The Girl and the Geek

Austin Chronicle

DIRECTED BY: Dale Berry

REVIEWED: 08-18-97

Josette Valague, Rain Drop, Mai Kai, Dee Dent

The Something Weird catalogue unearthed this primitive nudie/roughie feature, which opens in an abandoned carnival when the captive geek escapes from the sideshow and two cops (both dressed like Ernest Tubb) are called in to investigate. Cut to our heroine, a zaftig blonde, who's abducted from the airport by two thugs who throw her in the back of a car and drive off with the Ernest Tubb cops in hot pursuit. Eventually the two desperadoes get in a fight over a briefcase in which one of them is killed, but then the escaped sideshow freak (with Moe Howard hair and buck teeth, kind of Nutty Professor-ish) shows up and whups the daylights out of the remaining crook! The blonde steals a nearby truck and drives off, but not before the geek hops in the back and starts licking the back window! In the process of escaping the geek, the fleshy blonde burlesque queen finds time to swim nekkid in a muddy slough. Cut back frequently to the Sans Souci, a shabby strip club where more chubby gals take their clothes off while an old man mops his brow in front. Eventually the girl and geek of the title wind up back at the carnival, where the geek puts her on the Wild Mouse roller coaster. But wait! How did the cops know to go after the crooks? What was in the briefcase? Why did they want the blonde? Before you start heaving heavy sighs and shaking your head, forget it. Lie back and relax. This tissue-thin chimera of a plot has all the narrative integrity of a fever dream. Think of it as Buñuel-like; after all, storyline is not what it's about. Concentrate instead on the dubbed-in dialogue, the soundtrack that you'll get real sick of (like Perez Prado playing Persian music). Also, don't miss the peculiar dream segment with the tinsel sombrero. Appallingly cheap and trashy, The Girl and the Geek is nonetheless fun; just be sure you return it on time before it stinks up your living room.

--Jerry Renshaw

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