Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Russ Meyer at his most elegant times.

After the huge success of director Russ Meyer's VIXEN!, 20th Century-Fox knew that he was a talent to reckon with and hired him for a two-picture deal in 1970. His first film (his only good studio film) was written by Roger Ebert and was titled as a sequel to Fox's VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, an embarrassment to the studio. When this was released, it was almost as big an embarrassment. But it's an awesome film with something to please everyone. While not as sex-filled as Meyer's earlier and later works, it still works as a spoof, a drama, and an adults film.

Dolly Read, Cynthia Meyers, and Marcia McBroom play Kelly, Casey, and Pet, an all-female rock group called The Kelly Affair that start out small and make it big in Hollywood as The Carrie Nations. The story is filled with soap opera contrivances, such as various love affairs, lesbianism, drug addiction, suicide attempts, and money scandals. While some of these instances can be seen as serious drama (these girls can act, believe it or not), most of them are played to be campy, complete with cheesy soap-opera organ music in the background.

Rock 'n' Roll sluts!

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is filled with little surprises: FASTER PUSSYCAT's Haji makes a cameo in two scenes; women-in-prison movie regular Phyllis Davis plays nice Aunt Susan, Kelly's rich relative; Meyer regular Charles Napier plays Aunt Susan's fiancee; VIXEN! star Erica Gavin plays the lesbian dress designer Roxanne; John Lazar (later in SUPERVIXENS) steals the show as Z-Man, the psychotic gay manager who speaks in Shakespearean prose and goes crazy at the end, pretending he's Superwoman!; VIXEN! co-stars Michael Blodgett and Harrison Page play Lance, the money-hungry hunk, and Emerson, the black law student; sex starlet Edy Williams is luscious as Ashley St. Ives, famed pornographic movie star; and recurring character Martin Bormann makes another appearance. Pam Grier's supposed to be here, too, but I couldn't Identify her in the big crowded party scenes. But I think my favorite thing about this movie is the musical soundtrack. Fabulous performances by The Carrie Nations make me wish a soundtrack CD was readily available! While there were 2 good songs in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls has around 9! The Strawberry Alarm Clock appears performing "Incense and Peppermints" and a non-hit at a Hollywood party, too.

The 70's Musical Scene.

The scene is divided as you can see.

While Beyond the Valley of the Dolls  is not as unintentionally hilarious as the original VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, I liked it a lot better. The performances are great by all (how does Meyer get such great-looking women who can act to boot?!), the music fabulous, and the pace of the film is brisk and doesn't sag. The one sequence that went on forever was the lesbian sequence between Erica Gavin and Cynthia Meyers, which was unerotic and just dumb. I don't know how this got an NC-17 rating (there isn't very much sex). 

Overall, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is highly recommended to anyone making their first dive into the cinema of Russ Meyer or anyone who was ever in a rock band that wanted to make it. Pure fun, all 112 minutes of it! Besides, as Russ Meyer himself has stated, this is probably his best film because, it is made to appeal to several audiences rather than his usual crowd of tit-ass-bush pervs lovers. However, it can also be seen as a film that doesn't actually follow the traditional Russ Meyer style of filming, you know, it has a consistent plot, several dialogue scenes and nudity only appears when necesary (seriously)

21 Things you probably didn't know about "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"

Webbrowsing (does anyone use that verb anymore?) I found a neverending list of tasty facts about the filming of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Here a list of the most spicy facts:

1. Originally intended as a sequel to The Valley of the Dolls. Jacqueline Susann submitted a screenplay for a sequel, but when Fox found it unsatisfactory, their contract gave them the right to produce a separate version. Susann was reportedly so offended by the results that she threatened to sue 20th Century-Fox. As part of a settlement, Fox inserted the disclaimer "This is not a sequel to VALLEY OF THE DOLLS" in all advertising.

2. The violent and gory climax was not in the script. Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer came up with the idea on the day of shooting, which was based on the recent August 1969 Manson Family murders. 

a bird in a cage.

