At last, director/writer/producer Cody (Sugar Boxx) Jarrett's TURA! makes the rounds. Ah, is it ever splendid, resonating with beauty, pathos and meaning. Indeed, it was well worth the long wait.
Margaret Cho supplies Tura Satana's narrative voice, keeping the bio-doc's chapters cohesive, though there's more than enough archival Satana in the commemoration to keep her devotees in the authentic loop. Without question, Satana's bold presence and courageous personality are felt throughout every fantastic frame.
Satana's physique is what clinched her fame, even if it led to tragedy early on, with her being gang raped at the tender age of ten. At fifteen, she landed a lucrative stint as a burlesque queen, but such mature (if not immoral) relegation, coupled by her perseverance to overcome the odds, catapulted her into a successful acting career, crowned by her iconic portrayal of Varla in Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. She also became the aptly named villainess, Satana, in Ted V. Mikel's pulpy, sci-fi favorite, The Astro-Zombies, in addition to Lavelle Sumara in his Charlie's Angels precursor, The Doll Squad, along with memorable appearances in Billy Wilder's Irma la Deuce, Daniel Mann's 007 spoof, Our Man Flint, and television's popular, spy set, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
Satana's reputed affair with Elvis Presley is one of the documentary's focal points. Some have disputed its legitimacy, but it doesn't seem too far a leap, considering the queue of famous people she knew: Frank Sinatra, David Janssen, Forrest Tucker, Tony Curtis, Tony Accardo, Tony Bennett, Marty Allan, Harold Lloyd, Aaron Spelling and Kitten Natividad. On the whole, she rubbed elbows with the best of them.
And as the bio-doc's plentiful interviews confirm, people were touched and influenced by her, including John Waters, Dita Von Teese, Pamela Des Barres, Greg Proops, Angel Walker ... and Joshua Grannett. However, Satana's daughters, Kalani Silverman and Jade Fall, lead the adoring parade when it comes to expressing their forthright fondness for the woman who raised them.
Another significant portion of TURA! dissects her legend, pursuing the blur between fact and fiction: case in point, the aforementioned Presley affair, but also her questionable, Japanese heritage. Satana's hunt for her violators also anchors her saga and may strike some as little more than glorified, Kill Bill, wishful thinking, but that Satana stressed a need for justice resonates from this passage and does, in fact, emblemize her persona, whether it be enacted through artistic measure or veritable, hands-on retribution.
In the end, Jarrett's opus presses Satana as a essential, cultural icon, who like Bettie Page, slipped into obscurity, only to eclipse her early success during the dusk of life. That TURA! epitomizes such resuscitated glory makes the movie something her fans will cheer and, indeed, it stands as a defiant achievement that its contributors should be proud of, above all its perennial lady of action, who's no doubt looking down with her haughty, signature smile.
TURA! can be viewed on Tubi & Amazon Prime.
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