Suzuki and Go To Hell, Bastards!

Equal parts Rock ‘n’ Roll, Russ Meyer, Miles Davis and Comic Books Japanese filmmaker Seijun Suzuki has interested me greatly for years. I first became introduced to Suzuki in the late-90s via the Criterion DVD of Branded to Kill. I kept reading what a strange and wild film Branded to Kill was and decided I had to check it out. Upon first viewing of the film I was taken back. I figured the movie was going to be an above average 60s Yakuza B-Film with occasional moments of brilliant absurdity. Instead what I found was an all-out assault on both visual and aural levels. The movie was like Free Jazz. I sometimes felt Suzuki threw away the script and let the film venture where it needed without caring about logic or the rules of filmmaking. I came away wanting more. Through the years I’ve viewed more of his work and I always find something new to be excited about with his films.



Before Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter and Youth of the Beast Seijun Suzuki cut his offbeat teeth with Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! an adaptation of a crime novel by Haruhiko Ooyabu. Having something to do with two rivals gangs wanting to kill a member of a third gang and a Private Detective working with the police to infiltrate the gangs, or something like that. The film’s plotline is sketchy and motives aren’t really revealed but that’s hardly the point. Instead Go to Hell, Bastards! exists solely for bright, vibrant colors, gunplay, cool men on both sides of the law and fast women. Frequent Suzuki leading man Jo Shishido (or as I like to call him the Man with the Big Cheeks) is charismatic and funny as Det. Tajima and the vast array of Japanese character actors who made a career out of playing Yakuza are wonderful in both performance and look.

As usual for Japanese Exploitation films, the score is a great highlight. Showcasing a fantastic jazzy score typical of Yakuza films of the period Go to Hell, Bastards! also features a cool Japanese Rock song by a band possibly call Jazz Man. Jo Shishido also gets in on the musical fun performing an impromptu duet with a showgirl. The real star of Go to Hell, Bastards! however is Suzuki’s eye. The film is full of amazing visual flourishes. Shots filled to the brim with bright color, close-ups of weapons and a Yakuza riot are favorites of mine. Suzuki is a filmmaker that understands the importance of and knows how to properly use a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.



Although not on the level of his later masterworks, Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! is great fun. The film is a fast 90 minutes and it delivers action, laughs, women and excitement not seen in today’s cinema. While not essential Go to Hell, Bastards! is recommended for fans of the genre.

Eve And The Handyman

Following the international success of The Immoral Mr. Teas filmmaker Russ Meyer returned with what I thought was going to be another nudie-cutie film but was actually a straight comedy, Eve and the Handyman. This time around the auteur cast his Playmate wife Eve Meyer as the creatively named Eve and WWII pal Anthony-James Ryan as the dim-witted Handyman. Released in 1961, Eve and the Handyman, like The Immoral Mr. Teas, contains no dialogue other than voice-over narration and features a score of library music and goofy sound effects. The film has surprisingly little nudity.

Mysterious Eve is on the case following the Handyman over the course of a day. Who is the Handyman and why is she following him? Well, to be honest I don’t know. He seems to be a normal, everyday handyman.
We see him wash windows, sweep floors, clean toilets and do other handyman/janitorial jobs while Eve delivers a film-noirish narration. It turns out Eve is impressed by the Handyman and its not because of his cleaning skills. No, Eve is awed by his ability to keep his cool around beautiful, shapely women, most of who are played by Eve. He isn’t concerned with the buxom secretary while he’s cleaning windows from a ledge and he only wants the nude hitchhiker to put on some clothes. While all of this is played for laughs none of it is funny. There are no punch lines only set ups and this gets tiresome without plentiful female nudity we came to expect. Thankfully, the film is short clocking in at a scant 65 minutes.

The Handyman seems to enjoy the female form, he watches a woman passionately play pinball, but appears to be disgusted at the sight of a nude body, he shields his eyes when encountering a nude bathing beauty. The film seems to have the same affliction. It stares fervently at Eve in her various costumes but pulls away when we get a chance at seeing her in her naked glory. Shockingly it takes 55 minutes before we see a fleeting shot of a frontal nude breast and it doesn’t even belong to Eve.

Eve and the Handyman unfortunately was a set back for Russ Meyer, it’s not as funny, fast paced or titillating as The Immoral Mr. Teas. Eve Meyer was a beautiful woman but her looks alone can’t save a film from unfunny comedy and zero plotline. The film’s problems could be excused if there was nudity because at least that would explain why the film was made but as it is I’m not sure what the point was.

Adventures of Superman, season 1

Consensus is the first season of The Adventures of Superman is the best of the six. Although I enjoy the entire series I agree with that sentiment. Season one offers a darker, film noirish tone, while still remaining light hearted and fun when needed, the other seasons lack. The best and most memorable episodes of the series are found in this season and here is my personal top-five favorite episodes of season one.



#5 "No Holds Barred" original airdate: 11/28/1952
Although not one the best episodes of the seasons "No Holds Barred" is a favorite of mine because the plot deals with wrestling and it's a ball for me to see Superman delve into the wrestling world. In this episode, Superman helps a young wrestler expose a crooked promoter. Pro-Wrestling in the film noir world wasn't a new idea as it had been previously done in Jules Dassin's classic Night And the City (1950).