3. In the original script, the Susan Lake and Baxter Wolfe characters were called Anne Welles and Lyon Burke.

4. The character of Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell was based loosely on legendary record producer Phil Spector. While neither Russ Meyer nor Roger Ebert had ever met Spector, they were told by acquaintances of his that they'd caught his essence very well.

5. Two women wear costumes in the film inspired by another hit production of 20th-Century-Fox, Batman.

6. Budgeted at a modest $900,000 (approximately $4.5 million in today's dollars), the film grossed ten times the amount in the US market, qualifying it as a hit for the beleaguered 20th Century-Fox. Though tame by modern standards, "Dolls" was slapped with an "X" rating, and there was much negative publicity generated by the fact a major studio had allowed a "pornographer", Russ Meyer (labeled "King Leer" by the mainstream press at the time) to make a Hollywood film under its aegis. Grace Kelly, who was a member of the board of directors of Fox, was outraged and lobbied to have the studio's contract with Meyer terminated. After his next Fox film, The Seven Minutes flopped at the box office (possibly due to its LACK of nudity and titillation), the studio terminated its relationship with Meyer. He never made another film for a studio. 

Funky music comes out of funky sex.

7. Director Russ Meyer once said he considers this film to be his "most important".

8. While frequently touted as Pam Grier's film debut (she received an on-screen credit and a photo of her in a party scene was prominently featured in a 1970 Playboy layout on the film), her role in the film is non-existent and she can't even be spotted as an extra.

9. During a bedroom scene, Kelly wears the same flimsy red nightgown worn by heroines of at least two earlier Russ Meyer pictures (Vixen! and Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers!).

10. This film is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide.

Twat to twat.

11. The outfit that Kelly borrows from her Aunt Susan to wear to the party at the beginning of the film is the one-piece pants suit that Sharon Tate wore in The Valley of the Dolls. Sharon wears it in the scene where she is watching Neely on television and Tony comes home to tell her (and sister Miriam) that the studio has dropped his option. Sharon is also wearing it (sans the metal link belt Kelly will add) in the photo on the cover of the Valley of the Dolls soundtrack LP. 

12. The Robin costume worn by Casey was actually one of the costumes worn by Burt Ward on the "Batman" TV series. 

13. According to Roger Ebert's audio commentary on the DVD, 'Russ Meyer' was unaware that this film would get an X rating. Roger says that Russ would have added more nudity and sex to the film if he knew beforehand.

 

14. This title was released a week before 20th Century Fox's other X rated film Myra Breckinridge. 

15. The Strawberry Alarm Clock did the soundtrack for this film, and the band's only real big hit "Incense and Peppermints" can be heard in the first party scene. 

16. It took Roger Ebert six weeks to write the screenplay. 

17. According to Roger Ebert's audio commentary, Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell's pad was a set originally to be used in Myra Breckinridge. 

Cum filled woman.

18. Russ Meyer wanted June Wilkinson to play the role of Ashley St. Ives, a part that ultimately went to studio contract player Edy Williams (who, interestingly, wound up marrying Meyer). 

19. In an oft-seen publicity picture of the three female leads posing on a bed, Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers and Marcia McBroom wear same outfits worn (respectively) by original Valley Of The Dolls stars Sharon Tate, Patty Duke and Barbara Parkins in similar bed publicity shot used in ads and soundtrack album cover of first film. 

20. The theme song was re-recorded by Josie Cotton and released on the CD 'Invasion Of The B-Girls.'. Russ Meyer threatened to sue Cotton if she put any of his title-songs on her CD, but died before he could follow through. Josie says that she didn't mean to steal from Meyer, but that she is a fan and it was meant as an homage to his work. 

I'm so happy I made it to a Russ Meyer movie!

21. According to screenwriter Roger Ebert, the Z-Man's secret was not thought of until late in filming, and tacked on at the last minute. While fans feel that the secret is hinted at in the film's dialogue, Ebert says it's only coincidence. 

And last but not least, here's the movie trailer, & see you in the next post:

Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens

Beneath bushes & boobs.

