Supervixens
| Supervixens | |
|---|---|
| File:Supervixensposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Russ Meyer |
| Produced by | Russ Meyer |
| Written by | Russ Meyer |
| Starring | Charles Pitt Charles Napier Uschi Digard Shari Eubank Christy Hartburg Haji Colleen Brennan |
| Music by | William Loose |
| Cinematography | Russ Meyer |
| Edited by | Russ Meyer |
| Distributed by | RM Films International |
|
Release dates
|
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
|
|
Running time
|
106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $100,000 |
| Box office | $17 million[1] |
Supervixens is a 1975 sexploitation film by American filmmaker Russ Meyer.[2] The cast features Meyer regulars Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, and Haji. The film also features Shari Eubank (in a dual role) in one of her only two film roles ever and Christy Hartburg in her only film role ever.
Plot
Gas station attendant Clint Ramsey, who works at Martin Bormann'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), 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 turnoff 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).
Meanwhile, SuperAngel seduces Harry Sledge (Charles Napier), the cop who responded to the police call. He is impotent 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 (from 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) 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 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, SuperSoul (Uschi Digard), 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 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 of SuperAngel, whose ghost now appears nude between scenes to comment on the plot from atop a bedspring balanced on a mesa. Clint and SuperVixen fall in love and are inseparable, although their common nemesis, Harry Sledge, arrives on the scene and plots ending the lives of the now happy couple.
Cast
- Shari Eubank as SuperAngel / SuperVixen
- Charles Napier as Harry Sledge
- Uschi Digard 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 as Cal MacKinney (as John La Zar)
- Stuart Lancaster as Lute
- Deborah McGuire as SuperEula
- Glenn Dixon as Luther
- Haji as SuperHaji
- 'Big Jack' Provan as Sheriff (as Big Jack Provan)
- Garth Pillsbury as Fisherman
- Ron Sheridan as Policeman
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, which always introduces imminent disaster for Wile E. Coyote in the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon series. The antagonist breaks the Fourth Wall 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 photographer in World War II, 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's sense of humor. In Supervixens, these include the use of German marching tunes and Nazi references. Actor Henry Rowland appears as Martin Bormann, 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 mentions this movie in the chorus of his song 'Pilgrim in the temple of love'.
- Garbage included a song called "Supervixen" on their debut album.
