Mudhoney

Drama takes place in Missouri during the Depression (though that adds little to the story). Drifter Calif McKinney (John Furlong) comes by a small town looking for working. He finds it at the Wade farm run by Luke Ward and his niece Hannah (Antoinette Christiani) and her alcoholic abusive husband Sidney (Hal Hopper). Calif starts to fall for Hannah--Sidney sees that and doesn't like it. He gets the town and the local preacher (Frank Bolger) to rally against Calif. Also there are the two beautiful, huge-chested sisters (Lorna Maitland and Rena Horten) who are in the local cat house...It all leads to two near rapes, violence, murder and tragedy. But it does (in a way) have a happy ending.

Sleazy (in a good way) and enjoyable Russ Meyer drama. He ignores the campy dialogue he had in his previous features and gives us a straight forward drama. The script is good and it's well-directed with some beautiful black and white cinematography. The acting was (surprisingly) pretty good--especially when you consider all the women were hired for their bodies not acting ability. Furlong and Christiani give good performances but Hopper screams all his lines and Bolger is hopeless.

There is nudity on a few occasions but it's pretty tasteful. No great shakes but right up there with "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" as one of the best Russ Meyers film.

This film is a classic and brilliant Russ Meyer effort which shows talent and creativity, delivering an ultimately jolting and outrageous picture. It has a perfect mix of sex and violence and a great central character who's a complete degenerate who gets his comeuppance in the memorable conclusion. Moonshine liquor, nudity, religion, set in the backwoods of Missouri during the Depression, populated by bizarre somewhat stereotypical characters a seasoned viewer of Meyer's films might expect to see, there isn't a wasted minute, as the film unleashes a variety of assaulting and memorable scenes that follow one after another.

Mudhoney is an early Russ Meyer film and doesn't feature the same over the top style as his later efforts; but it's surprisingly professional, features an interesting story and has all the sex and sleaze you would expect from the master Russ Meyer. The film is somewhere between a serious drama and a piece of trash and it actually works very well. The film is not as boisterous as Meyer's other 1965 release, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! but it has a style of it's own that still works well. The central plot focuses on Calif McKinney, a drifter travelling to California from Michigan. He stumbles into Missouri and soon gets himself on a job on a farm working for the old landlord, Lute. Calif takes a fancy to Lute's daughter Hannah, but there's a problem because Hannah is married to Sidney; a drunken, adulterous, womanising good for nothing excuse for a man. Sidney has his eye on a share of the farm when Lute kicks the bucket, and colludes with the town preacher to smear Calif's name and protect the inheritance he has no right to...

Russ Meyer has a habit of pulling memorable performances out of his actors, and he certainly does that here. The film is lead by a great performance courtesy of Hal Hopper as the drunken husband. Hopper leads every scene he's in and it's a really great role for him. The rest of the cast is understated in comparison, but John Furlong looks upstanding next to Hopper and naturally the female talent is something to write home about and Meyer doesn't disappoint with his trademark here. The film is not all that explicit compared to later Meyer films, but there's still plenty of female skin on show which is nice. There's not a lot of violence in the film, though Meyer does provide a few fistfights. The story is always interesting and plenty happens in the film too. Meyer provides some good scenes of suspense and tension too which helps to keep things interesting. If there's a point to this film, it's not put across very well; but that isn't important as this film does what it was clearly intended to do and Mudhoney certainly comes recommended to my fellow Meyer fans!

For some reason, I expected more crass (and I've seen Russ Meyer films from the late 60s and early 7s) and exploitive (although they are in docu-creepy realistic funny way) rendition of a story like this. I couldn't have been more mistaken. Perfectly cast - Hal Hopper (the ultimate sleaze-bag in a worn linen suit, babes galore - Lorna Maitland and her beautiful mute sister (can't remember her name) who was mute (and has no lines)...the "crazy" and hilarious mother of the these two "Lil Abner" rejects who makes moonshine ..on the side - whose name is Princess something (in real life)...Anyway, I'm making it sound complicated and it's not and it's not "dirty" (even for then). It's funny, serious (darkly later), kind of sexy, great b/w cinematography and the ending is on the plains.

I never thought this film would be good. Meyer's best film (that I've seen - which is about half his output). Well-done.

My friend and I sat down to watch Mudhoney on TCM. The first two minutes or so (before the opening credits roll) convinced us this was going to be a unique and well-paced movie. We were totally drawn in by the interesting camera work and tight editing. This is the way to open a film! We knew we were in for a worthwhile viewing experience, not just an exploitation flick. Hal Hopper's performance transcends the B-genre. Deranged, sadistic, degrading, mocking, taunting, conniving, violent--he commands the screen. (This guy was Jay "Dennis the Menace" North's father?) Lovely, seductive ladies, never shown gratuitously. They behave in a manner consistent with the film world Myer's has created (some label "gritty," which is the least of this small community's issues).