Beneath the Valley of the Ultra  Vixens is a Russ Meyer directed boobs, butts, and bush extravaganza where the plot really only has one purpose - to put the severely silicone-enhanced females in the film in as many clothes-shedding situations as possible...and I for one am totally OK with that. filmed and released in 1979 with a budget estimate of $239.000 dollars, this film would be the last of Russ Meyer's signature to be showcased properly in movie theaters.

Be Careful if you're faint of the heart!

Being on my blog makes me think you're not faint of the heart but, just in case you truly are an idiot, the following sections was made specially for you. Some people have considered Russ Meyer works as mostly the work of a  sex maniac and/or a work of a pervert's mind and Beneath the Valley of the ultra Vixens is no exception. Check the following list I made based on online research that considered all things Meyer offensive:

- Women are portrayed as nymphomaniacs.

- Women spend most of their time naked, displaying tits, asses and bushes.

- Women have sex with dildos in very graphic scenes. 

- There are some scenes where we see Johnsons.

-The film features Nazi music and swastikas (what's with Meyer and Nazis is beyond me) 

-There is one scene where there is pseudo-necrophilia.

- People's blood is in different colors. For instance,  a black man bleeds white blood.

- There is a scene that depicts incest. 

Scissors!

Bisexuality babes.

I don't give a flying fuck about it! tell me about the movie!

The film's storyline is pretty simple and doesn't beat around the bushes, oh wait! this is a Russ Meyer movie! there must be some beating around the bushes if you know what I mean! The flick takes place in Smalltown USA. The two lead roles, Levonna & Lamar, could have the perfect relationship if it weren't for Lamar's obsession with anal sex. After submitting to the one last time Levonna comes up with a plan. While Lamar is trying to find other tail to try his technique on, Levonna becomes Lola with aid of a wig and a Mexican accent. A Mexican cocktail later Lola finally has Lamar straight, but he wasn't awake for it. The gay marriage counselor, attracted to Lamar's problem, couldn't help them and Lemar must finally seek redemption at the church of Rio Dio Radio and the laying on of hands by Sister Eufaula Roo... 

Ride that cock vixen!

Lemme comb my bush before you go down on me.

The story, as above mentioned,  surrounds several inhabitants of "Smalltown USA" who are all pretty much a bunch of back-woods nymphos. The main storyline focuses on slow-witted Lamar and over-sexed Lavonia (played by super-sexy Meyer ex-girlfriend, Kitten Natividad...), a couple who have their own unique sexual problems. Lamar can only get turned on by screwing Lavonia in the ass, and Lavonia is an insatiable nympho that just can't get enough dick (or pussy in some cases) from anyone that's around. The film follows the antics of the couple as they try to work through their issues. Along the way, the audience is introduced to several other equally endowed women and equally IQ-deficient men, which leads to some pretty comical encounters...

This night looks good for some casual sex.

Women still like toys.

The plot may be gaunt, but the female flesh on display sure isn't. BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRA-VIXENS has more gigantic tits, asses, and furry '70s puss-fros on display (and even a few boners for the ladies...) than you can shake your dong at. Again, the plot isn't anything to really write home about - but the situations that the characters are thrown into are pretty damn funny in most cases, and the virtually non-stop assault of semi-explicit soft-core sex scenes should keep any sexploit film-lover more than amused.

It's diddle your skiddle time!

Of course you can look!

Ann Marie has one of the most amazing pair of tits I've ever seen. She defies gravity! The rest of the cast is equally built especially Uschi Digard and June Mack as Junk Yard Sal. It really is a shame that this was the only film appearance by June Mack in an x-rated movie. She and Ann Marie both have bodies that cry out to be in more movies. The opening scene with radio evangelist Ann Marie - 100,000 watts of faith healing power - mounting Martin Bormann in the open coffin is probably one of the most sexiest scenes even put on celluloid. As far as plot goes as concocted and written by Meyer and sometime co-writer, Roger Ebert, suffice it to say that a complete dolt of a husband is married to Kitten Natividad and the only way he can get an erection or have sex with her is by going through the back door. Stuart Lancaster, a mainstay in Meyer films, is the on-screen narrator. Ann Marie finally cures the dolt and Uschi Digard turns up near the end.  

