also this scene is so funny because of the,

lack of like humor or enjoyment evident in the men who are shouting at the go-go dancers just I have to applaud the deadly seriousness with which the dudes are shouting go let's go come on go

They sound like like Hollywood cowboys yelling at their horses and they're puffing on cigars, by the way. Yeah. I mean, watching this, especially from a modern perspective, you can't help but assume that the message here is that men are gross and terrible and that you're supposed to take that with you into the film proper. And I don't think the film really presents us with any information to counter that thesis whatsoever.

But I just don't know like what what was really intended by this. Oh, do you mean like maybe there's there's an unspoken understanding that because in their day job, these women are like dancing for these horrible creeps all the time. And so they take that with them to the other scenarios in their life. So like when they murder a man in the desert, they're sort of like seeing in that man all of the like the go go guys. Yeah.

I mean, I don't know. I think one looks for nuance in this film at their peril. You know, Varla would not stand for that. You know, if I were to broach that hypothesis, she would she would chop me in the neck. Right. She would just kill you. Yeah. But yeah. So why? It is interesting. Like, why do they seem so mad? Yeah. I mean, well, they are also they're criminals. They're out for that. They want a quick score.

Oh, you're talking about the audience. I'm at the guys. They're yelling. Oh, yeah. Why do they sound angry? Yeah, I don't know. Unless, again, we're supposed to take something home about this, that men in general are awful.

So I don't know. It's something worth thinking about. But then again, this is a film that I don't think necessarily. Well, you know, it goes two ways. I think it's a film that is also about like surface level interpretation. But this is a film that a lot has been written about there. I glanced at a number of serious film critic papers out there and that and

And film theory papers that we're looking at at this film and talking about gender dynamics and various forms of representation that are going on in the film. So there is a lot to chew on. You can certainly have it both ways.

Well, yeah, there's a very interesting duality in that in one sense, this movie is straightforwardly very sexist. But on the other hand, it is presenting a more kind of empowered and larger than life vision of female characters than you would get in pretty much anywhere else in movies of this time. Yeah. And I think a lot of the...

the interesting commentary comes from like trying to, to P to, to piece it apart and figure out, well, how much of this was intentional? How much of it is, you know, sort of happy accident, et cetera. I mean, that's often the case with films that really stand out during, you know, that really stand out to, to, to future interpretation. But, okay. There's another great smash cut here because the, like the go, the, the ladies are dancing, the guys are screaming, go. And then it just like, well,

Suddenly we're somewhere else. Suddenly we're in the desert. Here is our lead character, Varla, laughing maniacally as she races her sports car through the desert. And then we quickly see that there are two the two other dancers, Rosie and Billy, are racing behind her in their own sports cars, laughing as well. It's like they're already fleeing the scene of a crime when we first meet them here. And who knows? Maybe they are. We don't. They never mentioned that.

Right. Right. I mean, it would make sense. Yeah. They're going because there is a there's a desperation to a lot of what they do. And there is a you know, they clearly don't care about the future. Well, I see what you're saying about the desperation, though. I don't want to convey the wrong feeling in the scene because instead they feel it's like they're having fun. They are. Yeah, they are completely free. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Another thing I will say is that.

The soundtrack really adds a lot of pep to this movie. It's like good hot music selections and they change so fast. I think I noted by the time we're like four minutes into the movie, we've already heard like five different songs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of saxophone too. A lot of jazz saxophone. And yeah, so they're racing through the desert, but you know,

Billy has needs. Billy needs a swim break. So everybody stops so that Billy can have a swim. This scene. So, yeah, Billy's like, I want to swim. I'm going to swim. Even if it's, you know, this is a muddy drainage canal. I'm going to swim in that. And then I think Varla sends Rosie to go make her stop. She's like, get her out of there. And so, yeah.

