#1960s sexploitation

[weirdlookindog]

The Love Cult (1966)

[wh0-is-lily]

A Poster for, 'Immoral Tales,' 1973 Dir: Walerian Borowczyk

[itsbarbiebiiittchhhhh]

Film poster for the movie ‘Candy’

[bitter69uk]

Join us at Fontaine’s bar on 18 July when the FREE Lobotomy Room cinema club presents Satan in High Heels (1962)! (Rescheduled from June!).  

Hard-boiled and stylish, Satan in High Heels represents the acme of early sixties sexploitation cinema NOT made by Russ Meyer. Characterized by exceptionally good acting, atmospheric film noir black-and-white cinematography and an urgent jazz soundtrack, Satan was filmed in just 21 days with an estimated budget of less than $100,000 – and is a taut 89-minute journey into deep sleaze!

Weary of her hard-scrabble two-bit existence bumping-and-grinding in the carnival, scheming, manipulative and utterly amoral fairground burlesque dancer Stacey Kane (Meg Myles) ditches her useless junkie husband and flees to New York to re-invent herself as a singer. Cynically employing sex and a smile, the redheaded vixen inveigles her way into a gig crooning at the upscale Greenwich Village nightclub managed by fiercely chic and jaded lesbian proprietress Pepe (the reliably intense Grayson Hall). Stacey promptly becomes the mistress of wealthy married businessman Arnold Kenyon, but – to considerably complicate things – she also pursues Kenyon’s feckless beatnik son Laurence! As the poster’s tagline leers “The father … the son … the husband … the lover … they all had her … but she had them – right where the heat was hottest!”

Aside from some fleeting glimpses of side boob in a gratuitous skinny-dipping scene, no actual nudity is on display. But Satan’s producer Leonard Burtman’s background was in the realm of fetish porn magazines and that sensibility is amply reflected onscreen in the emphasis on Stacey’s spike-heeled Spring-o-Lator mules and the kinky black leather dominatrix ensemble she wears (complete riding crop) growling the climactic musical number “The Female of the Species” (sample lyric: "I'm the kind of woman/ Not hard to understand / I'm the kind that cracks the whip / And takes the upper hand"). Everyone snarls their tough-as-nails dialogue, chain-smokes and knocks-back hard liquor. (You could play a fun drinking game taking a sip every time a character onscreen does, but it would risk projectile vomiting!). Reserve your seat NOW via bookings@fontaines.bar. Full deets here.

[mycherrycola]

mental health on the slimy, filthy, unhallowed ground today

[cultreslut]

ugawa magazine no.1

[kekwcomics]

BIZARRE magazine (Press Arts Inc, 1967)

Crikey! Wait. Is that... Anton LaVey on the cover?

[vsthepomegranate]

I, a Woman (1965)

by Mac Ahlberg

[odk-2]

Publicity Still for: "Bunny Yeager's Nude Camera"

Bunny Yeager's Nude Camera (1963): https://moviedatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Bunny_Yeager%27s_Nude_Camera https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057906/mediaviewer/rm233638144/

[schlock-luster-video]

On December 15, 1967, Valley of the Dolls debuted in New York City.

Here's some Sharon Tate art!

[texaschainsawmascara]

She-Devils on Wheels

[bitter69uk]

Born on this day: sensationally beautiful burlesque dancer turned Russ Meyer glamazon Haji (24 January 1946 - 9 August 2013). Haji graced five of Meyer’s sexploitation masterpieces (starting with Motorpsycho in 1965) and enlivened them all with her exotic, sultry presence (she is awe-inspiring in Good Morning and … Goodbye! (1967) and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) - but she will forever be remembered as the vicious Latina go-go dancer Rosie in one of my all-time favourite films, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965). She gives a towering performance as the sexy lesbian girlfriend of tough-as-nails villainess Varla (Tura Satana), sometimes literally spitting with rage, picking her teeth with a switchblade, and employing a thick comedic Spanglish accent. (Haji and Satana had already known each other for years, having danced together in Los Angeles strip clubs since the early 1960s). One of Haji’s best moments is when the drippy good girl Linda misguidedly offers the trio of homicidal go-go dancers a soft drink, and Rosie snarls, "Honey, we don't like nothin' soft! Everything we touch is hard!" Details of Haji’s early life are misty: of British-Filipino descent, she appears to have been born Cerlet Catton (or Barbarella Catton, depending on your source) in Quebec, Canada and began dancing at age 14. Haji’s niche in the glamour jungle is certainly secure.

