Just like Jean Rollin, Russ Meyer had a very specific interest in movies. On the other hand, while Rollin had his nude vampires, Meyer was a much simpler man. He was just interested in tits. Big tits.

I was actually surprised how many movies he made in his lifetime. I was aware of six, but apparently he directed 24 features. I probably should have expected this, because you need to direct a lot of B-movies to keep yourself in business. The thing is, of the ones I’ve seen, five are shit and one in actually pretty good. The one that’s pretty good, is the only one that doesn’t have any nudity in it.

Like Jean Rollin, most of Meyer’s movies are just a blur for me. They are just one scene of very big tits after another, held together by a threadbare plot, often featuring his partner (although he also had a wife), Kitten Natividad, being a kind of narrator. She is even credited as The Greek Chorus in Up! (not that Up).

For some reason, I saw some of these on TV as kid. One of the Finnish channels would show them in the 90s. They had a block for various adult content (with possible penetration censored) and this was just one of those. However, Meyer did not like hardcore. Just like Waters, he found it to be boring, so he just shot nude with with huge tits dancing instead.

Let’s talk about the two movies I have some recollection of.

Faster, Pussycat! Kill Kill!!
United States, 1965, dir. Russ Meyer

A half-star review from Letterboxd: I had the distinct pleasure of beholding this masterpiece in my youth and I must declare it was nothing short of utterly captivating my dear sir. It is with the utmost enthusiasm that I commend this spectacle to my esteemed associates. And at but a mere tuppence for admission I dare say it was an experience more than worthy of such a modest price

A five-star review from Letterboxd: In a perfect world this would’ve won Best Picture. Fuck The Sound of Music.

Three go-go dancers go out for a drive. During their drive, they meet a young couple and come to kill the guy. Since they don’t want the girl to rat out on them, they kidnap her. On their way, they stop at a gas station, where they learn that a local disabled man has a lot of money hidden somewhere on his ranch. The women decide to steal it, so they visit the ranch and try to manipulate the different family members to tell them the location of the money while keeping an eye on the girl who is still with them.

The three women, Varla, Rosie and Billie, are pretty iconic. Varla looks very dangerous and she is (the actor, Tura Satana was the most capable fight choreographer on set, so she did most of the staging on those scenes), Rosie is very loyal to her, while Billie is more independent and goes against Varla’s wishes, especially when men are involved. They are wild and they really don’t feel a need to follow societal norms.

The name doesn’t refer to anything specific. The idea was to insert action, sex and violence into it and apparently that was the best they could come up with. Not that it worked. It was not a hit on release. According to Meyer, this was because audiences couldn’t really handle women being in relationships with each other.

Since there is no nudity in the movie, you can probably find it on YouTube. I did.

Up!
United States, 1976, dir. Russ Meyer

A half-star review from Letterboxd: We need more whodunnit and less who’s doing it

A five-star review from Letterboxd: Where else can a movie that opens with a Pilgrim fucking Hitler in the ass go? Anywhere a movie that opens with a Pilgrim fucking Hitler in the ass damn well pleases!

Now, I seem to remember that the “Hitler” here was actually a pleasant old man, who just happened to have kinks for which he was willing to pay a lot of money. I’m not sure though. The story isn’t really the main draw of this movie.

Whoever that man was, he is living in California when he is murdered. Soon after, a hitchhiker arrives in town and starts to ask questions as she tries to solve the murder. She also has a lot of sex and is the victim of multiple attempted rapes and one actual rape, when the local sheriff coerces her into sex by promising to cover up her killing one of those attempted assailants.

Again, there’s no explicit sex, although there are multiple sex scenes and a lot of nudity. Our heroine just keeps finding herself in situations where she needs to run away from or run after someone completely nude. Not much gets accomplished regarding the investigation, though as things just happen in this small town without much in the way of progressing the plot.

… and then there’s the Greek Chorus of Kitten Natividad, just dancing in random places in the nude as she explains what’s going on and sometimes just appears in the movie as well.

All in all, it’s not good, but if you want an example of what this man’s work was largely like, this is a good example of it and is fun in it’s weirdness.