Rosie goes to do it. And this leads to a fight scene where they're just like beating each other up on the beach. Billy and Rosie are. And I think this establishes the dynamic between the characters that will continue for the rest of the film. First of all, Varla is the boss. Mean, tough, dominant, violent. She gives orders. If you cross her, you know, well, you don't want to cross her. You don't want to find out.

Meanwhile, Billy is the free spirit. She does whatever she wants whenever she feels like it to hell with anybody who's trying to tell her it is not time to go swimming in the muddy canal. Meanwhile, Rosie, you know, we were sort of talking about this earlier, like Rosie is the most complicated of the three. She's more resentful and reserved and sometimes seems kind of unsure. Mm hmm.

But somehow, okay, so they end up, Rosie and Billy end up fighting, I guess, about the fact that Billy was swimming. And then they start, they all start arguing and Satana eventually says, you want to prove something, chicky? Let's see who the real chicken is. Another smash cut to they're playing a game of chicken in their cars on the salt flats.

That's right. Let's settle this honorably with with with with a dangerous vehicular action. If you're not familiar with vehicular chicken. Yeah, it's where you these cars like they drive head on toward each other. And I guess the first person to swerve loses. Yeah. But don't try this. Yeah. Who wins? Varla, of course. Oh, yeah. Because, yes, she is the the meanest and the toughest and she will not stop.

But after their game of chicken, I guess they're just hanging out in the middle of the salt flats. And what do you know? Oh, here here comes some people and things are not going to go well for them. Yeah. Here come Tommy and Linda, a couple of well-meaning squares who are just so pleasant.

just so pleasant. They're like, oh, strangers in the desert. This is great. More people to hang out with. Little do they know that this band of go-go witches is going to, they're going to be their, their death and doom. It's a couple of teenagers who are just like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and canned peas. You know, they, they love cars, soft drinks, good, clean fun. And Tommy is here to do some timed trials because he loves, you know, tuning up his car, which,

To me, it did not look like a hot rod. I was like, really, Tommy? He's the car guy and that's his car. But I just don't know my 60s cars, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. 60s car expert can can chime in here and tell us what we're looking at. But so they're here to do timed trials, which Varla makes fun of, by the way, time trials. You know, I only race against the living.

Um, but I think Linda's ideas, she's going to sit there and like enjoy some soft drinks and do the stopwatch for Tommy while he drives around the desert. It sounds like a great time. Um, and, uh, at some point Linda offers the, the, the, the go-go murderers soft drinks. She's like, would you like a soft drink from our cooler here?

Yeah. And Rosie says, honey, we don't like nothing soft. Everything we touch is hard. So it's more of that great Russ Meyer dialogue here. But we should add like nearly every exchange in the movie is like that. It's just like.

Nobody says anything normal. They're always like spitting one liners at each other. Yeah. And basically this whole interaction with Tommy and Linda is they're just picking a fight with them the whole time. They're trying to tempt them into some sort of a confrontation. Yeah.

You know, it's I thought that it ultimately has kind of Varla especially has kind of like an Old Testament satanic aspect to her character, because in Tommy we see a good man. You know, he's not leering. He's not saying inappropriate things like the gas station attendant from from earlier.

Oh, that's later. The gas station. OK, yeah, that's right, because Linda's already been kidnapped by that point. But, you know, most of the males in the film are like that. You know, they're saying some some stuff here or they're they're leering at our at our trio. But, you know, Tommy seems good. You know, he couldn't possibly be provoked to violence.

But, you know, our satanic character might say, well, you know, he's been protected from those temptations. But what if someone were to criticize his racing? What if someone were to beat him in a desert race and also take his girlfriend's stopwatch? So you're talking about like the Satan from the book of Job, Satan as the prosecutor of the court of heaven.

Yeah. So I think Varla has that kind of energy here. So, yeah. So just constantly picking a fight. There's a great bit where he's starting to get a little annoyed by all this. He's like, are you trying to say something? And she's like, I never try anything. I just do it. Which awesome Varla line just sums it up. Prefigures Yoda as well. Yoda, Varla. See that? Yeah. She also at some point, she's trying to.

get him to do a dangerous drag race with her. And he's at first refusing and she at one point says, you're the all-American boy, a safety first Clyde.