[monicareconstructed]

Pat Barrington.

Pat screamed feminine sex appeal, like 'I AM WOMAN!!' at top decibels.

Not such a happy childhood, and lived the life of a stripper with a few forays into film. But her looks and body - oh, my! I would have loved to have her body in her prime!!

Her web bio:

Pat Barrington was an extremely buxom, curvy, and drop-dead gorgeous blonde topless dancer who popped up in a handful of enjoyably trashy softcore sexploitation features throughout the 1960's, often for producer Harry H. Novak's Boxoffice International Pictures and directed by William Rotsler.

Barrington was born Patricia Annette Bray on October 16, 1939 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her mother Willie Jo Bray had a fling with a local man named Claude Weidenhause and became pregnant at age sixteen. Weidenhause had already left by the time Barrington was born. Pat moved with her mother Willie Jo to Richmond, Virginia when she was only two years old. Willie Jo married another man, Eugene Lee Barringer. But the marriage was short-lived and Pat found herself moving once again with her mother to Hyattsville, Maryland. Willie Jo subsequently married a former Marine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Upset with the unstable situation at home, Barrington left her mother and went out to fend for herself after her sophomore year in high school.

Pat relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where she hooked up with an Italian-American mobster named Bob. Barrington got married for the first time in the late 1950's. But Pat soon left her first husband after the relationship became abusive. Bob helped Barrington get back on her feet by securing her a job as an exotic dancer. Pat then made a name for herself in Washington, D.C. dancing under the name of Vivian Storm. Barrington caught the eye of local jazz musician Melvin Rees and moved into Rees's abode in Hyattsville, Maryland in 1959. Pat moved down south with Rees in 1960. Alas, Rees was found guilty of murdering a Virginia family and was sentenced to life in prison.

Barrington moved to Los Angeles, California in 1962 and promptly got a job dancing at the prestigious nightclub The Classic Cat. Pat then decided to pursue a modeling career and subsequently started posing in spreads for various men's magazines as well as numerous commercial layouts. After an ill-advised foray into dancing in Las Vegas, Barrington returned to Los Angeles and resumed her career as a model while still dancing on the side. Pat eventually began auditioning for film work in the mid-1960's. Barrington achieved her greatest cult cinema fame as the female lead in Stephen C. Apostolof's unintentionally hilarious horror camp hoot Orgy of the Dead (1965), in which she also performs one of her patented steamy nude dances as the painted Gold Girl. Barrington had another rare substantial starring part as a bored housewife who works as a high-priced call girl in the seamy Agony of Love (1966). More often, though, the stunning and spectacularly alluring Pat was relegated to secondary roles as a go-go dancer in such delightfully down'n'dirty low-grade fare as Lila (1968), The Girl with the Hungry Eyes (1967) and Sisters in Leather (1969). She appeared as herself in both the lurid mondo item Hedonistic Pleasures (1969) and Russ Meyer's blithely silly documentary Mondo Topless (1966). During this time Barrington was briefly married to cinematographer Robert Caramico.

After calling it quits as an actress, Pat left Los Angeles and moved to New Jersey with a singer named Romeo. Barrington soon found gainful employment dancing in clubs up and down the East Coast under the pseudonym of Princess Jajah. In the mid-1970's Pat branched out into topless dancing. She settled down in Cliffside Park, New Jersey in 1980. Barrington eventually dumped Romeo and became involved with a much younger man named Robert. Pat moved with Robert to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1984. Pat worked as a stripper using the name Yvette at assorted seedy clubs throughout Florida. After retiring from dancing in the early 1990's, Barrington went on to work as a telemarketer. In her later years Pat also helped local animal rescue groups (she was a lifelong lover of animals). Barrington died from lung cancer at age 74 on September 1, 2014.

