Vixen!

Russ Meyer made movies that are unlike any others I can think of. Remembered as one of the pioneers of nudies and sex comedies, what isn't commented on as much as it should be is the sheer strangeness of his output. Never as flamboyantly bizarre as Jodorowsky, Argento or Lynch he nevertheless in his own way is as surreal as they come. 'Vixen!'s appeal may be mainly the promise of sex, that's a given, and the buxom Erica Gavin is unforgettable in the title role of a Canadian nympho who can't seem to keep her hands off any man, woman or even (in a fantastically strange erotic dance sequence) fish, but how does that explain the unexpected and jarring racial and political themes and speeches? What exactly was Meyer trying to achieve? Beats me. I've been a fan of his for years and I still can't explain him.

Erica Gavin (later in Meyer's classic 'Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls' and Demme's women in prison exploitation flick 'Caged Heat') may not be able to act for toffee, but watching this you can't keep your eyes of her. In between spewing racial epithets and taunts at her brother's draft dodger friend Niles (Harrison Page, also later of '..Dolls'), she screws her husband, a Mountie, a visiting couple, and even her own brother Jud, a hip biker type (Jon Evans). Vixen's loving husband Tom (Garth Pillsbury, 'Supervixens'), a freelance pilot, remains oblivious to her goings on and adores her. However before the end, Vixen, Tom and Niles world's will be turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious Irishman O'Bannion (Michael Donovan O'Donnell), who has an agenda of his own.

'Vixen!' has to be seen to be believed! Another oddball classic from Russ Meyer.

Vixen! (1968)

*** (out of 4)

Vixen Palmer (Erica Gavin) is the wife of a bush pilot in Canada and when he's out of town she undresses and does anyone she can get her hands on. Vixen's sexual charms turns on her brother who she will have sex with without an issue but she refuses to sleep with any black man as she feels they are dirty animals. Yes, this is Russ Meyer's take on racism mixed in with everything the cult director is known for. If you're afraid of sex and nudity then you might as well skip this film because we see the beautiful Vixen taking on various men, her brother and even a woman. Needless to say, Gavin has very big breast and Meyer isn't afraid to show them at any chance he gets. Gavin's beauty certainly shines through and I also felt she gave a pretty good performance as she's able to handle Meyer's dialogue and deliver all the goods. Harrison Page is also very good as the black guy Vixen is constantly throwing racial slurs at. It's rather strange how Meyer deals with the racism because he clearly gives the message off that it's wrong but the first half of the film tries and gets comedy from the subject as Vixen throws out all sorts of watermelon jokes as well as other slurs. At the end of the film is when the comedy stops and Meyer pours on the drama about racism in general as well as the Vietnam war. It's rather amazing at how he can make you laugh for half the film and then turn on a dime and deliver a message but he pulls it off. The film runs 70-minutes, which is the right running time to get everything covered and in the end the cult director manages another fine film if you can handle his type of movie.

A movie about Vixen (Erica Gavin) who has a Mountie husband who she loves...but she loves sex too! In the course of the movie she gets multiple men in bed--including her husband AND brother! Also there's a (tame) lesbian sequence.

This film put Russ Meyer on the map and was (I believe) the first critically acclaimed X rated film ever. It was a big hit when it came out. Unfortunately, it doesn't date well.

It is well-directed and Erica Gavin is just great (whatever happened to her), and it was VERY colorful...but by today's standards it's extremely tame. I'm surprised it has an NC-17 rating now--there's no hardcore sex and it only has topless females and no male nudity at all. Also it's (sadly) pretty dull and the addition of politics at the end was confusing (and pretty silly). It is worth catching though to see what was considered very shocking in 1968. Purportedly I saw the cut version (which has an R rating) but I've heard only a few seconds here and there are missing.

Meyer's next film "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" is much better and dates VERY well. Catch that instead.

Russ Meyer's VIXEN was one of the first films to receive the newly-formed MPAA's X rating. There were stories that in some theatres, people would pay just to see the trailer for it then leave before the main feature(shades of THE PHANTOM MENACE!). Comparing it to other adult films of that era or even to some of Meyer's other films, VIXEN looks almost tame. Erica Gavin stars as a sexually voracious woman who lives in Canada with her bush pilot husband. During the course of the film, Gavin has sex with her husband, a Mountie (apparently they always get their WOMAN too), both members of a married couple that they guide through the Great White North and her own brother(!). Oddly enough, the only name I recognized from this movie was Harrison Page, the black friend of Vixen's brother. Page, like Gavin, also appeared in Meyer's BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, but he also had a sitcom in the Seventies (LOVE THY NEIGHBOR . . . and no, it wasn't about wifeswapping!). As with Meyer's other work, there is no way you can watch this and keep a straight face . . . nor should you want to.

I find it amazing nobody has yet commented on this film, which it's certainly impossible to ignore (just like any other Russ Meyer fare).

So I'm not going to comment either. I won't talk about how ignored Russ Meyer is as a genuine auteur or how misinterpreted his films are by the vast majority of critics. And I won't mention how I think Russ Meyer has a great talent for writing dialogue with deep, philosophical implications (though some people would never know it).

If I have one complaint, it's that the film (or filmette) is rather too short at only 70 mins US, 63 mins Deutschland. Those poor Germans had fully 10% of the movie slashed, and one wonders why; it was rated 18 or X anyway, and though the film has "adult themes" (in case you didn't notice) it's in no way "pornographic" (for that matter, neither is ANY Russ Meyer film, in my opinion).

The most entertaining aspect of the movie is undoubtedly the unique style of acting. Actually, I don't think the acting in this movie (or for that matter ANY Russ Meyer movie) is "bad". It's just self-consciously mannered in a style that immediately tells you, as soon as you switch on the TV, that you're watching a Russ Meyer movie. Russ worked hard (I'm sure) to coax such performances from his interesting casts. There is no other director I can think of whose work is so strongly styled that it's immediately identifiable as one of his films. When you watch a Russ Meyer film, you enter a parallel universe much stranger than reality.