Sex? yes please!

Always in the mood for a good fuck.

My only real complaint would be the gross under-usage of Uschi Digard, Ann Marie, and Sharon Hill - all of whom are just as, if not hotter than Natividad - especially Uschi, who only gets one very short scene. Even so - sexploit fans will rejoice over this one. Not as memorable as Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (my personal favorite of the handful of Meyer films that I've seen) but far more laden with nudity and sex - and I'll never complain about that. A fun and truly funny sex-romp that is well worth a look.

a Good old water fuck.

Some Trivia about the movie

The house used in the opening sequence actually belonged to director Russ Meyer, you know, on such low budget it could be a great idea to rely on your personal belongings, couldn't it?

The character names Flovilla, Eufaula, and Lavonia were all inspired by places in Atlanta. The name Lamar was inspired by comedian Jonathan Winters.

This would be the last of Russ Meyer's theatrical feature films. He made one more film, a video feature, 22 years later in 2001, so yes, this is a must watch. 

Overall, a fairly entertaining movie, this is definitely not Russ Meyer at his best as he was in Faster, Pussycat Kill! Kill! but for the connoisseurs this is a great testimony of the ending of his career.

Here's the movie trailer:

Up

If you don't see up...

Today's entry is about 1976's Up! and I assure you it has nothing to do with the Disney/Pixar movie that wears the same name. 

We already know what to expect from a film directed & produced by Russ Meyer: Gigantic boobs, big asses, 70's style bushes & plenty of wet pussies. Up! is yet another entry in the extended list of movies only Russ Meyer could deliver. Although it doesn't offer plenty of new elements to make the film appealing to greater audiences, it does feature several elements that make it a must watch. If this kind of film is what makes your day, then please, continue this interesting reading and be sure to check the screencaps that illustrate the most relevant cinematic moments of the film.

Gee! a bleeding twat & now this huge Johnson!

Friendly hand.

So, what is Up about?

Stating what a Russ Meyer movie is about can sometimes be a hard to tell task but, UP kicks off with the murder of some man called Adolf Schwartz (who kinda looks like Adolf hitler himself) by placing a ravenous piranha fish in his bathtub. Who did it? No-one knows or cares, as they're too busy being distracted by busty Margo Winchester, who hitch-hikes into town and gets involved with all the local men, if you know what I mean.

It all ends with a series of complicated plot twists that reveal that just about everyone is really someone else. And if it gets too confusing, Russ Meyer helpfully arranges for a one- woman nude Greek chorus to pop up at intervals to explain what's going on. Yes, the last sentence you read is serious.

Wow ,this guy looks kinda german, ain't he?

The ultimate co-pilot comes with integrated airbags!

Russ Meyer makes his films, when they're at their best or most brilliantly deranged, like the dream of some sexually charged sixteen year old who's seen his share of pornos and 70's era exploitation films. They're crazy visions of women with (usually) nothing lower than 36-C cups, men with third legs (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more), and enough fornication to blow the head gasket of any puritan viewer. 

That being said, Meyer isn't exactly a real porno director. He makes sex films in the same way that Robert Rodriguez makes wild action or horror or kids films: as a do-it-yourself-auteur (i.e. writes, directs, produces, edits, DP's, even camera operates), he's all about getting a pulpy sensibility of what would otherwise be typical trashy material. Meyer also is gifted with a wonderfully cringe-worthy sense of humor. To give just a brief example- and maybe as one of the quintessential scenes in any exploitation flick- the scene where two completely naked women, one Eva Braun Jr with a knife and screaming maniacally about the fall of Nazism and the plight of his 'father', run after one another trying to kill each other in the woods.

Cunni Lingus deadliest weapon.

Such Labia can fly on its own!

So Up! is in another in a whole body of works where Meyer turns the conventions of the usual in movie-making, like a kooky member of National Lampoon, but at the same time I'm not sure it's one of his very best. It's a little scatter-shot in the story, if there is one closely to even follow with the Greek Chrous (Kitten Navidad, whose lines were dubbed by aother performer) where in every time whatever semblance of a story is taking shape we're led off by this narrator and Meyers's editing which takes us into a strange loop of sequencing of events and images (which in and of themselves are good, but distracting). 