Yeah. So eventually the go-go murder gang tricks, they like goad Tommy into racing. And so they're, you know, driving around the track and then it looks maybe like Tommy's going to win the race. But then Varla pulls some kind of I didn't understand exactly what happened, but she pulls some kind of dangerous stunt to like run him off the course. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And so from here, things escalate pretty quickly. And Varla finally provokes nice guy Tommy into a fight, into an actual physical altercation. And it is amazing because she proceeds to just karate chop the crap out of them. And I've said before, I,

I love karate chops in these old timey fights. I don't think we see enough karate chops anymore today. It's all like MMA moves. And I'm so bored with, with characters throwing out, you know, either a wrestling suplex or certainly some sort of an arm bar scenario. I want karate chops to come back in a big way. And all man Varla throws out some wonderful ones. Finally, Tommy starts punching back.

And she takes him down with this cool arm base takedown thing and then proceeds to apply a standing surfboard lock. So he's he's laying on his belly. She grabs both arms, puts her boot to the back of his neck and snaps his neck with her boot. Just a complete solid kill. This whole scene, John Waters described as just mind boggling. It is shocking. And, you know, if you didn't understand up until this point, you're like, oh, OK, this is why this movie is so infamous. Yeah.

Yeah, because just killed him in cold blood. Like it escalates from just and she just met him. They just met met these people and they've already provoked him to violence and then killed him. She does multiple times claim to be giving him a chance to walk away. But it's like he didn't start it. It's like you can walk away if you just allow me to like humiliate and insult your girlfriend some more.

Because they steal Linda's stopwatch and they won't give it back to her. And Linda's like, help me, Tommy. And Tommy's like, oh, come on, be nice. And no, they're not going to be nice.

Yeah. So they kill the they kill Tommy and cold blood. And there's nothing left to do at that point but to kidnap Linda. More crimes. Right. Tommy's dead. And in a way, I think this is no big deal for them because killing men in the desert is just a regular part of a day off for Varla and company. Yeah.

But yeah, Linda's a witness. So what are they going to do with this goody two shoes teenager who knows their fondness for go-go assassination? They've got to kidnap her, take her with them to somewhere. I think they're planning to kill her also later. I don't know why they don't just do it there. Yeah, it's they kind of skip over that. But in any rate, yeah, they throw her in the car. Yeah.

they get some pills in her. They have a lot of pills on hand for this sort of thing. And then it's, uh, off to wherever, I guess they got to get gas first. Right. So next they go to the gas station and you mentioned the interaction with the gas station attendant. This is, uh,

where like, you know, the guy's like cleaning the window and he is, he is ogling Varla. And, uh, at some point he, he says like, wow, I, uh, I'd really like to see America one day. And she goes, you won't see it down there, Columbus. Another great line. Yeah. All of our, those lines are just gold. And all three of them, I think say get to get to jab at this, um,

this sort of happy-go-lucky gas station attendant. They say such mean things to him, and they're all wonderful. He stays relatively pleasant, despite the fact that they're just all viciously insulting him over and over. Yeah, yeah. In a way, he's the most pleasant male character, if not the most pleasant character in the whole film.

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Also, while they're at the gas station, it sets up the the the dynamic that will take over for the rest of the movie, which is Billy. She's wandering around and she sees a hunk with muscles. She's like, wow, look at that hunk of man. And the gas station attendant.

I guess he just happens to know everything. He explains that that guy is the son of a local rancher who lives way out in the desert. And the rancher is, uh, he sometime ago was injured and now has to use a wheelchair because Rob, correct me if I'm getting any of this wrong. I think he says that the old man was injured while rescuing a girl from an oncoming train. And,

And as a result of his injuries, he was paid a huge sum of money. I don't know if that was insurance or from the train company or something. And then somehow the gas pump guy knows about this and knows that he is hiding the money in cash form somewhere on his land. That's right. He so now he.

