Mudhoney (1965)

It's 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition. Calif, a stranger with a past walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He hires on with Lute Wade to ... See full summary »

Director:

Russ Meyer

Writers:

Raymond Friday Locke (screenplay), Billy Sprague (screenplay) (as W.E. Sprague)

Stars:

Hal Hopper, Antoinette Cristiani, John Furlong

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hal Hopper	...	Sidney Brenshaw
Antoinette Cristiani	...	Hannah Brenshaw
John Furlong	...	Calif McKinney
Rena Horten	...	Eula
Princess Livingston	...	Maggie Marie
Lorna Maitland	...	Clara Belle
Sam Hanna	...	Injoys
Stuart Lancaster	...	Lute Wade (as Stu Lancaster)
Nick Wolcuff	...	Sheriff Abel
Frank Bolger	...	Brother Hansen
Lee Ballard	...	Sister Hansen
Michael Finn	...	Thurmond Pate (as Mickey Foxx)
Fred Owens	...	Milton (as F. Rufus Owens)
Wilfred Kues	...	Lynch mob (as W. Kues)
Charles Felix

Storyline

It's 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition. Calif, a stranger with a past walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He hires on with Lute Wade to earn some travelling money, but gets entangled in a bad family situation: Lute's daughter is married to Sidney, a good-for-nothing drunk that frequents the rural equivalent of a whorehouse and beats his wife and is just waiting for Lute to kick the bucket to get his money. When Sidney and a local wacko preacher begin orchestrating a smear campaign against Calif, he finds it difficult to conceal his past and his growing affection for Sidney's wife.

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Plot Keywords:

sexploitation | hixploitation | preacher | bathtub | breasts | 

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Taglines:

...leaves a taste of evil!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1965 (France)

Also Known As:

Mudhoney... Leaves a Taste of Evil!

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eve Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

The rock group Mudhoney took their name from this film. They arguably kick started the grunge genre and were a massive influence on Nirvana. Kurt Cobain used to wear their T-shirts on stage.

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Quotes

Maggie Marie: Don't pay her no mind, young fella. Eula, that's the child's name. She can't talk. Can't hear, neither. They do say she makes some right pretty sounds once you get to know her.

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Crazy Credits

Closing quote: "One man's evil can become the curse of all." --Publilius Syrus

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Connections

Featured in American Grindhouse (2010)

User Reviews

Excellent early Meyer flick!

Mudhoney is an early Russ Meyer film and doesn't feature the same over the top style as his later efforts; but it's surprisingly professional, features an interesting story and has all the sex and sleaze you would expect from the master Russ Meyer. The film is somewhere between a serious drama and a piece of trash and it actually works very well. The film is not as boisterous as Meyer's other 1965 release, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! but it has a style of it's own that still works well. The central plot focuses on Calif McKinney, a drifter travelling to California from Michigan. He stumbles into Missouri and soon gets himself on a job on a farm working for the old landlord, Lute. Calif takes a fancy to Lute's daughter Hannah, but there's a problem because Hannah is married to Sidney; a drunken, adulterous, womanising good for nothing excuse for a man. Sidney has his eye on a share of the farm when Lute kicks the bucket, and colludes with the town preacher to smear Calif's name and protect the inheritance he has no right to...

Russ Meyer has a habit of pulling memorable performances out of his actors, and he certainly does that here. The film is lead by a great performance courtesy of Hal Hopper as the drunken husband. Hopper leads every scene he's in and it's a really great role for him. The rest of the cast is understated in comparison, but John Furlong looks upstanding next to Hopper and naturally the female talent is something to write home about and Meyer doesn't disappoint with his trademark here. The film is not all that explicit compared to later Meyer films, but there's still plenty of female skin on show which is nice. There's not a lot of violence in the film, though Meyer does provide a few fistfights. The story is always interesting and plenty happens in the film too. Meyer provides some good scenes of suspense and tension too which helps to keep things interesting. If there's a point to this film, it's not put across very well; but that isn't important as this film does what it was clearly intended to do and Mudhoney certainly comes recommended to my fellow Meyer fans!