Review of Supervixens

Introduction

This is the one with the stick of dynamite up the arse. Made in 1973, it was Meyer`s return to the kind of film he had been making before his brief dalliance with the mainstream. After the toned-down Meyerism of Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, the courtroom drama The Seven Minutes and the melodrama Black Snake, Meyer went back to what he did best - strong women with big boobs.

Supervixens effectively ended Meyer`s marriage to Playboy model and his muse Edy Williams. The film introduced Henry Rowland in the Martin Bormann running gag which would feature in Meyer`s last feature Beneath The Valley Of The Ultravixens.

Clint Ramsey (Charles Pitt) is an ineffectual mechanic at Martin Bormann`s desert gas station, married to a very strong woman SuperAngel (Shari Eubank). A domestic incident between the two of them escalates out of control when the local redneck psycho cop Harry Sledge (Charles Napier) intervenes. He murders SuperAngel (in a pretty vicious sequence) and plans to pin the killing on Clint, who goes on the run. On his odyssey he encounters a number of superwomen, eventually running into a doppelganger of his dead wife who runs a gas station. Then the psycho cop turns up...

The movie is one of Charles Napier`s finest roles. Specialising in rednecks, he`s best known in the mainstream for roles like the leader of the Good Ol` Boys band in The Blues Brothers (he drives the RV into Lake Michigan). In this, he`s an out and out psycho of the variety America unfortunately would appear to be full of.

Meyer wrote, produced, directed and edited the picture and even found time to appear on screen as the Motel manager.

The levels of (over-the-top) and occasionally graphic violence may turn a lot of people off this picture, but it really has to be viewed in the right state of mind it was made in - it owes a lot to the Looney Tunes. Banned on its initial release in Iceland, every version of the movie seen in the UK has been cut - until this version which passed uncut. Between 28 seconds and eight minutes of cuts had been made on previous submissions to the BBFC.

Video

As with all the other movies in the set, the movie is presented in 4:3 from a presumably open-matte print (masked down for widescreen presentation in theatres). The master print the transfer has been made from has seen better days, with some print damage and even a hair in the gate. Colours are strong where used, juxtaposed against the muted palette of the desert locations.

Audio

The original mono soundtrack is reproduced here in Dolby Digital 2.0.

Features

There is a full audio commentary from Russ Meyer and the trailer reel that features on all the releases in this set. No subtitles.

Conclusion

Russ Meyer returns to form with this movie, but just misses the mark by underplaying his usual playfulness at crucial moments. Supervixens is nontheless very enjoyable and leapin` lizards, the denouement is absolutely cathartic.