But when Up! does click, it works very well. Mostly this involves the early scenes with Adolph Schwartz (ho-ho), who gets masochistic sex from a dominatrix and a man with a huge thing, and then gets killed mysteriously in his bathtub. Then we're thrust into some backwoods group, including a shifty but well-intentioned sheriff (Monty Bane), a big, uproarious homunculus in Rafe (Bob Schott), and of course Meyer's 'harem' of girls.

Sure you can handle it babe.

I'm a man of the law, and those boobs are dangerous ma'am!

The flick is fun, in all basic intentions, to see these girls have fun and go into exuberant glee doing their scenes, as opposed to the more degrading XXX features that get pretty boring after a while. This is where the dream facet comes in, where everything is just so surreal (the frolicking sex out in the open, wherever it is, the Nazi stuff right out of a typical exploitation flick from Europe, the double-climax that combines sex AND violence), that you just have to go along for the ride and laugh with all the craziness. 

What helps is Meyer's great cinematic eye- yes, great- as he shoots and edits as though every image has to be just next to perfect. While the actual content is sometimes all over the place, like with Rafe's rape scenes, where he turns into a true drunken gorilla, the actual quality of the film-making is nearly flawless. Which is to Meyers's credit, as what is in Up! could be the makings of a much more lewd and crude effort.

Sermon on the mount.

Always find the right tree to do your thing.

Hard to find (had to look deep on line until I finally came across a DVD edition of it) and not without little dips in real strength in the comedy, Up! demonstrates some great Meyers' product: beautiful, voluptuous, and mostly funny women (loved the one woman who's voice sounded out of femme fatale noir), total horn-dogs and beasts in men, and a bit of vicious satire to boot. More beer! 

 Here is the entire classic for your viewing pleasure:

Supervixens

Because one Vixen film isn't enough.

Yes peeps! Russ Meyer felt he could expand the universe he himself started in 1968 with the first Vixen movie of the boobtastic saga. The year is 1975 and the sexual revolution on film is at its peak so in order to entertain properly Supervixen's story is way hotter and tittier than its rated X predecessor.

So, what is Supervixens about?

Clint Ramsey has to leave his job working at Martin Bormann's gas station and flee after his wife is murdered by psycho cop Harry Sledge, who tries to pin the murder on Clint. Crossing America, Clint gets sexually harassed on all sides by various voluptuous nymphomaniacs, and it all ends in a literally explosive climax.

Review with an eyebleed

 

Russ Meyer loves breasts, and he's a filmmaker, but it's mostly the breast thing. That doesn't mean that he's not good at what he does, which is making raucous comedies where there's a dumb, well-hung klutz (Charles Pitts, in thankfully his only significant point in his career as Clint Ramsey), the dual role of the schizo-girlfriend (SuperAngel) and later her re-incarnation as a gas station attendant (SuperVixen), and the enemy of the film, the diabolical, totally evil Harry Sledge (Charles Napier, a classic part in a long character actor career). Much of this is just silly, very silly, and strange, deranged, illogical, and probably would be seen on the surface as sexist. But looking past the fact that there are a lot of naked women who continually throw themselves at Clint, there is something more to Meyer's psychology here. It would probably be something of a big point had the film been used in Zizek's The Pervert's Guide to Cinema: it's like a classic farce- yet still a somewhat truthful farce- about male desire.

Handshakes? nah, I prefer cockshakes!!

Like my Dildo videogame console?

