Roughies
Roughies are a curious sub-sub-genre of exploitation cinema – basically, they’re lurid, seedy sexploitation films, adding kidnapping, S&M, rape and sexual slavery to the formerly innocuous genre. This was all thanks to various United States Supreme Court rulings, such as the I Am Curious (Yellow) case, which questioned what was or was not obscene. In came the likes of Michael and Roberta Findlay who churned out sadistic sickos for the grindhouse raincoat crowd, though there are some genuine classics amid the sleaze that have stood the test of time.
Links take you to the IMDd.
Another Day, Another Man (1966) 4/10
Badly dubbed tale of a newly married woman who becomes a hooker to help pay the bills, featuring all of Doris Wishman’s usual trademarks without offering much for bad movie fans.
Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965) 4/10
Doris Wishman’s first roughie features all her usual trademarks – disembodied dialogue, jazzy score, odd cutaways, somnambulistic acting, and general incompetence.
Behind Locked Doors (1968) 3/10
Two girls meet a demented mortician in Harry Novak sexploiter trying its hand at horror – mildly amusing but mostly dull. aka Any Body... Any Way
Five women, including a young Uschi Digart, are kidnapped and turned into sex slaves in shameless David F. Friedman rape and revenge roughie straight out of the gutter.
Bummer (1973) 4/10
Fairly well acted David F. Friedman-produced exploiter about a bad 70s band called The Group dealing with their drunken, psychotic bass player. aka Bummer: A Far Out Trip Through a Hard Rock Tunnel
The Curse of Her Flesh (1968) 4/10
Michael Findlay is back and looking for more exotic dancers and hookers to kill, and despite the jazzy score, there's too much dead air here.
The Defilers (1965) 5/10
Two thrillseeking thugs make an LA beach babe their sex slave in early roughie that was a huge hit for sleaze merchant David F. Friedman.
Hot Spur (1968) 5/10
Well-made rape and revenge western from Lee Frost with endless flamenco guitar that can’t cover the on-screen nastiness – a long way from Bonanza.
The Kiss of Her Flesh (1968) 4/10
Michael Findlay’s final film in the Flesh trilogy and the most dizzyingly berserk, with some relatively graphic moments amid the bongo drums and boredom.
Lorna (1964) 7/10
Russ Meyer’s first proper narrative film is a tawdry tale about a bored housewife who falls for an escaped convict – fast moving, sexy, completely outrageous, and a big hit for the director. aka Russ Meyer’s Lorna
Love Toy (1971) 3/10
Doris Wishman lays on the sleaze is this sicko about a man who gambles away his teenage daughter; better acting than usual but the men are ugly, the pace slow, and the ending ridiculous.
Mudhoney (1965) 6/10
Lust and lynch mobs in Depression-era Missouri injected with Russ Meyer’s larger-than-life characters but missing his usual breakneck speed.
Olga’s Girls (1964) 4/10
Outrageous tale of white slavery, drugs, lesbianism and S&M – like others of its ilk, it features a disembodied voiceover, but this one is livelier – adults-only filth from a forgotten era.
Olga’s House of Shame (1964) 3/10
Olga relocates her crime syndicate to an abandoned mine leading to much S&M, bad narration, and endless use of Night on Bald Mountain.
The partnership of Herschell Gordon Lewis-David F. Friedman was responsible for this tawdry tale – badly photographed, but notable as the world’s first roughie.
She Came on the Bus (1969) 3/10
The title promises much more than this artless roughie delivers, which is basically just some horny juveniles looking for kicks, all set to a terrible soundtrack without synched sound. aka She Came by Bus
Cruddy Michael Findlay skin flick about four women who reveal how they became New York hookers with bad dubbing, library music, stock footage, a little striptease and a lesbian shower scene.
A lascivious dwarf and his mother run a boarding house with heroin-addicted girls in the attic in depraved dwarfsploitation which is mostly an excuse for grotesque sex scenes. aka Abducted Bride
A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine (1966) 5/10
Notorious roughie from David F. Friedman about a blonde getting her sick kicks before many S&M dream sequences in the second half; great B&W cinematography by László Kovács.
Some Like It Violent (1968) 6/10
The lead actor channels James Cagney and though the rest of the cast are incompetent (including the guy with the ridiculous moustache) this Barry Mahon production is a highly entertaining trash rarity.
A young woman is used and abused while trying to make it in tinsel town in tawdry exploiter that features a creatively sleazy ending.
Take Me Naked (1966) 4/10
Freaky filmmaking couple Michael and Roberta Findlay direct and star in this sleazy sexploiter with many of their usual perversions on display, but this is artier than usual.
A Thousand Pleasures (1968) 4/10
Another deranged Michael Findlay flick, ostensibly about a misogynistic man abducted by a pair of insane lesbians - and despite the spicy plot, it’s too padded out for this kind of thing.
The Touch of Her Flesh (1967) 5/10
With Olga in retirement, Michael and Roberta Findlay picked up the slack and carved a special niche for themselves in the roughies; especially nasty, and a surprise hit among grindhouse perverts.
The Ultimate Degenerate (1969) 5/10
As roughies go, this warped Michael Findlay outing has it all – non-stop nudity, groovy score, whipped cream, New York backdrops, and a totally outrageous ending.