Mudhoney (1965)
9/10
A kin to Harper Lee
12 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Meyers complex social commentary about the Deep South is layered in a fashion that targets his audience from the first scene. The traveling salesman breaks down, and wanders through a land inhabited by beautifully developed female characters. The women are portrayed in a manner that many males may have perceived them to be, not just in the depression era Deep South, but in many areas across the country. They are beautiful, yet serve no purpose except for sex and entertaining. The southern male is portrayed as weak of character , stupid, and drunk. It is only when a northerner brings in his line of intellect, does life change for the rural people he encounters. While the northern salesman is bland with a mediocre intelligence, he appears to have the answers for the " unfortunates".....if this sounds like governmental policies and a political satire hidden in a T&A flick, then you get it. A sub plot is added about violence against women and lynching. Why I gave this movie a 9. Because it allows me to watch hot scantily clad women engaging in adulterous affairs while at the same time it assuages any feelings of guilt by decreeing that this was a film that mattered and it is important because of the social issues it brings forth....Is it an exploitation film? Or is it much more veiled by the cinematic low hanging fruit of beautiful women.to cover themes that couldn't be expressed in general cinema in that time period. I have to add this because it is a bothersome area of the film, and I can't figure out what Meyers was trying to express ; an ideal, or just shock,,,but the most beautiful actress in the film plays the role of a mute and mentally challenged nymphomaniac. Was this a statement of how men in our culture perceive women and the Jungian principle of the animus? I couldn't tell you, but it made me cringe and squirm, and evoking that response from the audience may be all that Meyer was trying to do with this submission in his repertoire.
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