''Supervixens'' is a 1975 American film directed by American filmmaker
Russ Meyer
Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that fe ...
.
The cast features Meyer regulars
Charles Napier,
Uschi Digard
Uschi Digard (born 15 August 1948) is a Swedish former softcore porn star and model mostly known for her roles in Russ Meyer films.
Early years
When asked of her childhood, she has said,
She had a convent education and learned various lan ...
, and
Haji
Hajji ( ar, الحجّي; sometimes spelled Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. It is also often used to refer to an elder, since it ...
. The film also features
Shari Eubank
Shari Eubank (born June 12, 1947) is a retired American actress, best known for her starring role in the Russ Meyer film '' Supervixens''.
Biography
Eubank was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 12, 1947. The following year, her family mov ...
(in a dual role) in one of her only two film roles and
Christy Hartburg in her only film role.
Plot
Gas station attendant Clint Ramsey, who works at ''
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...
's Super Service'' in the desert, finds himself too irresistible to a series of girls, all of whom have the word "Super" in their
given names. In the beginning, he is married to the
hypersexual, demanding, and jealous SuperAngel (
Shari Eubank
Shari Eubank (born June 12, 1947) is a retired American actress, best known for her starring role in the Russ Meyer film '' Supervixens''.
Biography
Eubank was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 12, 1947. The following year, her family mov ...
), who constantly harasses him at work. She orders him home at once when she calls Clint and overhears a female customer, SuperLorna (
Christy Hartburg), hitting on him at work. Clint finds SuperAngel's constant accusations and arguing a turn-off and, back at home, they fight after he rejects her aggressive advances. A neighbor calls the police as Clint leaves for a local bar, where the bartender is the very scantily clad SuperHaji (
Haji
Hajji ( ar, الحجّي; sometimes spelled Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. It is also often used to refer to an elder, since it ...
).
Meanwhile, SuperAngel seduces Harry Sledge (
Charles Napier), the cop who responded to the police call. He is
impotent
Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of male ...
and unable to perform. She repeatedly taunts and insults him over this, which finally results in him killing her by stomping her brutally in a bathtub, then throwing a radio in the water which was plugged into the wall socket. Sledge burns down the house, then tries to pin the murder on Clint. Clint claims being in the pub all night, but SuperHaji has her revenge on him (for insulting her breast size earlier) by refusing to confirm his alibi. Clint is then forced to flee.
In his rush to escape, Clint hitchhikes a ride from a boy (
John LaZar
John Lazar (1 December 1801 − 8 June 1879) was an actor and theatre manager in Australia. He was Mayor of Adelaide from 1855 to 1858.
History
Lazar was born in Edinburgh, a son of Abraham Lazar, stockbroker, and his wife Rachel née Lazarus ...
) and his girlfriend SuperCherry (
Colleen Brennan). During the drive, SuperCherry comes on to him and puts his hand over her breast, but then pulls it back. She then tries to give him a
handjob
A handjob, also spelled hand job, is a sex act, performed as either foreplay or as non-penetrative sex, that involves the manual stimulation of the penis or scrotum by another person to induce an erection for sexual pleasure, sexual arousal a ...
over his pants, but he continues to resist her advances. The driver takes offense to Clint rejecting his girlfriend, but she says he probably just wants a closer contact. She again attempts and fails to seduce him and he asks the driver to let him get out. The driver follows him out and beats and robs him. Clint is found by an old farmer who takes him to his farm to heal from his injuries and Clint agrees to work for the farmer for a week to repay him.
The farmer has a younger Austrian
mail-order bride
A mail-order bride is a woman who lists herself in catalogs and is selected by a man for marriage. In the twentieth century, the trend was primarily towards women living in developing countries seeking men in more developed nations. The majority ...
, SuperSoul (
Uschi Digard
Uschi Digard (born 15 August 1948) is a Swedish former softcore porn star and model mostly known for her roles in Russ Meyer films.
Early years
When asked of her childhood, she has said,
She had a convent education and learned various lan ...
), who is hypersexual. After energetically satisfying her husband, she comes knocking on Clint's door at night. She immediately pushes him into his bed where she proceeds to mount and
rape him, until he manages to overpower her. However, she does the same the following day and this time overpowering him after jumping him from behind in the barn. Looking for SuperSoul, the farmer finds them in the barn, then chases Clint away and punches SuperSoul.
Fleeing from the farm, Clint meets a motel owner and his
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
daughter, SuperEula (
Deborah McGuire), who convinces him to take a ride with her in her dune buggy to have sex in the desert. They are caught by her father and chased out of town.
