p e n g u i n d e v i l

There are endless glories to be found by delving deep into the land of societies dregs… At least, in film. One of the greatest auteur’s of this genre is the fine Mister Meyer. His fame and name were made in the wastelands of the west, filming scoundrels and wild women, nude telephone operators and sandy trysts, fast cars and tight clothing (or none) with the occasional brass bed thrown in for good measure. These films frequently were filled with montages and desert scenery and were heavy with narration and a recurring cast. Nearly all of the characters we met were amoral or immoral and, aside from the requisite hero, there was rarely a glimmer of goodness to be found. But they are charming and fun to a fault, with a wicked eye for the darker spirit of people.

Today’s lead film is not up to the par of these but, compared to the two previous RM films from this set covered last year, in Wild Gals of the Naked West you can see the beginnings of his glory.

It is more like his previous efforts in that it is all narration and lacks a story, aside from scenes of immoral behavior, and is more of a voyeuristic endeavor. Also, the era is not the modern days and the women who made him famous have yet to appear, but you really start to notice the feel and style of his major works emerging: arid outdoor settings, montages, narration, nude women, rough men and tawdry tales. Though he had the eye and the notion, he was yet to fully develop his art, or his mission, if I may.

It begins in trademark RM fashion with narration describing the ills of society over a montage of outdoors scenes and close-ups. This film, a “western”, starts out in an overdone western style, with some lame bugle and banner montages and a dramatic telling of white man’s conquering of the west. Six minutes of this go slowly by before we encounter a small shed where a grizzled “old” white hair greets us with a shotgun and decides to tell us tales of when this was a wild old town. With his narration, the town comes to life and we are greeted with glimpses of the wild women and violence that made this a town without a name. Featuring: rampaging natives, harlots that lasso clients, outhouses being toppled, non-existent production values and a wacky, energetic soundtrack… the movie is basically a burlesque act with nice props like a piano that is just drawn on a sheet of paper and close-up’s of halloween masks, montages of bosoms and bottles and gun barrels against a flat colored background.

While it does sound as bad and cheap as it is, it is much more of a movie than the previous two and it is not just burlesque, it is also a parody of westerns and there is action (even a dramatic gunfight in which two gunslingers with revolvers shoot around 100 shots without either one getting shot), friendly gals and lots of bathing and boozing. And, honestly, too many gratuitous topless shots and too many closeups of guns and grizzled faces downing shots. This is pretty much it until a stranger roles into town and changes everything.

It does feature a couple of RM regulars, mainly Princess Livingston and Frank Bolger (Both key players in his greatest film, Mudhoney) and it also stars Julie “The Bosom” Williams in a few roles, including a damsel in distress who is finally captured by an axe-wielding native after running and running and running from him.

Anyway, though I am a Russ Meyer fan, it is basically boring and dumb (am I too frank?), but if you are going to watch them all, you may as well watch this as it’s only an hour long.

action! 
on the warpath 
the stranger  Then we I watched Billy Elliot. I, of course, was thinking I was sitting down for Billy Madison. How could I be so wrong? This is a charming film of a young British lad who is being raised in a bitter, mother-free household of striking British coal miners. He takes boxing lessons until, one day, the ballet class takes place in the same room and he becomes fascinated by it. He begins to secretly attend the class and, of course, it turns out that he has a talent for dancing… And a love for it.He begins dancing all the time, and trying to do it secretly, as his family is barely maintaining itself and the last thing that they would want is to have a lad in ballet class. It all comes to a head as his ballet teacher pushes him to try out for a ballet school. The movie is really quite good. A nice combination of family strife and drama and comedy and he really is a charming and awkward kid and is quite fun to watch dance. It features a great soundtrack filled with T-Rex and I also really liked Gary Lewis as the father.