morrison-dylan-fan Before picking up a boxset of movies by director Russ Meyer in the Christmas sales,Mudhoney was one of two films that bought me to the attention of Meyer,thanks to the title of the film being used decades later as the name for an amazing Grunge band called Mudhoney.With having greatly enjoyed Meyer's previous movie Lorna,I decided to touch Mudhoney,to find out how "sick" it truly is.The plot:1933-Spooner,Missori:Walking round the small dust town of Spooner after having recently been released from jail,Calif McKinney runs into a strange looking woman called Maggie Marie,who to McKinney's surprise offer's him the chance to spend some time with each of her lonely and very eager daughter:Clara Belle and the mute Eula.Politely turning down Marie's offer,Calif ask Maggie if she knows about any jobs that are available in the area.Grungingly accepting McKinney's dismissal of her offer,Marie tells Calif that there is a farm near by,that is desperate to hire a new farm boy.Knocking on the door of the farm,Calif is met by the old owner of the farm:Lute Wade,who despite being servily ill, still gives Mckinney a warm welcome.As McKinney starts to talk to Lute about what his daily job routine will be,Calif is left monetarily speechless,when Wade's beautiful niece Hannah arrives and gives McKinney a very warm welcome.Feeling pleased about finding a good place to work and also happy,thanks to the easy on the eyes sight of Hannah.Ripping Calif's moments of joy into shreds,Hannah's husband Sidney Brenshaw stomps into the farm,and openly shows that he rules the farm with an iron fist by telling Lute that he is going to steal the farm from him that moment that Lute dies,and also demanding Hannah that she makes dam sure to stay in her place.Angered that the decision to hire McKinney had not been made by him,Sidney decides to give Calif his own "special welcome",by telling McKinney that he must follow every task that he tells him to do,due to Sidney servily beating up the last farm boy over his faliour to walk Sidney's vicious line.View on the film:Working on the first ever movie that he himself has not written or done the cinematography for,co-editor/co-producer/extra/director auteur Russ Meyer shows that even when some other people are allowed to hold on to the main reins,he is still able to set his wonderfully unique vision "bounceing" across the screen.Setting the mood of the film with Andre Brummer's spike-driven score,Meyer and cinematography Walter Schenk make Calif's arrival into Spooner one that is entering a chilling Horror atmosphere,with Meyer and Schenk using crisp black & White to make all of the town's folk appear as if their eyes have been pushed to the back of their sockets,with Meyer also showing the religious hypocrisy in this deep-fried southern Horror,by showing the local's to break out into a far too tightly knitted mob rule.Initially appearing unsure about what direction to take things in their adaptation of Raymond Friday Locke's novel Streets Paved with Gold,with the opening bringing back memories of Meyer's disappointing "Nudie- Cutie" era,the screenplay by Locke and W.E. Sprague chooses the scene where Calif meets Maggie's strange family as the moment to slam the film into the deep-frier,with Calif being shown as the strong,silent type who attempts to keep hold of his sanity against the cackling Sidney.Entering the movie grotesquely wide-eyed,Princess Livingston gives an extremely unsettling,creepy performance as Maggie who welcomes Calif and the viewer into this off-beat Horror World.Taking on Calif McKinney, (played by a very good,stern John Furlong) in Russ Meyer's first film to have a male in the lead role,Hal Hopper makes Sidney a true piece of brilliant villainy,thanks to Hopper curling his lip each time he delivers a snarling verbal slap to the lesser beings of his land,which help to make the taste of this honey one that is perfectly sweet.

sgcim I didn't know Meyer could actually make an excellent drama, but I was surprised by this one. After seeing Faster Pussycat, Beyond the Valium of the Dolls, and Seven(?)Minutes, I expected the same retarded writing, acting and editing, but Mudhoney is well written, acted and doesn't have that ridiculously fast editing his other movies have.I think the fact that Mudhoney was taken from a novel, with the novelist doing the screenplay, accounted for the quality of this flick.Towards the end, one scene flowed into the next with some incredible performances from the actors playing the husband and the preacher.I haven't seen Lorna yet, but I guess it's similar to this one.

shepardjessica-1 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.

Artemis-9 Seen at a Trash Film Retrospective, I do not concur with those who made the selection, or commented on the film before, here in IMDb. Director Russ Meyer may be more famous for the titillation and violence he introduced in his movies, but he is a man with a purpose, and a political message - that any intelligent viewer could see. Now, almost forty years after the film was made, the denunciation of mass hypocrisy, stupidity, alienation in American society seem more blatant, and terrifying. Those who are after crude nudity and sex scenes would better watch national television tonight. Those who are after one and a half hours of entertaining cinema with several points to remember later on, would better give themselves the trouble to watch this in a theater (Meyer's fans are still strong enough to impose him in many theme festivals), or the uncut version that made it to DVD lately. Immediately after Mudhoney, master Russ did what I consider his masterpiece, _Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1966)_. Now I hesitate between the two. Up to you to decide. Oh, yes. 'Lorna Maitland' (qv) is a southern belle Clara Belle, even if she has to contend with 'Rena Horten' (qv) cast as a mute, but whose body and facial talk speak high of her acting ability. The two buxom beauties are the 'titwillows' in this film. 'Prince Livingston' (qv) couldn't be better cast, and played, to contrast the beauty of her two 'daughters'.