He has a lot of paranoid delusions about the evils of trains. He hates women, and he doesn't want to put his money in the bank, so he has it hidden somewhere in the desert as the local lore. Right. So the old man, first of all, he is a nasty, lecherous old creep who is the most leering of all the leering men in the film. But he also...

You mentioned he hates women. So the way I think this was explained is that he wants to kill women for revenge because he was injured and disabled while trying to rescue a woman. Is that the case? I believe that's what they're laying out. Yes. Okay. All right. Now,

Now, he can't do much on his own, but luckily he has this muscular son who they lovingly call the vegetable. Yes. So the muscle son is portrayed as having some kind of unspecified mental disability. Obviously, this is not portrayed in the movie with great sensitivity. Right.

No. And of course, neither is the disability of the old man. But, you know, you are in the mid 60s exploitation film at this point. So that's what you're watching. And then you've got Kirk, the other son who he's the other son. That's his deal.

Yeah, I mean, he has an interesting place as well, because he's I saw some papers pointing out, you know, that he's kind of the domestic and the domestic role of the group. He looks after the old man. He looks after his brother. He also seems to aspire and is ultimately positioned in a place of moral superiority, but also seems like he has turned a blind eye to a lot of bad stuff.

In the desert. So I'm I was never really sure what to make of Kirk. And it also this has helped tip the scales for me and just rooting for Varla the whole time. You wanted Varla to succeed in murdering him and Linda.

Yes. Yeah. I'm sorry, but Varla is just compelling. I'm just not going to argue with her. So the go-go killers set their sights on this ranch. Varla wants the money that the old man apparently has stashed somewhere there. I don't know why they believe the gas station attendant, though. Like, why would he know this? But so they just take his word for it. Varla wants the money and Billy wants the muscle, son. So they're going to go to the ranch and Varla.

Rob, you and I off mic earlier were discussing this comparison. They head for the ranch where the rest of the movie is going to take place. And I could not help but notice the similarity between the family on this ranch and the family in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which, of course, came later. That's right. Yeah. I also thought that there was kind of a Sawyer-esque relationship.

going on here. You know, they're perverse. They're up to bad stuff out in the middle of nowhere. But they don't go all in on the horror in the same way that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre does, obviously. Right. But, I mean, the comparisons are almost kind of eerie. So the old man, there's like a nasty, mean-spirited, lecherous old man. There is the muscle son, you know, who I think you could compare to Leatherface. And I...

I guess the difference is that in the Sawyer family, there is no Kirk. There's not like the nice, normal son. Yeah, right. Instead of Kirk, you either get the hitchhiker or you get chopped up. Yes. Yeah. Totally different vibe in that regard. But yeah, I feel like there's a lot of similarities. I wonder if this influenced the shape of Texas Chainsaw Massacre to any degree. Well, it also makes you wonder like how Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be different if the

Yeah.

Tough as nails dancer murderers. Oh, the Sawyers wouldn't have stood a chance. Varlo would have made short work of all of them. Leatherface, the hitchhiker, any of them. No chainsaw would be even revved up. She would snatch the chainsaw out of Leatherface's hands, grab it by the blade and pull it out of his hands and then bend him over and break his neck. Yeah. Karate chop that neck.

You know, also like TCM, a different vibe here, but we also get a big sit-down meal. That's right. Yeah. So it takes a while. They've got a sort of elaborate plan that I'm not going to get into in great detail. But so like Varla and the gang arrive on the property and they make a plan to sort of trick the family while they search for the money. And so they claim to have been stranded there and

need some water for maybe the radiators in their car or something, but they end up getting invited to lunch. I think especially because the old man is again, uh, nasty and lecherous and wants to ogle them and, and do much worse. Uh, so they're all having like, uh, fried chicken and whiskey at lunch. We're not all having whiskey there. They're all having chicken that, uh, Kirk cooked for everyone. Yeah.

