Maya (Meiko Kaji) and her girl gang learn of a duo of out-of-town guys,
Nobo (Tatsuya Fuji) and Sabu (Jiro Okazaki), who are trying to sell 500
hits of LSD - and since that's worth a whole lot of money on the streets,
they steal it ... and their car with it. But then Maya hears their story,
that they together with Vietnam War deserter Charlie (Toshiya Yamano) want
to use the money made from the drugs to go to Sweden to start a new life.
Maya is overcome with remorse, and she and her girls not only give back
the LSD but also invite them to spend the next few days until their ship
is due in their secret hideout, which Nobo, Sabu and Charlie gladly
accept. So everything's fine ... or should be at least, as Sakura (Eiji
Go), boss of the Dragon gang and sometimes ally of Maya's gang, gets wind
of the 500 hits of acid ... and manages to get his hands onto it. Maya's
so dedicated to the fate of the trio though that she and her gang kidnap
the shadow-boss of the dragons, wheelchair bound Yuri (Bunjaku Han), to
exchange her against the drugs - they succeed, but Yuri is not one to be
defeated - so all hell breaks loose ... Machine Animal,
fourth in the (essentially unconnected) Stray
Cat Rock series, really features all you've come to expect
from and love about this series: An über-cool attitude, rooted firmly in
the 1970s, cute tough-as-nails girls in (from today's point of view)
wonderful vintage outfits, a great musical score somewhere between trippy
psych-rock and fusion jazz, all captured in a very well-paced story
garnered with plenty of endearing setpieces (a motorbike chase is really
the highlight in this one). In all, great fun in a nostalgic way, even
if the movie looks as fresh as it did 45 years ago!
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