The Man Who Really, Really Loved Women By CHRIS GORE Published: December 26, 2004
Known affectionately as King Leer, the filmmaker Russ Meyer began his career, fittingly enough, as a Playboy centerfold photographer. He carried his fetish for artfully staged female nudity into his more than two dozen soft-core B movies, many of which are now considered cult classics. Meyer's films were distinguished as much by his over-the-top scripts -- parodying small-town mores, gang violence and the mating habits of California swingers -- as by the freakishly well-endowed women who starred in them. His signature style reached its apex in the low-budget efforts of his ''Gothic'' period, most notably 1965's ''Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!'' (John Waters called it ''the best movie ever made'') and the 1968 ''Vixen'' (whose tag line was ''Is she woman . . . or animal?''). The Meyer mix of sexploitation, martial-arts-inspired fight sequences and absurdist plots was a big influence on directors like Waters and Quentin Tarantino. And like those directors, Meyer was eventually picked up by a big studio, 20th Century Fox, for which he produced ''Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'' (Roger Ebert wrote the screenplay). He spent much of the 80's working on his autobiography -- in prose and celluloid -- but his chroniclers were not to be outdone. In 1995, Adolph Schwartz released a three-volume Meyer bio, and this spring James McDonough will weigh in with his: ''Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film.'' Recently, we gathered three stars of Meyer's films -- Erica Gavin, Kitten Natividad and Raven De La Croix -- at Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills (Tura Satana, another Meyer favorite, joined the conversation by phone) to discuss his legacy, his relationship with women and his fascination with breasts. Gavin: The first time I met Russ, of course, he wanted to see me without my top on. But that was no big deal, because I was dancing topless. So I took my top off, and I remember him saying: ''Well, she's smaller than most of the girls I have ever used, but that could be a good thing. That might appeal more to women as well as men.'' And I remember thinking, Smaller? Smaller than what? But I didn't know there was Kitten. Natividad: It wasn't just good that they be big and beautiful -- he wanted them gargantuan! Gargantuan mammaries! De La Croix: The first time I met Russ, he never asked to see my body. What I thought was weird was that he showed me the ''script.'' And he said, ''Wear the same thing you're wearing now.'' I think this was the year you didn't wear bras. Luckily for me I didn't really need a bra. Gavin: Russ loved being with women with big breasts. He loved to see the reaction, not so much from the men, because he knew what that was going to be, but from the women. Once, it was my birthday, and Russ took me to Chasen's, and Kitten came. Kitten walked in first. Russ loved to walk behind Kitten, because then he could see all the reactions after she passed people. She was wearing a nude-colored chiffon sheer outfit with no underwear at all. No bra, no panties, no nothing. ''That woman just about swallowed her dentures!'' he said. He just loved it, because people were dropping their forks on the table when she walked by. Satana: Granted, he loved the big boobs, and anybody he found that had boobs bigger or better was there. But Russ always had this special respect for women. When we were on location, there were certain rules. I think I'm the only one who broke his rule about no sex on the set. De La Croix: The rules were the reason you felt so comfortable. I remember once we were filming a scene, and somebody said something off-color, and he fired the guy. He could look, but no one else could look. Gavin: As far as the nude scenes, he was very protective. For one thing, I don't remember ever being totally nude. I don't know, because Russ was not one to shoot below the waist. Russ didn't really appreciate the woman's body from the waist down. He didn't think that there was anything that gorgeous to show. His films came from a different direction than porno. Basically he was not looking through a camera; he was looking through a peephole. I think that's why his films were so good. He was a true voyeur. Satana: I would say he was a feminist. He loved to make women look good. I have never seen any of the gals in his films look bad. And the men in his movies were always incapacitated in some way. They were either in a wheelchair or on crutches or short of a full deck. He liked to make women strong, make them feel that they were empowered. Natividad: He wanted to glorify women. Satana: And he always made sure there was a moral. The good always won out over evil. You will find that in any of his films. Gavin: Since his passing, I've thought a lot about the amount of weight Russ had in my life. My 15 minutes of fame are because of Russ Meyer, and I thank him for the lifetime of memories. Natividad: I always thought I had a great career before I met Russ, being Miss Nude Universe and a topless dancer. But what I'm really known for is ''Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens'' and being Russ Meyer's girlfriend. It's perfectly fine. I'm proud to be a Russ Meyer girl. There are lots of beautiful women with great bodies and even bigger boobs than ours, but they didn't get to be Russ Meyer girls. We are very, very special. Chris Gore is the publisher of FilmThreat.com and the host of the IFC series ''Ultimate Film Fanatic.'' Correction: February 6, 2005, Sunday: An article in the Lives They Lived issue on Dec. 26 about the filmmaker Russ Meyer misstated the given name of the author of a coming biography about him. The author is Jimmy McDonough, not James. |
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Friday, March 21, 2014
Born Today- Soft Porn King Russ Meyer- NY Times
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