What do you think?
Rate this book
Cultographies
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) is an enigma. A box-office failure when initially released on the grindhouse circuit, it has since been embraced by art-house audiences, and referenced in countless films, television series, and songs. A riot of styles and story clich's lifted from biker, juvenile delinquency, and beach party movies, it has the coherence of a dream, and the improvisatory daring of a jazz solo. John Waters has called it the greatest movie ever made, and Quentin Tarantino has long promised to remake it. But what draws them, and so many other cult fans to Pussycat? To help answer that question, this book looks at the production and critical reception of the film, its place within the cultural history of the 1960s, its representations of gender and sexuality, and the specific ways it meets the criteria of a cult film.
106 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 2014
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 18, 2016
I tried to show a girlfriend the movie Faster, Pussycat! once and she got riled and said, "I DON'T WANT TO WATCH A PORNO MOVIE!!" Three years later, she was posting pics of herself holding a gun with the caption "Russ Meyer girl".
That sequence of events has been mirrored in critical culture. Film critics, who used to regard stuff like this with sneers and pinched noses, are now Russ Meyer girls, too. This book is brief and yet who could have predicted that over a hundred pages would have been devoted to Varla and the gang one day? For the most part, this is an enjoyable little romp. It gets a little bogged down in lit crit and parts might make you cringe! cringe! (like when the author reminisces about "a classic brown fedora" he used to wear). And the author unfortunately takes Tura Satana's many tall tales at face value. But otherwise it's a fine, fun read. An academic work with footnotes referencing "Dr. Keeler's case study, 'An Unusual Perversion: The Desire to Be Injured By an Automobile Operated by a Woman." What a time to be alive.
That sequence of events has been mirrored in critical culture. Film critics, who used to regard stuff like this with sneers and pinched noses, are now Russ Meyer girls, too. This book is brief and yet who could have predicted that over a hundred pages would have been devoted to Varla and the gang one day? For the most part, this is an enjoyable little romp. It gets a little bogged down in lit crit and parts might make you cringe! cringe! (like when the author reminisces about "a classic brown fedora" he used to wear). And the author unfortunately takes Tura Satana's many tall tales at face value. But otherwise it's a fine, fun read. An academic work with footnotes referencing "Dr. Keeler's case study, 'An Unusual Perversion: The Desire to Be Injured By an Automobile Operated by a Woman." What a time to be alive.
Read
August 10, 2018I read this whole thing for class and only now realise that I only needed to read chapter 3 oops 😬
January 14, 2024
(for uni)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews