Mayday (Uschi Digard), Sims (Junero Jennings) and Tara (Joyce Jillson)
at a pot party in Superchick
One of my favorite sexploitation films from the seventies is Ed Forsyth’s Superchick (1973). Superchick is not a great film, and if the IMDb ratings are any indication most people don’t even think it’s worth watching but it’s one of the best “so bad it’s good” movies that I’ve ever seen.
Superchick stars the American actress Joyce Jillson as a fun loving airline hostess named Tara B. True (a.k.a. Superchick). Tara takes advantage of the mobility that her airline hostess job offers her to travel from coast to coast across the continental US and she takes different lovers wherever her plane lands. Tara’s taste in men is extremely varied and her lovers range from highbrow intellectuals who woo her with words to rock stars who romance her at Hollywood nightclubs.
Unlike a lot of sexploitation films from the era that portray woman as willing victims to men’s desires, Tara B. True is a sexually liberated woman who’s in control of the various men she toys with in Superchick. Tara also has a black belt in karate and she uses her martial art skills in the movie to fight off a gang of dangerous bikers, hold off the advances of a sadistic old man and stop potential plane highjackers.
Viewers will easily be able to spot Tara’s stunt double in the poorly executed action sequences, which takes away from the movie’s charm. But these kinds of goofs also offer viewers lots of unintentional laughs. Thankfully Tara’s freewheeling sexual adventures, numerous groovy costume changes and memorable dialogue help keep the film entertaining. Tara tries to seduce men with her body and brain, but lines like “Last one in bed gets no head!” make you wonder what script writer Gary Crutcher was thinking.
A Superchick tip for potential swingers: “The easiest place in the world to find a new experience is Hollywood. The people capitol of the world. Even the straight people here look like they’re on a trip. Sometimes you can find a farout ad in one of the underground newspapers.”
If you’re looking for cheap thrills, Superchick has very few. The sexual content of Superchick is really tame by today’s standards and far from gratuitous. The movie is much more playful and fun than sexy, and whenever possible director Ed Forsyth goes for laughs over titillation.
Superchick is the only film Joyce Jillson made besides the forgettable comedy Slumber Party ‘57 (1976). She had guest roles in many popular American television shows during the seventies such as Columbo, The Night Stalker and Police Woman but Jillson’s acting career didn’t really go anywhere. After watching Superchick it’s easy to see why she had a hard time finding roles. Jillson is very cute and had a sort of naive appeal. But she lacked charisma and her acting is incredibly flat and impossible to take seriously. She also can’t dance and seemed to have poor coordination, which often makes her performance in Superchick really funny to watch.
Joyce Jillson spent most of her life studying astrology and writing popular books like The Fine Art of Flirting and Real Women Don’t Pump Gas. She became an “Astrologer to the Stars” in the late seventies and two of her most well-known clients were future first lady Nancy Reagan and president Ronald Reagan. Before passing away from kidney failure in 2004, Jillson claimed that she had advised the Reagans to select George Bush as Ronald Reagan’s running mate in 1980. I guess we can all blame Joyce Jillson for the current state of world events if that’s true.
While watching Superchick it’s hard not to be amused by Jillson’s transformation from seventies sexploitation star to astrologer and confident of conservative right-wing politicians. This adds to the movies entertainment value and will make viewers wonder what the Reagan and Bush families were up to in the swinging seventies. If Superchick offers us any clues, it seems that they were having a rather wild time.
Superchick also includes some memorable appearances by various cult film stars. Look for the well-endowed Russ Meyer star Uschi Digard in a brief but memorable role as the lesbian porn actress Mayday and John Carradine as an old retired horror film actor with a sadistic streak named Igor Smith. Even Grizzly Adams television star Dan Haggerty shows up as a rowdy biker.
No, I’m not talking about that new over hyped Tarantino/Rodriguez flick that critics are drooling over and will no doubt be #10 on the IMDb Top 250 movie list by Monday.
Who needs phony scratches on a 50 million dollar movie when you can watch the real thing? Believe me when I tell you that there are millions of no-budget movies you’ve never seen filled with really bad actors, poorly written scripts, plenty of sex, gratuitous violence and unintentional laughs that are twice as entertaining as anything you’ll find at the multiplex this weekend.
Deadly Weapons was made by the late great Doris Wishman, who is the only woman filmmaker I know of that deserves the Trash Queen Crown. Doris Wishman made lots of sleazy films in the sixties and seventies with titles like Diary of a Nudist (1961), Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965), Another Day, Another Man (1966), My Brother’s Wife (1966) Keyholes Are for Peeping (1972) and A Night to Dismember (1983). At a time when very few women were working behind the camera, Doris Wishman was churning out sexploitation films at an impressive rate.
