Pandora Peaks

Russ Meyer returns to film-making for the first time in twenty years with this documentary about mega-busty stripper/nude model Pandora Peaks. It follows a similar basic template to Meyer's earlier stripper documentary Mondo Topless (1966), although with a focus far more squarely on one girl, despite appearances from other models, including Candy Samples. It's typified by lots of sexy routines from Peaks accompanied by biographical voice-over material. There's also quite a lot of (lame) humour.

With this film Meyer essentially achieves what I had always thought was impossible in that he makes large breasts kind of boring. Don't get me wrong, I find Ms Peaks very attractive and the idea of watching her strip through a series of routines sounds like a pretty good idea to me. But the problem is, that in order to make that kind of stuff work you really need to keep things simple and just point the camera and watch but Meyer being Meyer he is simply unable to do such a thing and can't help but use his usual rapid fire editing style, which works so very well in is idiosyncratic narrative films but which is so useless in a film that should essentially just be soft-core erotica and nothing more. So what we end up with is the worst of both worlds with a series of well shot scenes with Pandora Peaks edited so frantically you can't really enjoy them properly. Meaning that, you are left with the film as a documentary but it's hardly riveting stuff on that front and, in any case, is offset by an alarming amount of annoying humour which brings things down a peg or two further still.

I am a fan of Meyer's work but he always achieves his best results when working with an actual story. When he doesn't have one, his style can grate a bit and here is no different. Pandora Peaks is gorgeous of course but it's a pity Meyer didn't provide her with something better suited to his talents as a film-maker. She deserved better from him.

As I am gay, the best part of this movie would not (to me anyway) be Miss Peak's breasts (ample and impressive though they are!). No, it has to be the great wealth of knowledge Pandora shows as she gives witty comments. Never let it be said that a blond with an ample bosom is brainless and empty headed! For example, as I was born and grew up 10 miles south of Scranton, I found it especially informative when Pandora was going on and on about the wonderful people and places she gets to see while traveling in support of her titties, and how she loved the wonderful steam ships in Scranton...uhhh...wait...Scranton is nicknamed SteamTown because of the antique steam TRAINS, not SHIPS! I seem to be defeating the very purpose of this post (add sarcasm as needed).

The fact that Miss Peaks cannot tell the difference between steam ships and steam trains might tell you something about her. I'll leave you to decide just what that might be. Hugs and kisses to you!

Extremely similar to Russ Meyer's abysmal 'Mondo Topless' some 30+ years earlier, there's not a hint of a plot in this film, and even the rampant nudity gets redundant after a while. Pandora Peaks fills the screen with her fit body (thanks to Trimax exercise equipment -- she actually shills for the company for almost two straight minutes!) and obviously enhanced breasts, and she tells moderately uninteresting stories while we get to look at everything she has to offer. If you prefer natural breasts, Hungarian Tundi appears in numerous clips that were apparently filmed more than a decade before the film was released. Russ Meyer, meanwhile, incessantly rambles on about various places in California (particularly in the desert) and Germany, and sophomoric sound effects routinely play whenever a pair of large breasts are unleashed on the screen.

Overall, it's easily one of Russ' worst efforts. His plot-driven films weren't always great, but at least they had more than big breasts and boring commentary. The frequent nudity MIGHT be enough to please teenaged boys, but in today's internet-driven world, I doubt it.

It's SLIGHTLY better than his nudie-cuties from 50 years ago, but that faint praise is the best that I can say about this mess.

Your response to Russ Meyer's Pandora Peaks will depend on your tolerance to reused footage, large breasts, rapid-fire editing, and crystal-clear photography used over and over and over again for seventy-one minutes. Keep in mind, this style rarely results in a specific point and discussion of themes housed in the film can definitely be initiated but only to a questionable reward.

My tolerance for this specific material proved rather high because, by the credits, I enjoyed Meyer's swan song, which would send off decades of risqué exploitation pictures that emphasized on the female body and the gloriousness of large breasts. Appropriately, Pandora Peaks focuses on the titular porn star who was incredibly top-heavy with a HHH bust measurement and an incredibly toned figure. The film largely spends its time follows Peaks around as she dresses and undresses, usually in public, and wears outrageously tight outfits that only go on to emphasize her voluptuous figure. During Peaks' scenes, she narrates and discusses her early years, largely spent hiding her unusually large figure thanks to her Christian-Conservative parents before embracing her body and her form later in her years as a stripper and a porn actress.

Peaks is a pretty attractive force, thanks to her beautiful blonde hair, dashing figure, confidence in appearance and position, sensual voice, and, of course, her assets. We get a lifetime's worth of scenes of her having fun with her assets and dressing and undressing for our pleasure. In one scene, she is dressed in loose-fitting blue costume, resembling a cheerleader, as she strips and discusses her work as a dancer at the Marcus Street Cinema. Through nostalgia and its ability to arouse, the scene clicks very well.

Spliced in with the frequent shots of Peaks are shots of places such as Mojave, Palm Desert, Germany, and Berlin, concocting what looks to be a travelogue narrated by Russ Meyer. Other clips from Meyer's older films such as Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, and shots of another big-breasted model named Tundi. This creates a strangely disjointed "story," that sometimes nauseatingly jumps between Peaks' autobiographical detailing of her life and Meyer's pseudo- travelogue chapter, creating what seems to be an intentionally uneven mash-up of focuses.

However, Peaks' story - which commands a good 60% of the film - is an intriguing one and one of sustainable interest. We get the impression that she is undercutting Meyer's lax approach to this particular project by using this potential-vehicle as an opportunity to allow her personal story to be heard and sincerity on her behalf to prevail. Through her efforts to do this, Peaks becomes likable and more than a big-breasted enigma. Few would be able to erect a personality while the camera's fixation seems to constantly be on your oversized assets.

Regardless of what story we're involved with, Meyer provides us with sharp photography, heavy on color- contrast and clarity and makes a film that is low on continuity, questionable in its intentions, but surprisingly bright and fun to look at.

Yes, there is little presence of a story, and many of the brave souls who will seek out this film are likely to dislike it and write off the entire project as a muddle. You're, in a way, correct. Pandora Peaks, through all its weirdness and inanity, is almost too easy of a target when put in a critical perspective. And yet, Meyer does what he wants with the project, ,molding it and forming it anarchically, forgoing convention and instated formula. The film is, in many ways, a fine send off to a bold filmmaker, and a strong showcase for its titular character, with an emphasis on "tit."

Starring: Pandora Peaks. Directed by: Russ Meyer.

There's actually not much to tell about this movie and definitely nothing to spoil. There was no plot, just sequences after sequences where Pandora Peaks gets undressed and dressed again while some music is playing in the background. But, if you wanna see Pandora Peaks naked (you can see every inch of her body in this one) or you're just a die-hard-fan of Russ Meyer stuff (although this one is very different than his real movies), this is the one for you. Otherwise, avoid this one.

I would give it 2 out of 10, and in Russ-Meyer-o'-meter 4 out of 10 (even though this one can't really be compared with his other stuff).