I felt that the first Stray Cat Rock movie, Delinquent Girl Boss, tried too hard to be cool. The second, Wild Jumbo, tried too hard to be funny. And the third, Sex Hunter, tried too hard to be gritty. Part four - Machine Animal - is no classic of Japanese cinema, but I prefer it to the other three because it doesn't try too hard at anything. It's just an hour and twenty-two minutes of breezy, free-wheeling action, with lots of go-go dancing, groovy tunes, stylish direction, and a simple plot that sees 500 hits of LSD changing hands throughout the film.
The stash of acid originally belongs to three men: Nobo (Tatsuya Fuji), Sabu (Jirô Okazaki), and Charlie, an American who has deserted from the Vietnam war. The three men hope to sell the drugs in Yokohama and use the cash to buy passage on a boat to Sweden. Their enquiries lead them to the Astro club where Maya (Meiko Kaji) and her all-girl gang learn of the drugs and decide to half-inch the lot. The desperate men track down the women and demand their stash be returned, explaining their plight, after which the girls apologise and decide to help the guys shift the merchandise. However, other parties are also after the LSD, including the drug-dealing bartender from the Astro club, and the Dragon motor-bike gang, led by pimp-cane wielding Sakura (Eiji Gô).
The easy-going action includes lots of musical interludes (with some really cool keyboard mashing and a song from Kaji), plenty of gyrating women in hot-pants and mini-skirts, a faux-fur-covered wheelchair, and a fun chase scene as Maya and her gang pursue Sakuya and Co. on motorbikes, the girls taking lots of shortcuts to keep up with them. The ending is typically bleak - Stray Cat Rock films never have a happy ending - but getting there is more enjoyable than in the other films (without being as silly as in Wild Jumbo).
5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for not featuring any buggies or jeeps for a change.
The stash of acid originally belongs to three men: Nobo (Tatsuya Fuji), Sabu (Jirô Okazaki), and Charlie, an American who has deserted from the Vietnam war. The three men hope to sell the drugs in Yokohama and use the cash to buy passage on a boat to Sweden. Their enquiries lead them to the Astro club where Maya (Meiko Kaji) and her all-girl gang learn of the drugs and decide to half-inch the lot. The desperate men track down the women and demand their stash be returned, explaining their plight, after which the girls apologise and decide to help the guys shift the merchandise. However, other parties are also after the LSD, including the drug-dealing bartender from the Astro club, and the Dragon motor-bike gang, led by pimp-cane wielding Sakura (Eiji Gô).
The easy-going action includes lots of musical interludes (with some really cool keyboard mashing and a song from Kaji), plenty of gyrating women in hot-pants and mini-skirts, a faux-fur-covered wheelchair, and a fun chase scene as Maya and her gang pursue Sakuya and Co. on motorbikes, the girls taking lots of shortcuts to keep up with them. The ending is typically bleak - Stray Cat Rock films never have a happy ending - but getting there is more enjoyable than in the other films (without being as silly as in Wild Jumbo).
5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for not featuring any buggies or jeeps for a change.