Mudhoney

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🎙️ EPISODE 527: 08.08.22 Well I'll probably be cancelled for saying this, but... I like boobs. I'd heard the legend of Russ Meyer movies but never in all my 41 years on earth had I dipped my toes into his (large-bosomed) domain. This film from 1965 is closer to the beginning of his career and doesn't go all the way down the sexploitation rabbit hole. It's an odd blend of high- and low-brow, actually. And the whole thing's buoyed by an actual story no matter how ludicrous it gets and feels in moments. The film begins in a very artful fashion, with a series of low-angle shots of feet which I'm sure Quentin Tarantino would approve of. The first face we see is that of Hal Hopper portraying Sidney Brenshaw, who has just rammed his car into his own house before barging into — *cough cough* tw *cough cough* — rape his wife :/

That rape is the first of three we encounter, all perpetrated by Brenshaw, and each time he dramatically rips open the victim's top, exposing their breasts in a blip onscreen. There's a fair amount of tw-less nudity (a fun splash in the river, a playful flash), which makes these moments of titty feel troublesome. But I'm not here to try to cancel the already-dead Russ Meyer. Just know that I see you, I hear you, I...

Then a young chap named Calif (short for California, lol) shows up to this town looking for work (this is a depression-era period piece btw, also lol). He encounters the Brenshaws' batshit neighbors: a makeshift whorehouse with two large-chested blonde daughters (Lorna Maitland, probably the best known actor in this, and Rena Horten, who plays a deaf and mute young lady named Eula who's often holding a kitten), a freak-show horny farmhand who apparently works for free sex, and the girls' mother, the de facto madam. This character is played by an actress named Princess Livingston who has a face I swore I'd seen before, but in reality only acted in a few small roles...


"You got the DE-pression where you come from?" and then that laugh? Goddam iconic if you ask me. Princess Livingston 4 LIFE. Well, anyway this dude Calif is a sweet sort despite having just gotten out of prison for manslaughter. Brenshaw lives on the adjacent farm with his wife Hannah and her Uncle Lute who owns the place. He's honestly one of the most vile characters I've seen onscreen in awhile. He's essentially waiting for ole Lute to kick the bucket so he can sweep in and sell off the farm and run off with the cash. The uncle agrees to take on Calif as a farmhand and Brenshaw takes it upon himself to make an introduction...


This fucking guy. The entire movie is basically him just getting more and more insane. Like when he pushes poor Eula in the water for no good reason and she smiles stupidly back...


Jesus Christ! Basically Brenshaw spends a lot of time over at the neighbors' place where he encounters lots of jiggling boobs...


...and acts like a drunken broke-ass fool...


...before getting totally dunked on by this psycho crew...


All the while, Calif has started a subtle and mostly respectful flirtation with Mrs. Brenshaw, Hannah. You can probably see where this is going? One night, Calif finds himself over at the whorehouse and is about to get it on with Eula when creepy Brenshaw comes out of the shadows and acts creepy-as-shit...


Did he call him a "panty rooster?" Sure. OK.

So Calif and Brenshaw continue to squabble, eventually getting into a series of actual fights, wherein Calif always restrains himself (having just been released from jail and not wanting to go back). Occasionally their interactions simply end with him burping and passing out, though...


Around this part of the film, Brenshaw gets involved with a local preacher who hates the threat of adultery way more than any of Brenshaw's lewd behavior. (This seems like some sly, subtle social commentary?) While secretly horny for this preacher's wife, he gets the preacher man to start spreading the word that Calif and Hannah are committing one of the ten deadly sins. Rumors of an angry mob start to swirl. But Uncle Lute offers some sage wisdom about the whole situation...


Again, not to put too much unnecessary or unearned weight on these proceedings, but that idea of a town needing something or someone to hate seems to ring incredibly true still, doesn't it? Earlier, Uncle Lute transferred all his wealth and the deed to the farmhouse into Calif's name, fearing Brenshaw's plan after his imminent passing.

With everything stacked against them, Calif and Hannah take their relationship to the next level and by next level I mean they take a walk in a hayfield and share a romantic kiss as sweeping soundtrack music soars. Then Brenshaw encounters a freak in a tree who lets the cat out of the bag...


That was honestly the weakest part of the film from a writing perceptive but who doesn't love a freak in a tree?

Sadly, Uncle Lute passes away and a very perturbed Brenshaw — with Hal Hooper somehow reaching another level of unhinged — crashes the funeral...


And after that, SHIT HITS THE FAN. Brenshaw burns down the farmhouse. He rapes and then MURDERS the preacher's wife! He drowns her in a creek, calling her Hannah the whole time, and there's an excellent cross-cut deployed to the actual Hannah...


The ending is pure chaos, with an angry mob trying to lynch Brenshaw while Calif, Hannah and the sheriff attempt to stop them (for some reason, justice, what have you). The freak from the tree shows up and shoots the sheriff. It's insane. For no good reason, they have Eula — the deaf and mute girl — come running back into town (so we can see her tits jiggle one last time I guess? sure, that's the reason). The preacher man hangs Brenshaw and Calif shoots the preacher. And Eula tries to speak for the first time...


Before the final credits role, the camera lingers on the subdued faces of various townspeople, NPCs in this movie world, if you will (and you don't have to!). We're left to consider their role, how their actions or inaction played a part in this strange, sad saga. Before we land on a freezeframe with a pre-Christ Latin dude quote...


In closing, here's what Meyer himself had to say about the movie, "I made a gamble with Mudhoney and I failed. The only reason I made Mudhoney was I was in love with a girl named Rena. [Ed. Note: say what now?] I should have not made the film." Maybe so. But I'm kind of glad that he did.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 526 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 528 ⫸

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Mudhoney (sometimes Mud Honey) is a 1965 film by Russ Meyer based on the novel Streets Paved With Gold by Raymond Friday Locke. The film is a period drama set during the Great Depression. "I got in a little bit over my head," Meyer said about the film. "That's when I thought I was Erskine Caldwell, John Steinbeck and George Stevens all in one." It was released on May 25, 1965.