#4 "The Human Bomb" original airdate: 2/6/1953
"Bet-A-Million" Butler chains himself to Lois Lane while carrying a bomb in a scheme to keep Superman away from a real crime at the Metropolis Museum. "The Human Bomb" is a truly fun episode which highlights both the best TV Lois Lane Phyllis Coates and the astonished crowd during the series opening credits.


#3 "The Haunted Lighthouse" original airdate: 9/26/52
Jimmy Olsen calls on Clark Kent to help solve a mystery while on vacation visiting a distant aunt. The great Jack Larson is the star of this episode and he totally makes the most of it. Larson is hands down is the best Jimmy Olsen as he has the best mix of awkward geekiness and spot-on comic timing. "The Haunted Lighthouse" also shows the series' great mixture of light comedy and film noirish mystery.


#2 "The Evil Three” original airdate: 1/23/1953
Jimmy and Perry stop at a hotel whose other inhabitants include a crazy old woman and two murderous men. "The Evil Three" is another great Jimmy Olsen episode and also is a great spotlight for John Hamilton's Perry White. The two together have great chemistry and I personally would have loved to see a show starring these two with Superman as a supporting character saving them at the episode's end.


#1 "The Stolen Costume" original airdate: 12/12/1952
Superman's costume is stolen! I always loved the idea that Clark just put his Superman costume in the closet when it wasn't in use. "The Stolen Costume" has the best ending of any episode in the series with Superman leaving the costume-stealing crooks at the top of a mountain alone to die, which they do by falling.

The Immoral Mr. Teas

As a long time fan and admirer of the films of Russ Meyer I tried to seek out as many films of his I could find. All of his film interested me greatly with the exception of his early nudie-cutie films. The idea of watching women cavorting around nude for an hour with no plot seemed tiresome and thus I avoided them like the plague. Recently, however I decided to go back and see if I was missing something special. So, I watched the first nudie-cutie film, The Immoral Mr. Teas. Released in 1959 Mr. Teas was the first American made mainstream film to show female nudity since the pre-code era. The film was a gigantic success and created the nudie-cutie genre and launched the career of Russ Meyer. The film lacks dialogue and ambient sounds but contains witty, ironic narration and a lively, bouncy score.

The film follows the title character Mr. Teas (Bill Teas), a dental delivery man, over the course of four days. On the first day we see Mr. Teas at work where he encounters a shapely, sexy nurse, a curvy waitress at a café and a sultry secretary. Day two shows Mr. Teas at rest visiting a beach. The beach seems to be completely vacant with the exception of a beach bunny in a red bikini and her rarely seen male companion. It is here on the beach that we get the first glimpse of a bare breast, although it’s only a side view with no visible nipple. Continuing on day two Mr. Teas leaves the beach and heads to a lake to fish. While fishing the beach bunny shows up on a row boat and decides to sunbathe next to Teas. This causes him to run away in fright. Day three he returns to work and encounters the three earlier women again; however this time he imagines them completely nude. This causes him to visit a psychiatrist on day four. After his visit with the voluptuous female shrink he heads back to the lake to fish. While there he daydreams about his three working beauties running nude around the lake. They bathe, swing and rest on a hammock all the while Mr. Teas observes like a peeping tom. Upon awaking Mr. Teas heads to another spot to fish where he misses a real, not imagined, nude girl. This brings him back to the psychiatrist whom he imagines nude and happily comes to grips with his affliction.

Throughout the film we were given occasions to which the viewer was possibly meant to identify with Mr. Teas, most notably him cowering in fear of the sun-bathing beach bunny. Mr. Teas seems to be more comfortable watching women from afar and in the shadows rather than up close and personal, hiding behind umbrellas at the beach or behind curtains at a strip club. Even in his fantasies Mr. Teas prefers to hide from the women as seen in the lake dream sequence when he hides behind bushes and climbs trees to cover himself from the three beauties. One can only assume that most men seeking out films like The Immoral Mr. Teas in the 1959 felt more at home as a peeping tom always at arms length from a woman rather than getting more intament with her. I’m not sure what this says about Russ Meyer or his opinions on men interested in the nude female form but I believe he saw himself as a Mr. Teas type hiding behind his camera to catch a glimpse or two of a nude woman. He even goes so far as to cast himself as a cheering spectator at a strip club in the film.



Even with bountiful female nudity The Immoral Mr. Teas lacks several others of Russ Meyer’s trademarks, notably his rapid-fire editing and cinematography. Despite the fast paced pre-credit sequence and an assortment of other moments, particularly the dream sequences, The Immoral Mr. Teas looks and feels like most exploitation films of the period and not a Russ Meyer original. However, the film is still a good time. With its deadpan, ironic narration, numerous sight gags and plethora of nudity the film is enjoyable and funny. Because it lacks the sting of his later classics due to its routine plot and the derivative nature of nudie-cutie films The Immoral Mr. Teas never reaches above an amusing hour long diversion. End