(Movie Review)And I'm back with the last movie in the "Stray Cat Rock" series. For the other reviews see:
*Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss,
* Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo,
*Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, and
* Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal
...In fact now that I've finished the series, I thought I'd include some bonus links for anyone interested. For example Stray Cat Rock on youtube. See the trailer for Delinquent Girl Boss here, the first 53 seconds of Sex Hunter here, the trailer for Sex Hunter here, the trailer for the box set here...
There are more videos on line if you search around, but this should give you a good flavor for the cheesiness of the series.
Also this guy here puts up a good summary of the whole series on his website.
My own opinion is still unchanged. I think these are terrible films from any objective cinematic point of view, but they still have some charm to them. And if you're the kind of person who likes cheesy old movies, you can have a lot of fun with these.
So, onto the review of "Wild Measures '71."
In this episode, the son of a corrupt mayor, is living with a hippy commune. His father hires some thugs to bring him back home, and in the ensuing fight the son kills one of them.
His girlfriend (the lovely Meiko Kaji, as always, is in the starring role) takes the blame for the murder, and is sent to prison. Later she escapes. She is eventually captured by the same motorcycle thugs and the corrupt mayor, who imprison her in the mayor's house as a precaution against her telling someone the truth about the murder. Meanwhile her friends, the hippy commune, find out where she is imprisoned, and start protesting to get her back.
More than any other movie in the series, this film carries themes of generational conflict as the young hippies clash with the old Japanese political guard. However as with most big studio films on generational conflict, the politics are removed so it simply becomes a film about fun loving young people against stuffy old men.
Of course the story has tragic consequences. The creators of the "Stray Cat Rock" series must have had an aversion to happy endings.
(I don't mind an occasional shocking ending. Especially as a way to keep me on my toes and keep me from taking happy endings for granted. But when you have too much of them, it starts to get just as predictable and boring as the formulaic hollywood happy ending. It might have been nice if the "Stray Cat Rock" series had varied their style a little bit on this point.)
There is an interesting scenes with the young people taking a hostage, and then end up being holed up in their house with the police surrounding the outside. Considering this film was made in 1970, scenes like this seem eerily prescient of Asama Mountain Lodge Incident which would be broadcast live into every Japanese home two years later. The parallels become even more pronounced near the end when the police move in using a bull dozer. (In Asama Mountain, the police used a wrecking ball).
Makes you wonder if the Japanese Red Army ever saw this movie.
As usual there's a great soundtrack in this film. Group Sounds bands The Mops and The Spiders both make an appearance.
Although the low production values are evident on the terrible job lip syncing.
And while I'm complaining about production values, there are a couple scenes were the light changes from evening to afternoon a few too many times to ignore....But of course this is all part of the fun with a film like this.
Link of the Day
I saw this editorial a couple weeks ago, but it is seeming much more relevant now.
Hillary Clinton can either lose gracefully or win ugly
Stray Cat Rock: Wild Measures '71: Movie Review (Scripted)
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