Motor Psycho

“Hey, sweetheart…you wanna ride on my motorcycle?”

Long live, Russ Meyer! I got off to a banging start with this relatively tame (as far as what is shown on screen, that is) but still rather provocative and sexy yarn about a trio of hellraising bikers always looking to start trouble and raise a ruckus, especially when there are curvy babes in the midst. Like buzzards circling fresh meat, any luscious honey that comes within seeing eye distance beckons their attention, particular leader-of-the-pack, Brahim (Steve Oliver, very convincing playing crazy). Brahim’s buddies include heathen Dante (Joseph Cellini), normally stirring the pot and getting his brethren motivated to cause innocents a headache, and Slick (Thomas Scott), always with his little radio stuck to his ear (he seems little interested in what his boys are up to, as all his attention seems dedicated to the striptease club jazz oozing from the soundbox). When the biker boys terrorize a veterinarian’s wife, Gail (Holle K Winters), her husband, Cory (Alex Rocco, of all people!!!), seeks revenge. A Cajun, down on her luck married to some old fart who could be her father (played by Coleman Francis, director of The Beast from Yucca Flats!), named Ruby (Haji, a major babe who is an eye full, her bosom barely—and I mean BARELY—staying in her blouse) is nearly killed by Brahim: because Slick accidentally shoots the old timer, whose car had a flat, and Ruby is a witness, Brahim feels the need to silence her, but he’s not a crack shot, and the bullet fired at her just grazes the face. Cory and Ruby join forces—quite a reluctant partnership, but in the middle of the desert alliances of such sort can be formed—following after Brahim and his boys, having taken pop’s Toyota, heading straight into a dead end of desert.

Russ Meyer was a cut above other filmmakers (those working in “nutie cuties” and sexploitation involving naughty women and the men who exploit them, often just shooting women hanging out at parties, getting naked, softcore orgies often resulting, with wide-grinning males excited about these often uninhibited babes freely giving up some lovin’), knowing how to wink and nudge the viewer in regards to sexual innuendo, detailing randy/promiscuous behavior and its effects on relationships, and often showing the ugly side that results from sexual attraction (often featuring deviant behavior). In Motor Psycho, Meyer shoots the film without any nudity, allowing us to fill in the details through the use of tight clothing as it hugs the hour glass figures of the gorgeous females in the cast.

Meyer, thankfully, doesn’t show the women of the film (the first two victims) being abused by Brahim (I imagine some roughie fans were disappointed…), opting instead to cut away to the next scene (most of the time involving Rocco) as to spare us the cruel details. The women know how to work their walk as to get the most out of Meyer’s composed shots, while the director obviously had a hand in how to present them to an eager audience looking for titillation. To know this is really just a start at the beginning of Meyer’s career gives me quite a bit to look forward to.

My favorite scenes include Rocco’s interaction with a client’s big-breasted wife, offering her vet a “roll in the hay” (I love the use of the sound of a horse and the symbolism of horses in language and image to insinuate sexual politics and sex period by Meyer in the script and on screen), the way a snake bite resembles a blow job (look how Rocco forces Haji to mark the area and suck out the blood as she tries to fight, spitting out the venom, as he screams, “Suck it! Suck it some more!”), and the unusual way Brahim’s psychological state due to war fractures resulting in him turning on his friends and confusing Rocco and Haji with Commies! And, best of all, lots and lots of Haji. Not only is she a sight to behold, but that dialect is just so ooh lah lah. What a woman!

“I have a constitution like a horse.”

When I said that Meyer doesn't show the girls abused, I meant raped. Both the first girl, in a bikini, married to a slightly older fisherman soon knocked unconscious by Brahim in a sneak attack, and Rocco's gal, are shown fighting and failing to stop the onslaught set by the bikers. I will have to say that Meyer's casting wasn't based on the art of performance as much as the art of great DNA. I notice, too, that those who commit harmful acts pay the ultimate price. This month's gonna be ace!