No one's favourite Russ Meyer movie - few people seem to say much about it. I remember watching it at the cinema, and not having a good time. The tone feels slightly off - as if Meyer was trying to do something a little different but afraid to.
There are constant, constant insert shots which gets wearying - vagina, tongues, extreme close ups of arses. The sex seems to be in only a few positions and frequently in long shot - one partner stands up while other wraps legs around waist, from behind, in a creek, on rocks. There's also a bit more penis action if I'm not mistaken than other Meyer films - we see several dildos, glimpses of real ones, etc.
I didn't like this for the most part. I didn't find it funny when Raven de La Croix was raped several times and it was treated comically (one time she falls asleep and wakes up to find someone do it, another time its from a lumberjack - with Meyer making a cameo as someone cheering it on).
Then in the last 20 minutes the film clicks - it becomes this outrageous, genuinely fun cartoony comedy with people running around naked and backstories involving Eva Braun. You watch it and go "that's what the film should be like". Indeed, I went back and rewatched the first bit again to see if I could enjoy it all like that and... nope - couldn't do it.
Pleasing locations. Kitten Natividad is fun as the Greek chorus commenting on the action. Janet Wood is fantastic as Alice - really beautiful and buxom and sweet. So too is Raven as a perfect Meyer hero - I reckon they should have let the audience know earlier on that she was an undercover agent, he would have played with those tropes more.
I just hate all that rape. Critics who argue Meyer was feminist really need to see this rape-as-a-joke film.
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