Dean DeFino
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231167390
- eISBN:
- 9780231850544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231167390.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book looks at the production and critical reception of Russ Meyer's film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965). It places the film within the cultural history of the 1960s, looks at its ...
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This book looks at the production and critical reception of Russ Meyer's film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965). It places the film within the cultural history of the 1960s, looks at its representations of gender and sexuality, and assesses the specific ways in which it meets the criteria of a cult film. The book describes Pussycat as an enigma and shows how, although it was a box-office failure when initially released on the grindhouse circuit, it has since been embraced by art-house audiences, and has also been referenced in countless films, television series, and songs. The book describes the film as a riot of styles and story clichés lifted from biker, juvenile delinquency, and beach party movies. It argues that Meyer's film has the coherence of a dream and the improvisatory daring of a jazz solo. The book highlights the fact that John Waters has called the film the greatest movie ever made, and that Quentin Tarantino has long promised to remake it and asks, “what draws Waters and Tarantino, and so many other cult fans, to Pussycat?”Less
This book looks at the production and critical reception of Russ Meyer's film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965). It places the film within the cultural history of the 1960s, looks at its representations of gender and sexuality, and assesses the specific ways in which it meets the criteria of a cult film. The book describes Pussycat as an enigma and shows how, although it was a box-office failure when initially released on the grindhouse circuit, it has since been embraced by art-house audiences, and has also been referenced in countless films, television series, and songs. The book describes the film as a riot of styles and story clichés lifted from biker, juvenile delinquency, and beach party movies. It argues that Meyer's film has the coherence of a dream and the improvisatory daring of a jazz solo. The book highlights the fact that John Waters has called the film the greatest movie ever made, and that Quentin Tarantino has long promised to remake it and asks, “what draws Waters and Tarantino, and so many other cult fans, to Pussycat?”
Mollie Gregory
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813166223
- eISBN:
- 9780813166759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813166223.003.0016
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Women in the early 1900s had been famous for stunt driving in the silent movies, but they were rarely hired for car work again until the 1970s. Descriptions in this chapter include: jumping a car ...
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Women in the early 1900s had been famous for stunt driving in the silent movies, but they were rarely hired for car work again until the 1970s. Descriptions in this chapter include: jumping a car into a lake and escaping from it; using cables for safety in Bless the Child (2000); being hit by a car in I Am Legend (2007); ramming a car into a streetcar in Hulk (2003); wild car chases by stuntwoman Tracy Keehn Dashnaw in Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse (2007); the art of doubling actresses in cars; Annie Ellis’s big car sequences; and the ultimate car and motorcycle work by Debbie Evans in The Matrix Reloaded (2003).Less
Women in the early 1900s had been famous for stunt driving in the silent movies, but they were rarely hired for car work again until the 1970s. Descriptions in this chapter include: jumping a car into a lake and escaping from it; using cables for safety in Bless the Child (2000); being hit by a car in I Am Legend (2007); ramming a car into a streetcar in Hulk (2003); wild car chases by stuntwoman Tracy Keehn Dashnaw in Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse (2007); the art of doubling actresses in cars; Annie Ellis’s big car sequences; and the ultimate car and motorcycle work by Debbie Evans in The Matrix Reloaded (2003).
Alison Taylor
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781800857056
- eISBN:
- 9781800853287
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781800857056.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Chapter four examines the film’s uncertain position between arthouse and grindhouse. Possession held the paradoxical position of being showcased at the world’s leading art cinema festival in ...
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Chapter four examines the film’s uncertain position between arthouse and grindhouse. Possession held the paradoxical position of being showcased at the world’s leading art cinema festival in competition for the illustrious Palme d’Or, and being included in the United Kingdom’s ‘video nasties,’ a list of ‘obscene’ or otherwise questionable films, mostly comprised of violent exploitation fare. The film underwent heavy cuts for the US release. In an attempt to capitalise on the film’s horror elements, almost a quarter of the original film was removed rendering an already enigmatic film utterly incomprehensible. Chapter four unpacks the fraught history of Possession’s conflicting status as art and trash, paying particular attention to the shift the film underwent upon its release on VHS–in terms of its marketing and reception outside of the festival circuit, its butchering for the US market, and its odd place amidst other notorious video nasties. It also takes a dive in the BBFC’s archival records on Possession, shedding new light on the film’s reception history.Less
Chapter four examines the film’s uncertain position between arthouse and grindhouse. Possession held the paradoxical position of being showcased at the world’s leading art cinema festival in competition for the illustrious Palme d’Or, and being included in the United Kingdom’s ‘video nasties,’ a list of ‘obscene’ or otherwise questionable films, mostly comprised of violent exploitation fare. The film underwent heavy cuts for the US release. In an attempt to capitalise on the film’s horror elements, almost a quarter of the original film was removed rendering an already enigmatic film utterly incomprehensible. Chapter four unpacks the fraught history of Possession’s conflicting status as art and trash, paying particular attention to the shift the film underwent upon its release on VHS–in terms of its marketing and reception outside of the festival circuit, its butchering for the US market, and its odd place amidst other notorious video nasties. It also takes a dive in the BBFC’s archival records on Possession, shedding new light on the film’s reception history.