Clint eventually meets up with SuperVixen (also played by Shari Eubank) at ''Supervixen's Oasis'', a roadside diner. SuperVixen is (inexplicably) a friendly and giving
reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is ...
of SuperAngel, whose ghost now appears nude between scenes to comment on the plot from atop a bedspring balanced on a
mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...
. Clint and SuperVixen fall in love and are inseparable, although their common
nemesis
In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view.
Etymology
The n ...
, Harry Sledge, arrives on the scene and plots ending the lives of the now happy couple.
Cast
*
Shari Eubank
Shari Eubank (born June 12, 1947) is a retired American actress, best known for her starring role in the Russ Meyer film '' Supervixens''.
Biography
Eubank was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 12, 1947. The following year, her family mov ...
as SuperAngel / SuperVixen
*
Charles Napier as Harry Sledge
*
Uschi Digard
Uschi Digard (born 15 August 1948) is a Swedish former softcore porn star and model mostly known for her roles in Russ Meyer films.
Early years
When asked of her childhood, she has said,
She had a convent education and learned various lan ...
as SuperSoul / Telephone Operator
* Charles Pitts as Clint Ramsey
*
Henry Rowland as Martin Bormann
*
Christy Hartburg as SuperLorna
*
Colleen Brennan as SuperCherry (as Sharon Kelly)
*
John LaZar
John Lazar (1 December 1801 − 8 June 1879) was an actor and theatre manager in Australia. He was Mayor of Adelaide from 1855 to 1858.
History
Lazar was born in Edinburgh, a son of Abraham Lazar, stockbroker, and his wife Rachel née Lazarus ...
as Cal MacKinney (as John La Zar)
*
Stuart Lancaster as Lute
*
Deborah McGuire as SuperEula
* Glenn Dixon as Luther
*
Haji
Hajji ( ar, الحجّي; sometimes spelled Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. It is also often used to refer to an elder, since it ...
as SuperHaji
* 'Big Jack' Provan as Sheriff (as Big Jack Provan)
* Garth Pillsbury as Fisherman
* Ron Sheridan as Policeman
Production
Development
Meyer's previous two films had failed at the box office - ''The Seven Minutes'' (1971) was a straight drama about censorship, done for 20th Century Fox, and ''Blacksnake'' (1973) was a blaxploitation film. He originally intended to follow this with ''Foxy'' starring his then-wife
Edy Williams
Edwina Beth "Edy" Williams is an American television and film actor who is best known for her acting work in the films of Russ Meyer, to whom she was married from 1970 to 1975.
Early years
Williams was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised in ...
but the marriage ended and "I just couldn't picture myself making twenty films starring Edy Williams".
He was also worried about the Supreme Court decision against pornography.
"Those years were very confusing to me," said Meyer. "But instead of rushing off and throwing myself out the window, I was able to psychoanalyze myself and discern what was best for me. I looked myself square in the face and realized I couldn't do everything."
["Russ Meyer, Almost An American Institution" by Kenneth Turan. ''The Washington Post'' 9 Nov 1976: B1.]
Meyer decided to return to the parody sex comedies which had made his reputation so he made what he described as a "sort of sequel" to his 1968 hit ''Vixen''.
"I'm back to big bosoms, square jaws, lotsa action and the most sensational sex you ever saw," he said. "I'm back to what I do best - erotic, comedic sex, sex, sex - and I'll never stray again."
["Meyer: Up to his old chicks again" Preston, Marilynn. ''Chicago Tribune'' 27 Apr 1975: e16.]
"I don't want to do too much yakking," he said. "If there was too much plot, too much dialogue, the story would get in the way of the action. I want a film like an
Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (w ...
cartoon where you know right off who's good and who's bad."
"I'm gonna really deliver on this film." Censors were cracking down on sexually explicit films at the time but Meyer said, "I'll do the things I've always done. I'll do everything I can to outwit them. I'll supersaturate it with outrageous bosoms."
["Censoring the Cinema: 'Obscene' Is Never Having to Say You're Sorry: Obscenity and the Court" by Tom Shales. ''The Washington Post'' 3 Mar 1974: E1.] I used John LaZar, who was Superwoman in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. He plays Cal McKinney, and he and Supercherry are a couple of muggers and they mug Clint. Then I had O’Luke, who was in Mudhoney, Stu Lancaster, married to Uschi Digard, who was an Austrian wife and giant — well, they’re all giant-busted women in the picture, which I think makes the send-up. Every chick he meets is like — “Oh Christ, here we go again!” So she’s Supersoul and she speaks essentially in German, and she’s probably the most aggressive woman in the picture, of the seven. She's just totally — she does two things: she's either milking the cow with a giant udder, or she’s rapaciously taking her old man, out in the fields, wherever the case may be. And then there's a sequence where she attacks, rapes, literally consumes a young man in a manger, screaming, shouting German, describing explicitly what she’s doing and how it feels. Then we have a black girl who’s built like the rest, and she’s dumb, she can’t speak, she uses sign language. But she has a white father, and we never explain that. She’s Supereula.
