Russ Meyer had his first real flop with The Seven Minutes - he went back to independent filmmaking and came up with his second real flop. I didn't really like it- too unpleasant - but there were many unpleasant films around this time that made money so maybe there's something in Meyer's claim this was a few years too late.
I think also the film had a structural problem - blaxploitation films normally had black stars, mostly male but also female. This one is about two white people really - the guy who arrives at the plantation looking for his brother, and the white girl who runs it. I think if Meyer had made the hero a black dude it would have been a hit - you could have had him being a stud with all the women, and helping inspire the slave rebellion, etc.
If Meyer didn't want to go down that road the film would have been better off with a female lead (most Meyer films are better off when they focus on the women). He talked about the backstory of the lead in an interview - this working class girl who slept her way to the top. That sounds like a fun movie. This woman being racist and whipping people running a slave plantation isn't fun.
It's a gorgeous looking film - it was shot on location in Barbados. And production values are good - with the old house, cane fields, beaches, prisons, etc. Anouska Hempel is cute and not a bad actor in the lead - Meyer complained her breasts weren't big enough. He didn't cast then wife Edy Williams in the film - you know something, Edy probably would have been more fun.
Percy Herbert adds some class to the support cast. David Werbeck is alright as the white saviour.
But it's a mean spirited film. Lots of violence and racism and whipping. Not enough sex.
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