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Maria-Rosa Rodriguez by Truus, Bob & Jan too! Via Flickr: German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/334. Photo: Art Messick. Exotic starlet Maria-Rosa Rodriguez was the sexy leading lady of a dozen French and Italian films of the 1960s and early 1970s. Her main claim to fame was the Louis de Funès comedy Le grand restaurant (1966). There is not much biographical information to be found about Maria-Rosa Rodriguez on the internet. A source suggests she was a Spanish actress, but possibly she is born in Ecuador. In 1960 a Maria-Rosa Rodriguez was crowned Miss Ecuador Mundo 1960. However, there is a bit more information about her film career. IMDb writes that during her film career she was also credited as Maria Rosa Rodrigues, Rosa-Maria Rodrigues, Rosa Rodriguez and Toty Rodriguez. Her first film appearance was an uncredited part as ‘Palma Diamantino’ in the French comedy Pouic-Pouic (1963, Jean Girault) starring Louis de Funès. Soon followed more film parts as a stripper in the kinky cannibal comedy Aimez-vous les femmes?/Do You Like Women? (1964, Jean Léon),co-written by Roman Polanski, and the sexploitation drama L'amour à la chaine/Tight Skirts, Loose Pleasures (1964, Claude de Givray). She appeared again as eye-candy in the spy film Coplan FX 18/FX-18 Superspy (1965, Riccardo Freda), the comedy Les gorilles/The Gorillas (1964, Jean Girault) and the crime comedy La grande frousse/The Big Scare (1964, Jean-Pierre Mocky) starring Bourvil. Other French films of the mid-1960’s in which she appeared were Les enquiquineurs/The pests (1965, Roland Quignon), the comedy anthology Les bons vivants/How to Keep the Red Lamp Burning (1965, Gilles Grangier, Georges Lautner) and the melodrama Le chant du monde/Song of the World (1965, Marcel Camus) starring Hardy Krüger. 1966 must have been a good year for Maria-Rosa Rodriguez. She was the leading lady opposite the immensely popular Louis de Funès in the hit comedy Le grand restaurant/The Big Restaurant (1966, Jacques Besnard). The choleric and energetic De Funès is the chef of Septim's, a very exclusive Paris restaurant. Problems occur when the president of an unnamed country gets kidnapped while having a dinner at Septim's. With police, gangsters and Maria-Rosa Rodriquez behind his back the always gesticularing De Funès tries to find the missing head of state by himself. The highlight of the film is a fabulous scene where a DS Citroen falls into a river and continues its ride as a boat. Maria-Rosa Rodriguez soon followed this up with a role in the fun filled caper Estouffade à la Caraïbe/The Gold Robbers (1967, Jacques Besnard) costarring with swimming champion Frederick Stafford, Jean Seberg and Serge Gainsbourg. She also appeared on tv in Amalia Escudero an episode of Au théâtre ce soir (1966). More tv roles followed in series like Les chevaliers du ciel/The Aeronauts (1967) – about the adventures of the French comic book heroes Tanguy and Laverdure - and Fortune (1969, Henri Colpi). In the early 1970’s she moved to Italy where she appeared in the ‘giallo’ thriller Il coltello di ghiaccio/Knife of Ice (1972, Umberto Lenzi) starring Carroll Baker. Her last film was a Spanish horror production La novia ensangrentada/Blood Castle (1972, Vincente Aranda). Most of Maria-Rosa Rodriguez’s biographies on the net stop here, but she kept on working as an actress. Under the name of Toty Rodriguez she is now a well known stage actress in Ecuador. In 1989 she appeared in another film, the East-German production Die Besteigung des Chimborazo/The Ascent of the Chimborazo (1989, Rainer Simon) filmed on location in Germany, France, Spain and Ecuador. In this adventure film she appeared briefly as a countess. More recently she was seen in a leading part in the Ecuadorian film Un titán en el ring/A Titan in the Ring (2002, Viviana Cordero). According to Rotten Tomatoes it’s an inspiring drama about the world of masked wrestling, set in a small community in the Andean Mountains. Sources: IMDb, All Movie Guide, Rotten Tomatoes and Wikipedia.