And at some point, Billy is. Oh, and Linda's there at the table with them. Just the hostage is there. And I think at some point she's begging for help. And they're all like, I don't know what to make of this. But Billy at some point is like, hey, give me some of that whiskey, old man. And he's like, OK. And then she just proceeds to immediately get blackout drunk and pass out and let Linda escape. Yes.

Yeah, it is interesting that the whole vibe of this dinner is like the dinner table is this place of decorum. But everyone there is either a villain or a hostage. And yet there is this like weird like truce in place here as they engage in this strange meal. Of course, eventually Varla goads the old man by mentioning trains. I think she's the one who mentions trains and gets him all upset and he ends up storming off.

Oh, and there are also a lot of comments about how much chicken the beefy son can eat. Oh, yes. I think at one point he is advised to help himself to both a breast and a thigh. Yes. A lot of winky dialogue in this section. Oh, but we forgot a part earlier on, which I think is that the old man is like...

I think it happens off screen, but he tries to assault Linda, the hostage, and she flees away into the desert and is like, okay, I'm going to escape now. And is picked up in a truck by a nice young man who seems very helpful. And, but it turns out this is Kirk, the, the other son. And he just like drives her back to the house and she's like, no, no, no, not back here. And he's like, oh no, it's fine. This is my family's house. Yeah.

We've probably been more impactful if we, the audience, didn't already know that Kirk was a member of that family. Yes. But it was still pretty great.

She escapes a couple of different times. They're not very good at keeping her in place. But then she's not particularly good at getting away. Oh, at some point, I think also Varla seduces Kirk. I do not recall why. I think somehow I guess she thinks this is going to help her get the money. It's just is a multi stage plan to get that money that involves violence and seduction and dinner. I mean, don't try and create a flow chart of all of this.

distrust the plan but at some point kirk finally it takes a lot but finally kirk wises up to the fact that uh not only is his own family evil but varla and the gang are evil as well and so then he's like oh okay i need to help linda so at some point kirk and linda try to escape into the desert meanwhile back at the house um varla they've started murdering everybody and

And that let's see, they murder Varla and Rosie murder Billy. I don't quite remember why she's leaving at some point and they like throw a knife in her back. Yeah. Great, great kill scene. Yeah. She's like, I'm done. I'll see you. See you gals at church. And she's going off and Varla's like, pass me the switchblade and throws it into her back. So they end up murdering the muscle son and the old man and they discover where the muscle son kills Rosie.

The muscle son kills Rosie and then they Varla kills. Well, let's see. Yeah, they kill him and the old man. The old man, it turns out, had all of the money that he was hiding stashed somehow inside his wheelchair. And when they hit him with their car, it is all it like busts out all over the place.

Yeah. Yeah. Varla goes into revenge mode at this point, though, and she gets this great scene where she's trying to run over the muscle and he's pushing back. Yes. Like he's Hercules, you know, against the horsepower of the car. And there's just kind of a stalemate that, of course, eventually wears him out completely. And he's he topples. He's like Samson. You've cut his hair at this point. He's powerless. I don't think he dies. What? I don't think he dies, does he? Oh, I don't recall, actually.

that he is defeated nonetheless. But finally there, there is a showdown where, okay, so Linda are, are good character and Kirk are, I guess, kind of good character. They're escaping into the desert. They're trying to run away from the farm and, and, and, uh, get out of all this madness and Varla must get revenge. So she's like hunting them down in this truck, uh,

And I think you compared her to the Terminator at this point. And I think that that is a good comparison. She is just a machine out for destruction. Yeah, completely relentless. There's no way you can possibly get you can't stop her. You can't get away from her because she has no quit in her.

