Cast

 Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! has almost everything that a trash film connoisseur would want to see in a film.   It has exciting drag races, provocative go- go dancing, scantily clad actresses, a cat fight, gloriously campy dialogue, hilariously dated music, and even a little judo. The film is like an hour and half trailer that includes nothing but the good parts. 

What really puts the film over though is an unforgettable, ground breaking performance by Tura Satana, as Varla, a morally bankrupt, karate chopping leader of a female gang. Satana was ideally suited for the role. Her acidic dialogue delivery is dead on, and her apache/Japanese heritage makes her look appropriately exotic and alluring. Satana herself will be on hand to answer questions when the film shows at the Music Box at 3733 N. Southport on Tuesday, October 28 at 8 p.m. To see the trailer and get more info go to http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=56786054. 

The film was made in 1965, and it’s hard to think of any female character up until then that was as imposing, evil, and physically threatening as Tura Satana’s Varla.  Varla could’ve eaten Foxy Brown, Cat Woman, Sheena, or Annie Oakley for breakfast. Although the film was originally seen as a skin flick, more than half of the movie’s rentals have gone to women, and Varla has become a symbol of female empowerment. 

Mostly because of Satana’s performance, and the creative direction and editing, the film has gained growing critical acclaim, and it is director, Russ Meyer’s best film. Cult film maker, John Waters once called it, "The best movie ever made, and possibly better than any movie that will ever be made." 

The film has been in the news lately because arty schlock master, Quentin Tarantino, plans to remake it with Tera Patrick reprising Satana’s role. Tarantino has the right sensibility to pull it off, but it’s hard to imagine him actually improving on the original. 

The spare, sensationalistic plot begins when a hedonistic trio of go-go dancers hit the road in order to find kicks. The gang leader, Varla, gets into an altercation with a male car racer. She ends up killing him with a karate chop to the back, and she holds his girlfriend, Linda hostage until she can get an opportunity to kill her. 

Her sidekicks aren’t all bad, but they go along with Varla’s plans for their own reasons. The young and impressionable Billie (Lori Williams) looks up to Varla as an authority figure and Rosie is in love with Varla. The three women bring their hostage to a secluded house owned by a misogynistic old man who stays with his brutish son that he calls Vegetable (He’s a bit like Lenny in “Of Mice and Men.”) Rumor has it that the old man has a fortune stashed, and Varla hopes to find out where the money is hidden, and get it by any means necessary.

The plot is nothing special, but some of “bad girl” lines in the film are classic. When one of the male characters attempts to rescue a woman he loves, Varla contemptuously yells, “Let’s time Lancelot as he comes charging to the rescue!” When Billie tries to seduce a simple minded muscle man, she seductively says:” Looks to me like you’ve got two of everything and some left over.”

Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! is packed with superb action sequences, effective frantic editing, and terrific characters. It richly deserves its reputation as one of the most essential cult classics.