Good Morning... and Goodbye!

I like GOOD MORNING...AND GOODBYE! Yes, the whole thing is silly. The soapy elements are annoying but visually this movie rocks. Just look at the beginning of the movie, with the credits on the mailboxes. Fun and original. Even though I didn't care much about plight of the old man (impotence), I thought the whole visual juxtaposition of the horny construction worker (who sleeps with every women in town) against the rich old man who can't satisfy his own wife worked in a wicked way, certainly when this culminates in a bloody fist fight between the old man and the beefy construction worker at the end of the movie. Yep, sex and violence. And then there's Haji, who plays the earthy sorceress who helps the old man regain his mojo. She's the film's most beautiful woman, imo. It's obvious Haji had a lot of fun doing this picture.

The film is dated on several levels. But the almost minimalist approach to the filmmaking (and the sometimes stunning photography) gives the movie a sorta timeless feel to it, which counters the really dated aspects. All in all, a pretty good Russ Meyer flick.

When you read about Russ Meyer, people usually write about Erica Gavin, Edie Williams, Tura Satana, but I never hear anyone mention how wonderful Alaina Capri is as Angel in Good Morning and Goodbye. Before Vixen, Alaina Capri was the super-bitch with an unquenchable thirst for sins of the flesh. Smoldering bitch glare, perfect dark brown mountain of hair that is always set perfectly, arched eyebrows, she really is the perfect RM archetype. This is a sexploitation film but it is very unique in it's frank depiction of human sexuality. Most films of this era have men that are in control love machines, this one deals with the crippling affects male impotence can have on connubial bliss. The women in 'Good Morning..' demand their sexual needs. Unconventional for its time. I love the scene when Angel gets so horny that she drives to the construction sight and lays on the horn alerting her stud of her presence. This film is also a great showcase for Haji. I love that she is dressed like Eve, Mother of the Earth, her silver fig leafs covering her bronze body, she teaches Burt( the impotent husband) how to make love again with her sexual witchcraft. Haji's role is mysterious, sometimes it is depicting her as a invisible nymph watching and manipulating the other players like Puck in A Midsummer's Nights Dream... other times she is seen interacting with the characters... Is she good? Is she evil? Indeed does she exist at all? This movie is campy and silly but one gets the feeling that the director is in on the joke. The opening narration is some of the funniest dialogue of all time ("They're like a beef stew..."). Although Roger Ebert basically dismissed this film and 'Common Law Cabin' in his retrospective of RM's work as being his lesser films, I think 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls' pays many homages in its screenplay to 'Good Morning...' The photography is beautiful, Russ Meyer was a master of blending art and sexploitation.

Russ Meyer obviously doesn't think much of "save the best for last", because the best scene of the movie is the opening segment, which has the only true nudity in all of GMAG, and the best-looking woman - and the best pair of breasts (of the highest russmeyerian quality). I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's downhill from there, but the fact that Capri's ample bosom is never truly revealed to the lusting male viewers is a disappointment. "Less is more" doesn't quite work when it comes to (very) soft porn, now does it... The movie is saved by that great late 60s feel, and over-the-top mugging by some of the cast. Capri speaks exactly like the short-haired brunette bimbo that gets killed off early on in the MST-spoofed "Horror At Party Beach". Those two must have gone to the same charlatanic acting coach; they probably dreamed of stardom, poodles with their own trailers, 100-mill villas... the poor, deluded trollops... As I saw Capri I was instantly reminded of two women (talking about the face here): 1) Raquel Welch; Capri's face is how Welch would have looked if she had done yet another nose-correction, and 2) Amy Winehouse; now, before you call me a blind moron, I have to add that Winehouse would look like Capri if she had around 10,000 facial surgeries. In fact, Amy is so "gorgeous" that she'd probably need dozens of surgeries just to be considered homely. Ciral, playing the blond, is quite sexy, too, whereas the Indian woman is nothing to shout about; a great chest, I'm sure, but 1967 must have been too early even for Meyer to show them to us. All in all not bad, but without the fast-forward button a bit too long...

'Good Morning... and Goodbye!' is one of Russ Meyer's more obscure movies. I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to Meyer's strangely skewed world of sex and violence, but anybody already into his movies will not be disappointed. The best thing about the movie is the opening voice-over dialogue which I wish I could quote at length. It's priceless and pure Meyer, and is narrated over a montage of action shots which include most of the movie's nudity (which is very little). Written by Jack Moran, who also scripted Meyer's classic 'Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!' and his extremely underrated 'Common Law Cabin', it stars the wonderful Stuart Lancaster from the former, and the beautiful Alaina Capri, from the latter. Lancaster is one of Meyer's best loved actors, and Capri is arguably his most underrated actress. She only starred in two of his movies, but was not only hot, but played the bitch goddess roles as good as Eric Gavin ('Vixen!'). Why she is hardly mentioned when anyone discusses Meyer's leading ladies is a mystery to me. Lancaster and Capri play an unhappily married couple. Lancaster is rich but impotent, and Capri is sexually frustrated. Add to this Capri's blue collar boyfriend, and Lancaster's blossoming teenage daughter and you're set for some typically hysterical Meyer soap operaisms. To top it all off Haji memorably appears as a witch who gives Lancaster back his mojo. 'Good Morning... and Goodbye!' wouldn't make my list of favourite Russ Meyer movies, but it by no means his worst effort, and pretty entertaining. Fans should enjoy it, but beginners are advised to start with 'Faster Pussycat!' or 'Supervixens' for the real deal.

Russ Meyer fans may be a little disappointed when they watch this movie, because there's only one storyline and that is of going around having sex with 1 or 2 people. It's kind of boring because there's not too much nudity and it's lacking some action. The story is about an uninhibited woman who is always craving for sex, but her impotent old husband cannot fulfill her sexual needs, so she goes out and has sex with this other guy named "stone" and continues to taunt her old husband....that he's nothing but a boring old fart who can't get it up.What I found really stupid about this movie is this "forest girl" who supposedly lives in the forests. It's pretty lame to put a "forest girl " type character wearing jungle clothes. The old man takes a car ride into the forests , he notices the "forest girl" and he starts making love to her. The ending of the movie is pretty predictable. For all you "early adult movie" fans , I recommend "Mondo Topless", that movie is full of topless girls running around and showcasing mother nature's most luscious assets