At one point, she's driving after them and they like cross over the railroad tracks. And I was, I was afraid they were going to, I was like, oh man, is this how they're going to defeat Varla? Because they're going to bring the train back into it somehow, but that's not what happens. Instead, they end up reaching this point where the, like the truck, she gets out of the truck, Varla does. And, and,

And now they're going to have this this final fight. Varla versus Kirk and Linda in the desert. Just fisticuffs and chops and boots. Well, at this point, Varla is, again, beating Kirk up totally. Kirk doesn't stand a chance against Varla. Of course, he would. She would kill him. But I think Linda comes to the to the rescue with the truck. Yeah, she jumps back into the truck, starts it up and hits Varla with the truck.

And so we end up with, again, Varla's already totally kicked Kirk's butt at this point. She hits first. She kicks him in the kidney or something. She's chopped him multiple times.

And now she's been hit by the vehicle. She's laying there next to him. And she raises one last karate chop into the air to bring down on him. You just know it's going to be a death blow. But then she succumbs to her injuries and dies. The ending is great, though I did have one note. I was like, one way you can make this movie better is if at the end, Varla, instead of just succumbing to her injuries...

is it somehow explodes like the shark in jaws you know like they put a like a pressure air tank in her mouth and shoot that and then she explodes into 10 billion pieces that would have been good um you know i could have seen i could see the train uh ending having worked uh i wonder if that was ever on the menu as a potential ending for this film

But I also like the idea of I think Varla should have just won. I think Varla should have murdered Kirk. But then again, we come back to the question of, well, what is the where is she going to go with Linda? Like, what's the plan here?

Does she just kill Linda as well and then go off into the desert? Or is there some next step there? I'm not sure. So I guess ultimately it's just as well that she that this character dies. I think let's see, what would Varla have done if she had won? Yeah, she'd get the money. She would stand there and declare that she is not sad that her friends are dead. She's like, I don't miss them one bit. And then she would get in her car and drive away to her to the next adventure.

Yeah. Yeah. I think maybe just leave Linda alive in the desert to, you know, to surely die. That would have probably worked. I feel like that's the ending this film would have had in the 70s. But already, you know, even mid 60s, it was ahead of its time. And there's only so much meanness that it could muster.

I just remembered something about the final dialogue exchange after Varla is defeated and I had to look it up. So what exactly they say? So Varla dies and then Linda gets out of the truck and she says, I killed her like she was an animal, like she was nothing. And then Kirk says, she was nothing, nothing human at all.

And so I wonder if the ending maybe means that Linda now has acquired a taste for violence and she has been set on a path to become like them. Well, that would be interesting. Again, I'm not sure how deep we can dig into the ending.

into the paint on this film. But, but, but I like that interpretation. Like immediately after the camera stops rolling, I imagine Linda next is like, Hey Kirk, would you like to go racing on the salt flats? We'll see who wins.

All right. Well, there you have it. Faster Pussycat. Kill, kill. Yeah, this one was a lot of fun. And I think now, just in general, in all movies that we watch, I'm at least going to have that voice in the back of my head. What would Varla do in this scenario? Yeah, she's an unforgettable character. At the very least, she would welcome us to violence. That's right.

All right. Well, just a reminder that we're primarily a science podcast here in the Stuff to Blow Your Mind feed. But on Fridays, we set aside most serious concerns to just talk about a weird film here on Weird House Cinema. And if you want to see a list of all the films we've done over the years, well, you can go to a couple of places. I blog about these films at some muted music dot com, but also over at Letterboxd dot com. It's L-E-T-T-E-R-B-O-X-D dot com.

you'll find us. We have a user name there, Weird House, and we have a nice list of all the movies we've covered. You can slice them up and rearrange them by decade, by genre, and so forth. So it's a pretty good way to see what else we've talked about, and maybe if you haven't listened to many of them, find some older episodes that interest you in particular.

Huge thanks to our excellent audio producer, JJ Posway. If you would like to get in touch with us with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a topic for the future, or just to say hello, you can email us at contact at stufftoblowyourmind.com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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