Lorna / Mudhoney [DVD]

Mudhoney is a 1965 film by Russ Meyer based on the novel by Raymond Friday Locke.

Set in 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition. Calif McKinney (John Furlong), a stranger with a past walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He is hired by Lute Wade (Stuart Lancaster) for odd jobs to earn some travelling money, but gets entangled in a bad family situation. Lute's niece, Hannah Brenshaw (Antoinette Christiani) is married to Sidney (Hal Hopper), a wife-beating drunk that frequents the rural equivalent of a whorehouse and who hopes to inherit his uncle-in-law's money. Sidney and a local preacher by the name of Brother Hanson (Frank Bolger) begin orchestrating a smear campaign against Calif, who finds it difficult to conceal his past and his growing affection for Sidney's wife.

The film has its usual mix of nudity, rape and violence that we come to expect from Russ Meyer in the mid-sixties. Set in the backwoods of Missouri during the Depression, populated by bizarre, somewhat stereotypical characters. The characters themselves are rather camp and goofy! The more memorable scenes are supplied by Hal Hopper's character, who comes across as a complete degenerate.

Moonshine liquor, nudity and religion are served-up on a plate in the usual directorial style of Russ Meyer. In-comparison to his other movies this could be considered as a sleazy drama.

Lorna (Lorna Maitland) is growing tired of her husband, Jim (James Rucker), after only a year of matrimony. He spends his days toiling in a salt mine and his evenings studying to become a certified public accountant, and their home is a run-down shack in a boring little town. Worse still, he has never satisfied her as a lover, and Lorna is aching to experience more from life. On the day of their first anniversary, Lorna is attacked and raped by an escaped convict (Mark Bradley). Though she resists at first, the act awakens her frustrated sexuality, and she brings this dangerous stranger home for more illicit pleasure while Jim is at work. Meanwhile, Jim's co-workers, Luther (Hal Hopper) and Jonah (Doc Scortt) taunt him out of jealousy for his beautiful wife, trying to inspire suspicion in his heart. Jim trusts Lorna and defends her honour by becoming embroiled in a fist-fight. When he returns from work early with a battered face, he discovers Lorna's indiscretion, and the result is tragedy

Silly and camp, but with any Russ Meyer flick, you're not going to get much else than big boobs and a flimsy plot. And Lorna is no exception. The only things Lorna has going for it are Maitland's freakishly buoyant breasts, some decent cinematography, goofy characters (namely Jonah) and an amusing final ten minutes.

Contains the usual Russ Meyer style film directing: familiar black & white photography, vigorous editing and an effective soundtrack. It's nowhere nearly as good as Faster Pussycat (or even Mudhoney for that matter) but if you're in a 60's b-movie kind of mood you probably won't be too disappointed.

Film 1: LORNA .A bored housewife with a doting husband gets involved with an escaped convict . 'Lorna' is a good example of how Russ Meyer re-invented the tacky B-Movie almost ( if not actually) as an 'Art Form' . Although some of it might be found offensive by some , it stays just on the right side of the line of 'sexploitation' to remain entertaining . The most remarkable factor of Russ Meyers films of this kind is the tone of implicit sarcasm that pervades the entire film ; for this reason alone you might love the film or hate it .
Film 2: MUDHONEY. This film might be the closest thing Russ Meyer ever made to a conventional drama .Although it still features a certain amount of nudity and has the Meyer stamp of irreverence , it wasn't written by Meyer himself , although in many ways the story resembles the stock Meyer subject matter . Featuring an assembly of 'Godless Rednecks' in the back of beyond , although the humour is still present , this tale of an entirely useless 'good for nothing' slob getting his come-uppance actually makes quite an effective 'morality tale' ,while remaining so 'tongue in cheek' that in some respects it appears to be the opposite.