I 7 minuti che contano

The odds of Russ Meyer helming an intellectual courtroom drama think-piece on freedom of speech and civil rights are almost as long as his helming the number one grossing box-office movie the year before (BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS), but both occurred in a two-year period in the early 70s. Obviously one begat the other, but the cycle never repeated. Still, a case can be made for FOX assigning this movie to Meyer given his experience with censorship from his earlier forays into soft porn, which always ran the gamut between "guilty pleasure" and "good-humored raunch of dubious taste." Whatever your opinion of his sensibilities, Meyer always knew what his public wanted and he supplied it in copious quantity. With the possible exception of THE SEVEN MINUTES, that is.

What is THE SEVEN MINUTES? Well, it's Russ Meyer's lone attempt to Get Serious and Topical. While Meyer is intellectually up to the task, and halfway accomplishes the tough goal of laying out the controversies convincingly, he's not up to resolving things in a credible manner. The first half is a bit amateurish and thin but it is the second half where the bottom really falls out. In particular, Meyer tries to cram so many twists into the wacky denouement that any commentary he has previously made is lost. Perhaps all of this is satire of the politicization he is documenting, but if so, it's too uneven. Worse, it's not entertaining.

In one movie Meyer single-handedly alienated serious moviegoers, who stayed away merely based on his name. At the same time, he turned off his core audience, who could not have possibly been prepared for the utterly non-Russ Meyer product he delivered in THE SEVEN MINUTES. The trademark titillation, violence and bawdiness of his entire prior filmography is absent, replaced by sensationalized but strangely static courtroom dialogue. Meyer was never quite the same afterward and subsequently only made three or four more movies in the next 33 years after having made 18 in the preceding 11.

Still, if you like to see the Seventies at its most excessive and overly indulgent, this is a precious cautionary time capsule showing how someone successful in one area could not harness his skills in another. It's so breathtakingly, in-your-face bad that you might find it amusing. 1.5 / 10

After scoring a hit at Fox with "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," Russ Meyer plays it straight with a courtroom drama? Well, sort of...

Irving Wallace's novel is a terrific, suspenseful read and Meyer does a good job bringing the story to the screen, completely replacing the "surprise" ending of the novel with one of his own. As you can probably imagine, Meyer can't really play anything straight, so this film is full of Meyer's bright colors and eye-popping, um, camera work. The man is a brilliant cinematographer, and this film looks just as good as any of his others that I've seen. Odd camera angles, fast cuts, bad acting, Edy Williams, and gratuitous cleavage shots are all here and well worth a look.

Beware of the old television print of this film, for sale in some US video outlets. The hack job done by the censors just ruins the film. Fox has a gorgeous print of the film around, as it has been shown on the FX channel in the past, open matte (unlike BVOD, this one wasn't shot in Panavision), fully uncut and looking brand new. Write the folks at Fox and demand a proper video release!

THE SEVEN MINUTES is an atypical film in the career of director Russ Meyer, forever known for his exploitation thrillers featuring voluptuous actresses. This is a lot more serious and long-winded, a sluggish courtroom drama which begins with a bookseller being arrested for selling an undercover cop an obsence publication. What follows feels incredibly long-winded as we work our way through the trial and the reasons the book came into being in the first place. There's no real faulting the actors who work with what they get, but the script falters and this lacks drive and passion. You want more, but get less.

I just watched this film on Bravo. While I admit to being a bit of a Russ Meyer fan in the same way many people slow down to look at train wrecks, I actually found this movie surprisingly entertaining. Russ Meyer is the master of campy dialogue, bizarre twists and nonsensical plots, and of course larger (pun intended) than life characters. This movie has them all, but at a much more subdued level than most of his other films. In many ways, this film works ... much better at least than other Russ Meyer films.

If you are looking for a quality film delving into the drama of the courtroom, forget it here. With even a modicum of legal savvy it is easy to see all the holes in the courtroom antics of both sides. The twist at the end might be typical Russ Meyer, but it was also pretty predictable. Normally, I dislike predictability in a movie, but Russ Meyer flicks are usually such mixed up, twisted messes, that seeing a plot actually come to fruition with a credible twist that fits into the rest of the story was a bit of a treat.

I echo the sentiments of other users when they say that this is not a Russ Meyer fan's movie. Unfortunately, the only people who likely will ever see this film are the serious Russ Meyer fans who want to see everything the man has made. (Said fans can look for the cameo of Russ as well, in true Hitchcockian style *smile*.) I felt this was a good film, easy to watch, fun and sexy at times, with a few valuable (yet no doubt satirical) comments about the hypocrisy of the day. Being that Russ had his own personal problems with censorship, the movie is an obvious "poke-in-the-nose" at all the holier-than-thou types out to save society while wallowing in their own debauchery.

My Rating: 7 / 10 (Unless you are looking for a Russ Meyer genre film, then only 2 / 10)

After Russ Meyer hit it big with BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS for 20th Century Fox, he directed his second movie for the studio's two-picture deal with him. THE SEVEN MINUTES was a box office flop and ruined any chances Meyer may have had to continue with Fox. But I actually found myself liking this movie and while it's not as fantastic as his comedies or action flicks, MINUTES is still unique in its own way.

"The Seven Minutes" is a book that has been charged with obscenity and is blamed for leading a young boy to rape a girl. The film revolves around the court case against the book. That's pretty much it. Regular Meyer fans will be disappointed in this film, no doubt. While it does feature Edy Williams, Charles Napier, Stuart Lancaster, a young Tom Selleck, the actor who plays Martin Bormann, and the black boxer from BVD, these cast members appear in what amount to cameos and disappear very quickly. Yvonne de Carlo is great as an old-time Hollywood actress, though. The major problem with the film is that it is a serious film, not a slapstick comedy, a real turning point for Meyer. I wonder if he even wanted to make this film, as it is such a departure from his regular content.

THE SEVEN MINUTES is not filled with busty beauties or excellent music or outrageous situations, but features lots of Meyer's trademark lightning-quick editing and enough twists and turns in the plot to get the viewer involved in the story. The surprise ending is totally out of left field. Still, I would only recommend THE SEVEN MINUTES to diehard Meyer fans and even then, very carefully. The film is very hard to find, but I was able to rent it from Video Vault in Alexandria, VA. Even Meyer doesn't offer it on his Bosomania label! So if you spend lots of time searching for it, expecting another BVD or SUPERVIXENS, you will be disappointed when you finally see it. Worth one viewing.