Take the fact that while Clint is on his 'journey'- running from the scene of a crime he didn't commit, which was the murder and burning down of the dig that SuperAngel was living in- he continually gets into situations where the women present want to desperately ride him till Tuesday...but then there's always another man. There's a fascinating push-and-pull (no pun intended...maybe a little) to how the men treat the women in the picture. Until Clint agrees to stay with SuperVixen and take care of the gas station does he finally seem to relax, as before with the guy in the car, the farmer, the motel owner, all had women as their next of kin or significant others that were persona non grata. Behind the hilarity that ensues as Clint gets practically raped in a hayloft by a German girl, or when a mute/deaf black chick tries to get Clint to have his way with her in a desert, there is subtext- desire is defined by property. By the time Clint gets to SuperVixen, and finds out her man ran out on her weeks ago, it's like they're suddenly whisked away to the Garden of Eden (rather, in Arizona, as is one of the funniest sections of the flick), as they run around naked in ecstasy. Freud would have a field-day.

Boob service, I mean room service!

hang on to the bars!

But one must not forget the Harry Sledge character who, like Hopper in Blue Velvet or Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart, is as Zizek described a larger-than-life, absurdist figure of man's libido. Maybe it was subconscious or not, but there's a lot to do in Supervixens with the idea of potency, or impotency. Harry can't get it up, the truth of it, and it becomes a sudden turn to see Harry suddenly stomp SuperAngel (albeit, in one of the most illogical scenes I've ever seen in any movie, taunts him for five minutes while locked in a bathroom following a bad sexual experience) and burn the place down as a means of compensation, an inherent lack of drive leading to the demise of anyone around him. While this seems to go overboard in the last twenty minutes of the film, when he returns in and becomes an ultimate terror upon Clint and SuperVixen, there's probably more one could read into in terms of symbolism than your average Bunuel movie: the dynamite shooting out of a chute, the one stick next to SuperVixen's most private of private spots, and all raised to the level of delirium.

Gimme that cum now fucker!

Yes! hillbilly sex!

The more I thought about it after the movie ended, the more it seemed to make sense, the idea of the ID blown-up in, of all things, a Russ Meyer movie. But this will be moot to most viewers who are just looking for what it there in a Meyer movie- sex and craziness, usually at the same time, it's already apparent how equally proficient and tacky he can be: he's a master at editing, and casts his actors like it's a slight step above Z-grade porn. Which, of course, adds to its hysterical attitude, as we see one of the worst male actors of the 20th century play off of girls who rarely have a dirty smile off of their faces (save for when they're taunting Sledge, or getting caught by their daddies or husbands). And because Meyer, in the Mel Brooks sense, rises below vulgarity, his picture works so well even as it shouldn't. It deserves to be shown in grindhouse theaters and be found in the dirty sections of video stores. That it's an unlikely classic to be found in either of those places is hard to deny. 

Freewheelin' nigga!

Dumb blonde.

Supervixen's Trivia

The first draft of the script was written during an eight day writing session at the Mauna Kea Hotel in Hawaii by Russ Meyer. It was the first feature script he wrote himself.

The exteriors were shot in Arizona and the interiors were shot in California.

The actual budget of the film was just under $100,000 can you believe it?

The lead role was originally offered to Robyn Hilton, who turned it down.

Russ Meyer originally intended to cast his wife Edy Williams in the role of SuperVixen, but they split up and he decided to use Shari Eubank (cast as SuperAngel) in the dual roles of SuperAngel and SuperVixen. This necessitated the strange plot device of SuperVixen being the reincarnation (sort of) of SuperAngel, with Eubank also playing the ghost of SuperAngel. 

Here's the movie trailer:

And, since the film was very inspiring, here the "Supervixen" song as written and performed by the amazing alt rock band Garbage:

Vixen!

1968 gone wild!

Today I decided it was time to return to our kiny roots so it's time to meet boobs master Russ Meyer and his legendary movies. Today it is very difficult to find a movie connoisseur asking who Mr. Russ Meyer is- genius, pervert, visionary, sleazeball, lunatic, exploiter of carnal desires, grass-roots statesman, slick entrepreneur or all of the above?

Of all of his films I've seen, this has to be the one I'd class as THE definitive Russ Meyer movie (yes, I know about Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill & Mudhoney). Not his most outrageous, not his most well-made, not his most offensive, but this one has just about everything in it that sums up the entire body of work of the film-making giant that was Russ Meyer.