Doris Wishman was not a great filmmaker, but she was creative and even in her most sleazy sexploitation movies you can find interesting ideas not fully realized due to budget constraints. There’s a surreal quality to a lot of her films and most of them were dubbed, which added to their other-worldy quality. She couldn’t afford to shoot sound movies so Doris would add in the dialogue later, sometimes even using her own voice for the female characters. This style of renegade filmmaking forced Doris to waste lots of time focusing her camera on inanimate objects or in the case of Deadly Weapons, giant boobs.
Her 1974 film Deadly Weapons stars the big busted Chesty Morgan, who’s out for revenge after the mob kills her man. She goes undercover as a stripper and uses her giant boobs as “deadly weapons” to smother the murderous mob gang. Chesty Morgan stumbles through the film looking tired, confused and a bit miserable at times. The movie is supposed to be sexy, but that’s seriously open to debate.
Adult’s Only Trailer for Deadly Weapons (obviously not work safe)
The second film in my ideal grindhouse double feature is Jamaa Fanaka’s 1975 flick Welcome Home Brother Charles. I’m afraid I don’t know a lot about the director and a quick google search didn’t bring up much information. I do know that Jamaa Fanaka was born in Mississippi and created some great blaxploition flicks including Emma Mae (A.K.A. Black Sister’s Revenge, 1976) and Penitentiary (1979), as well as the utterly bizarre and highly entertaining Welcome Home Brother Charles.
In Welcome Home Brother Charles Marlo Monte plays Charles Murray, a drug dealer who was wrongly put in jail and now seeks revenge after the corrupt cops almost cut off his manhood. Unlike most blaxploitation flicks Charles doesn’t use guns, his fists or kung fu to get back at his enemies, instead he strangles them with his giant penis. Yes, you read that right. Charles uses his giant slab of man meat to choke his hapless victims to death.
If you aren’t laughing yet you will be once you watch Welcome Home Brother Charles, but the movie is not all comedy. It actually takes itself really seriously and there’s plenty of cheer inducing moments involving Charles seducing women and getting back at the white devils who are trying to bring him down. The African American actors all act circles around the white actors in the movie and Marlo Monte seems to genuinely be channeling his inner rage to portray the highly volatile Charles Murray.
Adult’s Only Trailer for Welcome Home Brother Charles
If you want to plan an entertaining grindhouse double feature to watch in the comfort of your own home I highly recommend the double dose of killer body parts that Deadly Weapons and Welcome Home Brother Charles offers. You’d be hard pressed to find a more trashy pair of flicks and both movies are available on DVD.
Espionage in Tangier (1965) & Cool, It Carol! (1970)
Just wanted to remind any readers who might visit this blog that I’m also a regular contributor to Cinedelica, which is a great international site with lots of information about cult films.
At Cinedelica you can also find lots of news and information about new and old cinema, book reviews, festival updates and great Cult Clips from many unusual and entertaining films.
Superchick stars the American actress Joyce Jillson as a fun loving airline hostess named Tara B. True (a.k.a. Superchick). Tara takes advantage of the mobility that her airline hostess job offers her to travel from coast to coast across the continental US and she takes different lovers wherever her plane lands. Tara’s taste in men is extremely varied and her lovers range from highbrow intellectuals who woo her with words to rock stars who romance her at Hollywood nightclubs.
Joyce Jillson spent most of her life studying astrology and writing popular books like The Fine Art of Flirting and Real Women Don’t Pump Gas. She became an “Astrologer to the Stars” in the late seventies and two of her most well-known clients were future first lady Nancy Reagan and president Ronald Reagan. Before passing away from kidney failure in 2004, Jillson claimed that she had advised the Reagans to select George Bush as Ronald Reagan’s running mate in 1980. I guess we can all blame Joyce Jillson for the current state of world events if that’s true.
(1974) with the blaxploitation classic 
(A.K.A. Soul Vengeance, 1975).
The second film in my ideal grindhouse double feature is Jamaa Fanaka’s 1975 flick Welcome Home Brother Charles. I’m afraid I don’t know a lot about the director and a quick google search didn’t bring up much information. I do know that Jamaa Fanaka was born in Mississippi and created some great blaxploition flicks including Emma Mae (A.K.A. Black Sister’s Revenge, 1976) and Penitentiary (1979), as well as the utterly bizarre and highly entertaining Welcome Home Brother Charles.