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With: Haji, Alex Rocco, Stephen Oliver, Holle K. Winters, Joseph Cellini, Thomas Scott, Coleman Francis, Sharon Lee, Steve Masters, Arshalouis Aivazian, E. E. Meyer, George Costello
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Written by: Russ Meyer, W.E. Sprague, based on a story by Russ Meyer, James Griffith, Hal Hopper
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Directed by: Russ Meyer
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MPAA Rating: NR
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Running Time: 74
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Date: 08/12/1965
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Heels on Wheels
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
One of Russ Meyer's black-and-white "Gothic" films, Motorpsycho is down-and-dirty, but looks great and has a pulse-pounding energy. There are three no-good troublemakers on motorcycles: a Vietnam vet (Steve Oliver), a sidekick (Joseph Cellini), and a guy forever attached to his transistor radio (Timothy Scott). They rape and kill the wife (Lane Carroll, credited as "Holle K. Winters") of a veterinarian, Cory Maddox (Alex Rocco, later known as "Moe Greene" in The Godfather), and then they kill the much-older husband (Coleman Francis) of Ruby Bonner (Haji, in her first film).
Cory and Ruby team up to get their revenge, and during the showdown, the leader of the gang begins having Vietnam flashbacks (a bit of Meyerian social commentary). Sharon Lee plays a well-endowed blonde who tries to seduce Cory, and Arshalouis Aivazian plays a bikini-clad sunbather, and the first target of our motor-psychos. This 74-minute rip-snorter (with no nudity) did extremely well, inspiring Meyer to make a similar movie next, but with three women: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
Severin Films' excellent 2025 Blu-ray release (part of a series of newly remastered Meyer films) comes with a crisp transfer, and these bonuses: a commentary track by film historian Elizabeth Purchell and filmmaker Zach Clark, interviews with Haji and Rocco, and a trailer. Highly Recommended.
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