Mars Needs Women

Plot

A U. S. military station in Houston, the United States Decoding Service (U.S.D.S.), NASA Wing, has intercepted a message from outer space. After decoding, the message contains only the cryptic statement:

"Mars ... Needs ... Women"

Martians have developed a genetic deficiency that now produces only male children. A mission to Earth is launched, consisting of five Martian males, led by Dop (Tommy Kirk). Once here, their team intends to recruit Earth women to come to Mars to mate and produce female offspring, saving their civilization from extinction. Using their sophisticated transponder, Dop attempts to make contact with the U. S. military, which has now tracked the aliens' arrival on Earth.

The military eventually views the Martians as invaders, so the team takes on the guise of Earth men, acquiring human clothes, money, maps, and transportation. They finally select their prospective candidates, setting their sights on four American women: a homecoming queen, a stewardess, a stripper, and, most especially, a Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist, Dr. Bolen (Yvonne Craig), an expert in "space genetics". Resorting to hypnosis, the women are captured, but Dop quickly becomes enamored with Dr. Bolen; soon he is ready to sabotage their mission for her. After the military discovers their hideout, the Martians are forced to return home without their female captives.

Mars still needs women.

Cast

Main roles and screen credits:

Production

John Ashley, who had just made The Eye Creatures (1965) for Buchanan, says he was meant to play the lead role but got busy on another project, so Kirk then stepped in.

Kirk called the film "undoubtedly one of the stupidest motion pictures ever made. How I got talked into it, I don't know".

Kirk had previously played a Martian seeking Earth women in AIP's Pajama Party (1964). He had made his mark as a Disney child star, but after being fired, was hoping to revive his career with Mars Needs Women treating it as a serious project, to the extent of rewriting some of his dialogue. Reportedly, Buchanan allowed Kirk to create his own soliloquy for his scene in a planetarium (at Dallas Fair Park) as he explains that his world is dying.

The other notable lead, Yvonne Craig, had starred in several films, and numerous television roles, including her portrayal of Batgirl in the ABC cult comedy superhero TV series Batman.

Over a two-week shooting schedule, Buchanan shot Mars Needs Women in his hometown of Dallas, pretending it to be Houston. Faced with his usual meager budget, he resorted to using available spaces, including office buildings, to serve as NASA headquarters. Typical shoddy "B" movie production values are evident throughout the film. Southland Life Insurance Building is clearly visible as the Martians drive among the humans. Other prominent Dallas landmarks, including Southern Methodist University, are also featured. Footage from a SMU Homecoming game is used, and the Homecoming Queen is one of the Martian's "recruits". Footage was also shot at Dallas Fair Park (Planetarium, Lagoon, and Science Building). Additional footage was shot at Dallas Love Field, where a man is shown reading the Houston Chronicle, and at the Gypsy Room on Harry Hines Blvd. One scene with dancer Bubbles Cash was shot at an actual Dallas striptease bar The Athens Strip, located on what is now Lower Greenville Ave. Other scenes were shot inside the empty White Rock Lake Pumphouse, once used when the lake was a city water source (the City of Dallas Water Dept eventually converted the building to offices on the southwest end of White Rock Lake). The scene at the NASA "Space Center" was filmed in Richardson, Texas, north of Dallas, in the Antenna Building, which belonged to Collins Radio, a NASA contractor; their large radio satellite dish antennas can be seen in some background shots.

Mars Needs Women is padded with long sequences taken from stock aviation footage (the North American X-15 spacecraft being launched from its Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress mother ship and General Dynamics F-111 fighter-bomber in particular). Due to poor lighting, parts of the film were made by undercranking the camera and having the actors move more slowly, sometimes shooting at 18 or 12 frames per second instead of the usual 24. Actors also stretched out scenes with long sequences with no dialogue, either walking or doing menial tasks. One lengthy scene involves the camera focused on a loudspeaker.

Reception

Although originally intended for theatrical release, Mars Needs Women was distributed directly to television by American International. The film subsequently met a receptive late-night viewing audience, becoming a perfect example of the cult film, where all the unintended hilarity comes from the film's overly serious approach, "cheesy" production values, and ludicrous plot.

One of the film's more notable fans was Frank Zappa, who referenced the film in the title of an instrumental composition, "Manx Needs Women" (a pun on the inhabitants of the Isle of Man), which was regularly performed by Zappa in concert in 1976; recordings of the song's performances appear on Zappa's albums Zappa In New York and Philly '76.

Samples from the film appear in the track "Mars Needs Women" by Meat Beat Manifesto, the B-side of the God O.D. single in 1988. The track itself was resampled on track 4 of the Chemical Brothers remix album Brothers Gonna Work It Out.

The introduction to the 1988 hit record "Pump Up the Volume" by the group MARRS ("Mars ... needs ... women ...!") is taken from the film's original preview trailer.

Heavy metal musician Rob Zombie released a song of the same name on his 2010 album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2.

Proposed sequel

In the early 1990s Buchanan announced a sequel was in development at Universal Pictures with John Avnet and Jordan Kerner. It was intended to be "a sophisticated romantic comedy based on the ideas first set forth in the original". The film was never made.