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.

---

Plot Keywords:

hixploitation | roughie | preacher | bathtub | breasts | 

---

Taglines:

...leaves a taste of evil!

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

TV-MA

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is an inspiration for the artwork in Norah Jones's 2012 album, "Little Broken Hearts"

---

Quotes

Sidney Brenshaw: Hanna eh? Look's like Maggie Marie was right. You taking a shine to my woman boy?
[laughs]
Sidney Brenshaw: Well damned if you aren't. So that's way you come busting into her room the other night like some little old banty roaster. You're sniffing after her aren't ya boy? Answer me! ANSWER ME! So you got a yearning after my woman eh? Well boy you go ahead and do what you can with her, you're wasting you time. Anna gets riled with me and she hates a lot of things that I do but she's MY woman boy, my woman, and do ...
[...]

---

Crazy Credits

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

---

Connections

Featured in TCM Underground: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!/Mudhoney (2006)

User Reviews

One of Russ Meyer's best

Drama takes place in Missouri during the Depression (though that adds little to the story). Drifter Calif McKinney (John Furlong) comes by a small town looking for working. He finds it at the Wade farm run by Luke Ward and his niece Hannah (Antoinette Christiani) and her alcoholic abusive husband Sidney (Hal Hopper). Calif starts to fall for Hannah--Sidney sees that and doesn't like it. He gets the town and the local preacher (Frank Bolger) to rally against Calif. Also there are the two beautiful, huge-chested sisters (Lorna Maitland and Rena Horten) who are in the local cat house...It all leads to two near rapes, violence, murder and tragedy. But it does (in a way) have a happy ending.

Sleazy (in a good way) and enjoyable Russ Meyer drama. He ignores the campy dialogue he had in his previous features and gives us a straight forward drama. The script is good and it's well-directed with some beautiful black and white cinematography. The acting was (surprisingly) pretty good--especially when you consider all the women were hired for their bodies not acting ability. Furlong and Christiani give good performances but Hopper screams all his lines and Bolger is hopeless.

There is nudity on a few occasions but it's pretty tasteful. No great shakes but right up there with "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" as one of the best Russ Meyers film.

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