|
What
can you make of a guy like Russ Meyer? Meyer's films, and
no doubt Meyer himself would agree with this assessment, were
created for the sole purpose of having beautiful women with
huge breasts grace the screen. Yet at the same time, Meyer
has created a body of work which even stuffy critics analyse
for some sort of meaning, and, in truth, the man has an undeniable
skill which allows his films to be as impressive as they are.
Faster Pussycat Kill Kill was a brilliant B-movie, containing
some genuine - if sleazy and nasty - psychological motivation
and insights in its characters. And Vixen!, clearly a soft-core
flick, has moments of some interest, although it's unlikely
that Meyer expects the target audience to care about those
moments - well, except for the moments when Erica Gavin is
without clothes.
Buy
a Vixen Poster !
The story takes place in British Columbia, of all places,
where a bush pilot and his wife (the Vixen of the movie, played
by Gavin) reside, flying visitors to and from their cabin.
Vixen is not the faithful wife, however, as, in her very first
scene, she makes it with the local Mountie. Later, she gets
it on with both the husband and wife who are the latest guests
in the bush pilot's cabin. Other character's in this movie
include Vixen's brother, whom she taunts about as aggressively
as she does with non-familial relations, and the brother's
friend, Niles, an African-American who, like many people of
the era, jumped the border to escape the Vietnam draft.
In
FPKK, the buried subtext was the weakness of men when faced
with aggressive - sexually and otherwise - women. All of the
male characters were weak in some way, and the climax was
heavy on significance, as only another woman - and a "good
girl", at that - was able to stop the most evil woman,
and the man who puts in the most effort to fight off these
women was mentally challenged. In Vixen!, racial politics
and political ideology are buried themes, although the themes
are more obviously window-dressing, and I've read comments
on the Internet Movie Database which say these themes border
on the tasteless for the kind of film this is. I won't say
that it is tasteless, but these subjects are pretty odd in
a film of this kind. But because Meyer has talent, he is able
to use all of these elements in such a way that the film seems
complete, and has purpose, even when we realize that he probably
just added the politics as an afterthought, so he couldn't
be accused of making a pornographic film.
It
is difficult, in truth, to figure out Meyer's frame of mind
during much of the film. Vixen uses enough racially explosive
phrases to make Archie Bunker proud, while Niles responds
with comments which subtly mock her prejudges, even as Vixen
believes that his mocking is in fact confirmation of her beliefs
(much like the dynamic between Bunker and Lionel Jefferson
in the first few seasons of All in the Family, don't you think?).
For a long while, I wondered what was going on, and what Meyer
was really thinking when he introduced this material. Is Meyer
a racist??? But during the climax, things make sense, as I
understood that Meyer was about to make a point about racism
and politics, he just wanted to show us 60 minutes of sex
first before he got to the message! We discover that his friend,
Vixen's brother, really has little respect, and is willing
to humiliate him. And when a Communist arrives to secretly
hijack the bush plane, Niles joins in, somewhat intrigued
by the Commie's vision of equality among the peoples. But
this is followed by some impassioned speech-making by Niles
in which he blows the lid off both Communism and democracy,
suggesting that both are oppressive in their own fashions.
His conclusion is that democracy is better, not because it
is noble, but because it is "the lesser of two evils."
And Vixen finally understands. Pretty heady stuff for a soft-core,
hmmm?
So
there is at least one psychological insight in Vixen!: she
is so selfish, so narcissistic, so focussed on "decadence"
and "perversity", and self-gratification, that of
course she would be bigoted to people who aren't like her.
Interesting, don't you think, that in both Meyer films I've
seen, the lesson is that women who are aggressive and sexual
are also evil, or in some ways wrong? But why? What is the
point in showing us sexy women if you are going to suddenly
call them wrong in the end?
Now
the real reason people watch Meyer: the women. Erica Gavin
can't act at all, but, like the other Meyer women, she is
there for our visual enjoyment, and she is attractive on that
score. What is interesting is that she is not the skinny waif/model
you'd see in a current soft-core. She is voluptuous, and some
rude individuals would probably even call her "chunky".
But that is what a real woman would look like if they were
large-breasted: large breasts on a larger body, etc. She looks
natural, and that is a good thing. The sex scenes are pornographic
(well, in 1968 they were), of course, but that's the point,
so you really can't object too much to them. Besides, just
think, they could be shooting at each other, so when you look
at it that way, isn't it much more pleasing for them to just
have sex? Sex is so much more enjoyable!
I
found the whole Canadian aspect very funny, being a Canadian
myself. For me, it was quite amusing to see the very first
shot, a close up of the Canadian flag, followed by other shots
of what is probably Vancouver, accompanied by fairly appropriate
music.
Well,
Vixen! is merely a soft-porn, not like the bizarre intrigue
of FPKK, which is why it only gets two and a half stars. It
is put together reasonably well, because Meyer has a talent
to go along with his obsession with attractive women. Overall,
it's a somewhat amusing foray into the mind of one of the
most unlikely of famous directors.
Copyright
2001 David Macdonald
David
Macdonald's Movie Reviews
|