[vintage1981]

Vinegar Syndrome / Distribpix Press Release: A Home Video Merger of Epic Proportion

Bridgeport, Connecticut - Vinegar Syndrome is excited to announce an exclusive distribution partnership with legendary NYC-based exploitation and sexploitation producer and distributor, Distribpix Inc.

This partnership will bring Distribpix’s extensive catalog of close to 300 feature films to Home Video, including countless never on disc titles as well as classic exploitation films from genre masters such as Michael and Roberta Findlay, the Amero Brothers, Joe Sarno, Chuck Vincent, Radley Metzger, Ron Sullivan, and Shaun Costello, among dozens more. Additionally, Distribpix’s unprecedented archive of key 1960s and early 70s exploitation rarities, many of which have been completely unavailable since the VHS and early DVD era, will at last be making their return to disc, all newly restored and presented in the type of deluxe, collector-centric editions that both Distribpix and Vinegar Syndrome are known for creating.

Vinegar Syndrome co-founder Joe Rubin, in describing the collaboration said, “Vinegar Syndrome and Distribpix have worked together before Vinegar Syndrome existed. This venture has been a long time coming and I couldn’t be more excited to be working on preserving, restoring and releasing this collection. So many of the best and most significant sexploitation and early hardcore features were produced by Distribpix and it is an honor to finally be able to consider them part of the Vinegar Syndrome family.”

Head of Distribpix Inc, Steven Morowitz responded “The gang at Vinegar Syndrome is wonderful; they opened their doors and welcomed me into their family. I am honored and grateful for this opportunity and together we are going to produce some absolutely amazing packages. Vinegar Syndrome is the best at what they do, from the highest quality restorations, to top-notch physical releases, so this really is a perfect match and the best spot for Distribpix. Our companies not only thrive on excellent restorations and releasing, but there is a major emphasis on film preservation and archiving, which was equally attractive to me.”

While schedule specifics are still being worked out, Radley Metzger and Gerard Kikoine’s, The Tale of Tiffany Lust (1981), starring Veronica Hart, Vanessa Del Rio, Desiree Cousteau, Samantha Fox, George Payne, and Dominique St Clair, will be making its world 4K UHD and Blu-Ray debut late this summer, while Michael Findlay’s notorious Flesh Trilogy is being prepared for a Blu-Ray release this fall, in partnership with Something Weird Video. Additionally, the Command Cinema line which has been distributed by Distribpix for the last several years will also be joining the Distribpix/Vinegar Syndrome family and will see both Blu-Ray and 4K debuts of producer/director, Cecil Howard’s acclaimed erotica.

This monumental merger coincides with the launch of Mélusine, a new online marketplace for premium home video editions of sexploitation and hardcore cinema primarily produced during both genres’ golden ages: the early 1960s through the late 1980s. In addition to serving as the new retail home for Command Cinema, several other brandings will be launched:

Mélusine, which will serve as the flagship brand, will offer deluxe 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo pack editions of some of the landmark works in hardcore theatrical features, with an emphasis on works by the genre’s most acclaimed filmmakers.

Quality X, the name of which pays homage to what was one of the most esteemed early home video distributors of erotic entertainment, will offer single film Blu-ray editions of standout and hidden gem theatrical hardcore features from around the globe.

Distribpix itself will become home to all things sexploitation, pulling from both Vinegar Syndrome and Distribpix’s vast libraries and ranging from the earliest nudie cuties all the way through the tail end of theatrical softcore. Releases will be single, double and triple feature Blu-rays.  

Finally, Vinegar Syndrome’s acclaimed hardcore feature branding, Peekarama, will continue to offer double feature Blu-rays of hardcore films in all genres.

In keeping with Vinegar Syndrome and Distribpix’s focus on film preservation, releases under all branding will meet the highest standards in presentation quality and the most comprehensive available extras.

The union between the two companies will produce the widest and most diverse catalog of exploitation, sexploitation and classic hardcore features, available on disc anywhere in the world.