''Mudhoney'' (sometimes ''Mud Honey'') is a 1965
Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, country music, film and television that are heavily influenced by Gothic elements and the American South. Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing or ...
film directed by
Russ Meyer
Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that fea ...
.
It is based on the novel ''Streets Paved With Gold'' by
Raymond Friday Locke. The film is a
period drama
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
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
Erskine Preston Caldwell (December 17, 1903 – April 11, 1987) was an American novelist and short story writer. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native Southern United States, in novels such as '' Tobacco Road'' (1 ...
,
John Steinbeck and
George Stevens
George Cooper Stevens (December 18, 1904 – March 8, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Obituary '' Variety'', March 12, 1975, page 79. Films he produced were nominated for the Academy Award for ...
all in one."
The film became the inspiration for the name of pioneering
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
grunge band Mudhoney, formed in 1988. American singer-songwriter
Norah Jones
Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...
' album cover for ''
Little Broken Hearts'' was based upon a poster for the film.
Plot
In this
Depression-era
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
tale, Calef McKinney (
John Furlong) is traveling from Michigan to California and stops in Spooner, Missouri, where Lute Wade (
Stuart Lancaster) hires him for odd jobs.
McKinney gets involved with Wade's niece, Hannah Brenshaw (
Antoinette Christiani). But she is married to Sidney (
Hal Hopper
Harold Stevens Hopper (November 11, 1912 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – November 2, 1970 in Sylmar, California) was an American singer/songwriter, film score composer and screenwriter.
Life
Hopper was a member of The Pied Pipers singing grou ...
), a wife-beating drunk who hopes to inherit his uncle-in-law's money.
Sidney and an
eccentric preacher named Brother Hanson (
Frank Bolger) plot against McKinney, who finds it difficult to conceal his mysterious past and his growing affection for Sidney's wife.
Sidney winds up burning his farm and attempting to frame McKinney. He rapes and murders the preacher's wife and is killed by the lynch mob.
Cast
*Hal Hopper as Sidney Brenshaw
*Antoinette Cristiani as Hannah Brenshaw
*John Furlong as Calif McKinney
*Stuart Lancaster as Lute Wade
*Rena Horten as Eula
*Princess Livingston as Maggie Marie
*
Lorna Maitland
Lorna Maitland, born Barbara Ann Popejoy (November 19, 1943), is an American film actress. She appeared in three Russ Meyer films: '' Lorna'', '' Mudhoney'', and '' Mondo Topless''.
Biography
Lorna Maitland was born in Glendale, Los Angeles ...
as Clara Belle
*Sam Hanna as Injoys
*Nick Wolcuff as Sheriff Abel
*Frank Bolger as Brother Hanson
*Lee Ballard as Sister Hanson
*Mickey Foxx as Thurmond Pate
*F. Rufus Owens as Milton
Production
The film was based on a novel, ''Streets Paved with Gold'' by Friday Locke.
Reception
Box Office
The film was a financial failure. Meyer later said, "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. I should have not made the film."
Critical
The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' called it "the perfect dirty picture. Unspoiled by either undue sadism or outright nudity... a flawless piece of unintentional
camp
Camp may refer to:
Outdoor accommodation and recreation
* Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site
* a temporary settlement for nomads
* Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...
."
Roger Ebert called the film "Meyer's neglected masterpiece: his most interesting, most ambitious, most complex and longest independent production. He describes it as a case of over-achievement; it was not necessary, or perhaps even wise, he believes, to expend so much energy on a movie that had so little directly exploitable elements." Ebert said "Meyer's visual invention, always dramatic and energetic, has never been better than in this one. From the
Hitchcockian
Hitchcockian films are those made by various filmmakers, with the styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock.
Characteristics
Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
*Climactic plot twist.
*The cool platinum blonde.
*The presence ...
opening (bare feet seen in a closeup on intersecting passages) to such
Grand Guignol
''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialised in natura ...
shots as a body falling into a grave from the grave's P. O. V., this is a melodrama taken to obsessed extremes."
[Guilty Pleasures
Ebert, Roger. Film Comment; New York Vol. 14, Iss. 4, (Jul/Aug 1978): 49-51,80.]
See also
*
List of American films of 1965
References
External links
*
*
''Mudhoney''at
TCMDB
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...
''Mudhoney''at Letterbox DVD
{{Russ Meyer
1965 films
American black-and-white films
1960s English-language films
Films based on American novels
Mudhoney
American independent films
American sexploitation films
1965 drama films
1965 independent films
1960s American films
Southern Gothic films