"There's a new chick every ten minutes," said Meyer. "And each chick is more outrageously constructed than the next."
At one stage Meyer was reportedly making the film for
American International Pictures
American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fil ...
.
Meyer said he planned to shoot the film in R-rated and X-rated versions. He would release the R version, then later release a more explicit X-rated version. However the film would not include hard core sex. "I don't criticise hard core", he said. "I just don't dig it."
Scripting
Meyer said the film "was a little bit autobiographical" but also which "borrowed liberally from a number of people I knew".
He said he was also influenced by the stories of
Horatio Alger
Horatio Alger Jr. (; January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American author who wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through good works. His wri ...
. "They were always about a young man who was totally good, and he would always set out to gain his fortune and he would always come up against terrible people," said Meyer. "They did everything they could to do him in, but he fought fair, you know, and he always survived and succeeded in the end. So, that's just one facet of the thing."
Meyer flew to the Mauna Kea Hotel in Hawaii in September 1973 and wrote the script. It was the first screenplay he wrote entirely by himself and he did the first draft in eight days. Meyer says he rewrote it nine times, with input of the actors. "I think actors contribute to the comfort of words because it's one thing to sit in a little green room somewhere and write dialogue, but when you hear actors speaking it, it doesn't necessarily flow as well as it might," said Meyer.
The two main female characters in the film were Superangel and Supervixen. "Superangel, she's totally bad but beautiful," said Meyer. "Supervixen, she's totally good. They're bookends. I like bookend constructions."
"I set out to make a picture that I thought might compete favorably with today's market in keeping with what I had done heretofore," he added. "And you know, crowded on one side by hardcore films and on the other side by major product that is very explicit. Heretofore, always, I had one super female in the film. This time, I said I was going to have seven. And we'd bring one in every reel, like a new linebacker. And I think it works, it really works. You don't have time to grow tired of the looks or the actions of one girl, for example."
Meyer used names of characters from his previous films, "except the girls are all called “Super” and they play it straight."
Meyer said Supervixen wearing white was a tribute to ''
The Postman Always Rings Twice''. "She's good, pure."
He wanted to hint that Superangel maybe did not die in the bathtub but wound up reincarnated:
Guiding the destinies of three people: terrible, nasty, dirty, nogood Harry Sledge, policeman, former green beret, redneck, opinionated, a bum lay, sexually sick, very physical, very muscular; and Clint, clean, slim, obviously a stud but not in a pushy, forward kind of way, totally good; and Supervixen, voluptuous, pure, good, totally giving, self-sacrificing.
Casting
The cast included Charles Napier, who had appeared in a number of Meyer films but quit acting to become a journalist for a trucking magazine. Meyer brought him out of retirement to do the film.
There were a number of other actors who had appeared in earlier Meyer films like John LaZar, O’Luke, Stu Lancaster, and Uschi Digard.
Shooting
In March 1974, scenes were shot at the Crest Motel and the Sultan's Den in
Blythe, California
Blythe is a city in eastern Riverside County, California, United States. It is in the Palo Verde Valley of the Lower Colorado River Valley region, an agricultural area and part of the Colorado Desert along the Colorado River, approximately ...
, before the crew finished filming in
Quartzsite, Arizona
Quartzsite is a town in La Paz County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 census, the population was 2,413.
Interstate 10 runs directly through Quartzsite which is at the intersection of U.S. Route 95 and Arizona State Route 95 wi ...
. A dune buggy scene was filmed in the Quartzsite area the past month.
The film featured a murder scene which was the most violent yet depicted in a Meyer film. "My films have to please me, to entertain me, and I really dig violence," said Meyer. "I think it's very entertaining. Of course, I like to involve sex with it - sex with gusto - that's my style."
The official budget was $400,000 but Meyer said he deliberately inflated this figure.
Reception
Box Office
The film was Meyer's biggest commercial success since ''
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
''Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'' is a 1970 American satirical musical melodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, Phyllis Davis, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett, and David Gurian. The film was directed by Russ Meyer and scr ...
'', making $8.2 million during its initial theatrical run.