There's a storyline that holds all of Russ's obsessions together, sort of. A very happily married couple in Canada, Tom & Vixen, run a type of getaway lodge. Tom's a pilot & is away a lot of the time, leaving Vixen very lonely & itching for just about anything that will get her motors running. When Tom's back, she still needs non-stop lovin' 24 hours a day, even though she loves him, & he's the one who can do more for her than anyone else in the world. She's just way too much for one man.

Shagging in the woods.

Watery sex.

Vixen's first victims are an uptight young couple - bored husband & sexy, frustrated wife. She nails both of them, & they leave happier in their marriage than ever. Er, moral of the story? Then she's off to find new prey. Hanging around the lodge are two bikers - her younger brother, Judd, & his Negro friend Niles, a draft-dodging fugitive from the US . Vixen's only dialogue with them is sleazy, teasing come-on lines to her brother, & racist abuse to Niles. Eventually, she seduces her brother, but completely freaks out when he brings Niles in for seconds. Incest, fine, but inter-racial relations? That's where Vixen draws the line.

Needless to say, this is not your average tit-flick.

Meanwhile, dear old pilot Tom has found an expensive charter, a ridiculously stereotyped Irishman called O'Bannion, complete with green suit, peaked cap & a full red beard. He's supposed to go to San Francisco, but instead convinces Niles to help him hijack the plane & head to Cuba. Vixen manages to come out of this twisted tale somewhat redeemed & ready for more action than ever.

Redhead gives good head.

Are my tits too big for ya?

Utterly wrong on so many levels, but there's a weird charm about this film that's hard to resist. The characters are so hard to sympathise with in any way, you don't bother judging them & just enjoy watching their idiotic exploits with a type of voyeuristic, morbid fascination.

For anyone yet to experience the cinema of Russ Meyer, this is the perfect film to start with. If you don't like it, don't go any further. If you do, though, then you've taken your first step into a larger world. Besides, this movie made history because it is one of the first films to receive the newly-formed MPAA's X rating. 

Look into my asshole?

But hell, what da hell is an X rated movie ma' nigga'? 

the X rating originally referred to a non-trademarked rating that indicated a film contained content that was not suitable for children, such as extreme violence, and thus was for adults only. When the MPAA film rating system began on November 1, 1968 in the U.S., the X rating was given to a film by the MPAA if submitted to them or, due to its non-trademarked status, it could be self-applied to a film by a distributor who knew beforehand that their film contained content unsuitable for minors. 

In the late 1960s to mid-1980s, several mainstream films were released with an X rating such as Midnight Cowboy, A Clockwork Orange, Fritz the Cat, Last Tango in Paris and The Evil Dead. Because the X rating was not trademarked, anybody could apply it to their films, including pornographers, which many began to do in the 1970s. As pornography began to become chic and more legally tolerated, pornographers placed an X rating on their films to emphasize the adult nature of them. Some even started using multiple X's (i.e. XX, XXX, etc.) to give the impression that their film contained more graphic sexual content than the simple X rating. In some cases, the X ratings were applied by reviewers or film scholars, e.g. William Rotsler, who wrote "The XXX-rating means hard-core, the XX-rating is for simulation, and an X-rating is for comparatively cool films." 

Erica Gavin, the star of the film.

Anyways, 1968's Vixen, may not harm and/or offend any post 90's decade viewer since the sexual revolution it depicts has been graphically improved by other films from later decades, redefining the "shocking film" concept and taking it to new levels of the unbearable. 

Overall, Vixen provides an hour and half of B class entertainment, where the lead role isn't an academy award winning actor but an astonishing big boobs Erica Gavin who happens to debut in the big screen with this Russ Meyer early gem. Of course, this film and everything Russ Meyer related, was made for connoisseurs of the exploitation genre, not for average viewers.

Enjoy it with a glass of cold beer. This movie definitely tastes better having a glass of belgian beer Gulden Draak and maybe reprising your favorite scenes later with your girlfriend and/or wife.

Here's the movie trailer, which features a foreword that makes undestanding the storyline even easier: