“How much longer is it you think you can be a sex symbol?”

“Forever, darling.”

Mansfield 66/67 is the ravenously delectable documentary that explores the blonde bombshell’s tragic death and the rumors that swirled around her relationship with Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey. Using re-enactments, second and first hand accounts, historians, peers, and super fans, the film reconstructs the accounts that led up to Mansfield’s untimely demise in a car accident en route to a show in New Orleans. The result is a clever blending of fact, romanticized fact, and salacious rumor that sings a paean to the beguiling blonde and her renegade lifestyle.

Developed as an answer to Marilyn Monroe by studios eager to knock the untouchable star down a peg, Jayne Mansfield knew exactly who and what she was. A graduate of the University Texas at Austin and UCLA, Mansfield had an insatiable need to keep moving, to keep active. Fiercely intelligent, she played type with her signature squeal in movies like Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter and The Girl Can’t Help It. Yet there was far more happening beneath the surface.

“She spoke 5 languages?” gasps interview subject and camp king, John Waters. “I didn’t know she could speak 5 languages,” Waters muses. Surprising too, as he is one of her biggest fans. These little nuggets of candor pepper the narrative and make the film irresistible.

Of course we want to hear about her relationship with Mr. LaVey. Another free spirit, LaVey was a showman. Playing on the fears of the occult and bucking traditional morals by championing self-governance, LaVey dressed in cartoonish, demonic clothing and played the role of Devil worshiper. Yes, he launched the Church of Satan, but the message wasn’t one of demonic dominance so much as it was of being your own god.

Both independent trailblazers, Mansfield and LaVey met and bonded. Both craved notoriety and publicity, both craved the spotlight. Directed by  P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes, the film plays fast and loose with hard fact while melding it with recollection, interspersed with the occasional inspired animated segment, dance piece, or bit of performance art. This isn’t to disregard fact, but to find the ephemeral truth in what both of these larger than life characters were after. St this point in time we have but to look back and admire their audacity.

Watch Mansfield 66/67 and mourn the fact that we can only give credit to the pioneer long after their times have passed.

Mansfield 66/67 will have its theatrical opening in Los Angeles at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre on October 27, 2017