"It's wonderful to come back and find that my kind of voluptuous, superbosumy LA Rams-Chicago Bears scrimmage kind of put on sex is perfectly
acceptable to the mainstream," he said. "People want to be amused, entertained and that's what I'm giving 'em."
Meyer called it "a very good film" although "people kept asking, "Why did you have to have that bathtub murder," when really the success of the film was the bathtub scene, since there was so little sex in the picture. After a tour of Ivy League colleges and after showing it in Europe, it was clear to me that in the two weeks before its national release I had to interject some more sex. And I did, fortunately. Otherwise I don't think it would have performed as well as it did. But it wouldn't have worked as an R. The audience smells that. You lift a whole sequence out and they won't come."
[Russ Meyer: Ten Years After the 'Beyond' Ebert, Roger. Film Comment; New York Vol. 16, Iss. 4, (Jul/Aug 1980): 43-48,80.]
Meyer also said later the thought "the film wouldn't have had the success it had" without Napier "in spite of the big boobs and seven girls. Napier, I think, has a quality that few actors possess: Wallace Beery, Borgnine, Alan Hale. There can be just a thin edge separating evil and humor and they work both sides of that line."
Censored Versions
The British version of the film cut a moment where Napier stomped on a woman after killing her in a bath.
The R-rated version removed the bathtub murder. "I wouldn't do it again," said Meyer.
After the film came out Meyer said "I plan to stick to what I know works and make one X picture after the next and be even more outrageous with sex and keep pushing the boundaries further and further."
Critical reception
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death i ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote that the film "looks sort of ritualistic, sort of perfunctory, made up of actions whose original meaning and purpose have been forgotten ... 'Supervixens' is a curio for film buffs."
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' gave the film one star out of four and wrote that "Meyer has lost the sense of humor that occasionally made his films enjoyable. The humor has been replaced with repulsive amounts of violence."
Kevin Thomas of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' said Meyer explored "as never before to such an extent the dark underside of his erotic myths. It's 'Supervixens,' not '
The Day of the Locust,' that's genuinely apocalyptic."
Cultural references
As a groundbreaker cultural revolutionaire, Meyer was ever watchful for adding sly remarks about American Society. Especially insightful are these:
* Meyer makes the cartoonish nature of the film explicit towards the end, when Harry's impending death is preceded by the "Beep-beep!" sound of the
Roadrunner
The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States and Mexico, u ...
, which always introduces imminent disaster for
Wile E. Coyote
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short ''Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, ...
in the
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short ''Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, ...
cartoon series. The antagonist breaks the
Fourth Wall
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cent ...
between the fictional world and the audience with a facial gesture showing he is resigned to his fate.
* As a humorous sidenote, in the end credits of the film the names of all participants have been changed either partially (Uschi Bristol instead of Digard) or completely (Brown Pants, C. Unt). Shari Eubank is credited as 'Shari Sheridan'.
* As a
combat
Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, o ...
photographer in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Russ Meyer made many friends and acquaintances in Europe. Meyer used running jokes and recurring themes in many of his films which were unique to the
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
's sense of humor. In ''Supervixens'', these include the use of German marching tunes and
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
references. Actor
Henry Rowland appears as
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...
, who was
Adolf Hitler's personal secretary, rumored to have escaped Allied justice for decades and the subject of many "sightings". The Bormann character refers to SuperAngel as the ''Führer''.
*
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
mentions this film in the chorus of his song "Pilgrim in the Temple of Love".
*
Garbage
Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste prod ...
included a song called "
Supervixen" on their
self-titled debut album.
Reception
Edy Williams
Edwina Beth "Edy" Williams is an American television and film actor who is best known for her acting work in the films of Russ Meyer, to whom she was married from 1970 to 1975.
Early years
Williams was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised in ...
, Myer's ex-wife, later sued unsuccessfully for a portion of the film's profits.
[Actress Denied Share of X-Rated Movie's Profits
Los Angeles Times 6 Nov 1975: b20.]
See also
*
List of American films of 1975
A list of American films released in 1975.
''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The highest-grossing film of 1975 was '' Jaws''.
__TOC__
A–B
C–G
H–M
N–S
T–Z
See also
* 1975 in the Uni ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''Russ Meyer on Supervixens'' by Gary Morris @ Bright Lights Films''Supervixens''
{{Russ Meyer
1975 films
1970s action thriller films
1970s sex comedy films
American action thriller films
American sex comedy films
American sexploitation films
1970s English-language films
Films directed by Russ Meyer
Films shot in Arizona
Films shot in California
Films shot in New Mexico
Films with screenplays by Russ Meyer
1975 comedy films
1970s American films