Stray Cat Rock: Girl Boss (Japan, 1970) – 4/5
Pop music, fashion and tough as nails biker girls. Yasuharu Hasebe’s classic delinquent girl film was a trend setter and the start of an entire genre. But unlike many of the sleazy followers, Girl Boss is mostly clean and upbeat. Pop star turned actress Akiko Wada plays the lead role in the similar fashion as Reiko Oshida in her Toei movies. Meiko Kaji, Han Bunjaku and the other girls - often wearing sunglasses size of a football - give good support. On screen performances by bands such as The Mobbs and Andre Candre are also an important part of the film. A special mention goes to the use of vehicles; motorcycles and a red & white Daihatsu Beach Buggy (driven by Tatsuya Fuji’s manically laughing villain) dominate almost every outdoor scene.
- dvd / R2J
Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo (Japan, 1970) – 3/5
The second film in the series turns pretty much everything upside down. The director is new (Toshiya Fujita), Akiko Wada is gone save for a brief cameo, and genre has changed. No more motorcycle action but a upbeat youth pic that follows six misbehaving characters (most of them men) hanging around, living together and spending a lot of time riding a jeep. They finally get involved with a heist plan which brings some suspense and action into the film. A lot of the cast is familiar from the first film, but they all appear in different roles. It’s nice to see Tatsuya Fuji, the villain of the previous instalment, as a good guy for a change. Meiko Kaji’s role is made equal to the others, but her ’jeans - white bikini top’ combination makes her really stand out in a few scenes. The rest of the lead roles are played by Takeo Chii, Han Bunjaku, Yusuke Natsu and Soichiro Maeno. Music isn’t given as much importance as before and what is here works sometimes, misfires at others (Wada’s songs from Girl Boss feel out of place).
- dvd / R2J
Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (Japan, 1970) – 4/5
Yasuharu Hasebe returns the series closer to its origins after Toshiya Fujita’s slacker vacation Wild Jumbo. Akiko Wada and motorcycles are still missing, but the overwhelming girl power and rock n’ roll are back. Meiko Kaji has finally been granted the lead role as a leader of a girl gang. She’s now acts much cooler and less cute than the character she played in the previous films, but it’s very much needed as Tatsuya Fuji, who got to play a good guy Wild Jumbo, is back and meaner than ever. Kaji gets in a tight spot when she gets involved with a half-japanese man (Rikiya Yasuoka) looking for his sister, while at the same time Fuji has decided to declare war on all half-breeds stealing their women! Generally considered the best film the series, Sex Hunter is a violent dynamite pack with only one flaw; Fuji’s characters is actually a bit too mean and it takes some time before his victims are able to stand up and fight back. The finale however is very satisfying and makes you forget any small flaws that may have preceded. The title, Sex Hunter, is nothing but a marketing gimmick by the Nikkatsu Studios. There’s neither sex nor sex hunters in the film.
- dvd / R2J
Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (Japan, 1970) – 3/5
Meiko Kaji and the alleycats try to help two US army deserters to flee to Sweden in yet another entertaining if not quite excellent Stray Cat Rock film. Director Hasebe has taken a brighter approach (despite dealing with subjects like LSD) after the grim and dark third film. Music and club scenes are firmly included, and Kaji also gets to sing a little bit. By now she had firmly established her position as the star of the series. Nevertheless, here her role is not quite as strong here as last time, perhaps because the main plot doesn’t directly concern her character. The most interesting actor in the film is actually Tatsuya Fuji, the male lead of all Stray Cat Rock films. After his ultra vicious racist performance in Sex Hunter he appears almost unrecognizable in the opening scene of Machine Animal as a bullied average man. The villain is played by the ever reliable future Toei bad guy Eiji Go. Han Bunjaku returns to the series after one film break as Go’s girlfriend. Unfortunately her small role in not much to get excited about. The closing scene is quite unexpected, not entirely satisfying but refreshingly different.
- dvd / R2J
Stray Cat Rock: Beat ’71 (Japan, 1971) – 3/5
Hasebe out, Fujita in. The Stray Cat Rock films by these two directors feels almost like two different series. The girl gangs and clubs are gone again, this time the main characters are a group of hippies. Like Wild Jumbo, Beat ’71 abandones the action genre appart from a few brief scenes (mostly the opening and ending) and takes a focus on social issues and community formed by young people. Fujita’s characters distance themselves from the surrounding society, while Hasebe’s movies were all about jumping into the heat of the night. Partly because of this the soundtracks in Fujita’s films are not quite as strong, although that’s not to say Beat ’71 doesn’t have its musical moments. Especially memorable is the outdoor performance by The Mops. The casting is perhaps the most exciting in the whole series, with newcomer Yoshio Harada in the lead and veterans Tatsuya Fuji (good guy again), Takeo Chii, Bunjaku Han, Eiji Go (still evil) and Meiko Kaji in other principal roles. The male lead of the third film, Rikiya Yasuoka, makes a slightly amusing visit in the beginning. A special mention goes to Yuka Kumari’s cute face. An entertaining film with a thought provoking ending; it feels almost like an allegory for the Nikkatsu studios, who ended their mainstream film production later the same year.
- dvd / R2J