Big screen stories of the South have always maintained their fair share of melodrama. After all, shame, scandal, and shady characters have always been a part of the Southern literary tradition. Mudhoney (1965), Russ Meyer's campy contribution to Red State stereotypes, is true to form: land duels, feuding family members, town gossips, corrupt clergymen and everybody attempting to drink enough corn liquor to kill the pain. While Meyer might not have had first hand experience living below the Mason-Dixon, the film takes the one thing that Meyer knows best - the well-endowed female form - and showcases it in probably the least sexualized of historical situations, the Great Depression.

California McKinney (John Furlong) has just gotten out of jail after serving a five-year sentence and is making his way to the state for which he was named. On the way he makes a pit stop in Spooner, Missouri to try to find some work. He is soon introduced to the local brothel maintained by Maggie Marie (Princess Livingston) and her two daughters Eula (German-born Rena Horten, Meyer's real life love interest during filming) and Clara Belle (Lorna Maitland, who appeared in two other Meyer films). The three suggest that he try to find employment at a farm run by Lute Wade (actor Stuart Lancaster, in his first Meyer film) and his niece, Hannah Brenshaw (Antoinette Cristiani). Calif is happy for the work and tries to keep a low profile until he finds himself falling for Hannah. The situation is made even stickier by Hannah's husband Sidney (Hal Hopper), a drunken, violent and scheming thug who spends his days either fighting or sexually assaulting anything he sees -- including his wife. Soon, Hannah begins to develop feelings for Calif as she suddenly realizes what she's missing from her current relationship.

Meanwhile, Sidney has big plans to sell the farm after the ailing Wade passes away. His plan is thwarted, however, as Uncle Lute makes arrangements to make Hannah the benefactor to his estate. This, in turn, enrages Sidney and along with a crooked local preacher, Brother Hanson (played by Frank Bolger, in one of the more unintentionally hilarious performances), they plot to ruin the reputation of his wife and her lover, taking full advantage of the small town rumor mill. Soon the two convince the townspeople to lynch Hannah, Calif, and Lute. Sidney's plan, however, completely backfires and in a fit of rage, Sidney burns down Wade's farm and rapes and murders the preacher's wife (all the while, attempting to frame Calif). In the end, the truth is revealed and it is Sidney who ends up pursued by his own lynch mob.

Meyer makes a clever attempt to sell his expertise in T&A through the structure of a story, and is more than up to the task. Although viewers' eyes may gravitate more towards the gravity-defying chest lines of Horten and Maitland, the other characters in the film are too colorful to be forgotten. Princess Livingston and Hal Hopper manage to steal scene after scene and give Mudhoney its most memorable moments. Watch for the party scene in the brothel towards the beginning of Mudhoney as viewers are given a true taste of Meyer's distinctive style.

Producer: Russ Meyer, George Costello
Director: Russ Meyer
Screenplay: Raymond Friday Locke, W.E. Sprague
Cinematography: Walter Schenk
Film Editing: Russ Meyer, Charles G. Schelling
Music: Andre Brummer
Cast: Hal Hopper (Sidney Brenshaw), Antoinette Christiani (Hannah Brenshaw), John Furlong (Calif McKinney), Rena Horten (Eula), Princess Livingston (Maggie Marie), Lorna Maitland (Clara Belle).
BW-92m.

by Millie de Chirico