Review of Vixen!

Introduction

This is a bit of a Russ Meyer curiosity. Amongst his most successful films financially, `Vixen` is perhaps the closest Mr. Meyer ever got to straightforward soft porn. Featuring little known Erica Gavin (a topless go-go dancer from the SF strip introduced to Meyer by Tula and Haji of `Faster Pussycat` fame), this low-budget picture grossed plenty on its release in 1968. As Meyer puts it in the audio commentary, `Vixen` was the "…a film that put Meyer on easy street`.

It must have seemed pretty racy at the time, as this uncut version of the movie will testify. The reaction to the movie in some States was so extreme that it remains banned to this day (in Ohio for example).

Erica Gavin remains an unusual choice for Meyer, as she doesn`t fit the standard Double-F stereotype that grace most of his pictures. At 19, the relatively modest Gavin found herself cast in the lead role as Meyer had promised in (he claims) the only casting-couch casting of his entire career. Being a man of honour, he decided to do the right thing and offer up a lead role to Gavin as his part of a slightly seedy bargain.

What`s remarkable is that the casting worked so well. Gavin is perfectly cast as a selfish, duplicitous and racist nymphomaniac - fuelled with animal passion and lust.

The movie was shot in Northern California in the rough woodland that Meyers liked so much. Almost exclusively shot in the great outdoors, all crew and cast involved in the picture camped out in tents during its production.

The movie is supposedly set in British Columbia where a remote bush pilot lives with his crazy, freewheeling, nature-loving wife, Vixen. The movie opens with her naïve pipe-smoking husband protesting to a friend that his wife would never get lonely or cheat on him. Naturally we then cut to a very racy introduction to Vixen as she romps in the great outdoors with a Mountie.

We`re then introduced to Vixen`s biking brother and his black friend Niles, who we learn has dodged the draft. Whilst there seems to be a brooding sexual tension between Vixen and her brother (what`s that all about?!) it`s clear from the outset that Vixen is racist in the extreme, and her stream of racist insults may offend some viewers today, despite good intentions in this respect from Meyer.

The husband brings a couple of visitors to the cabin for a fishing break and it`s not long till Gavin is using all her Go-Go dancing experience to seduce the husband at an open air barbecue. (You have to see what she does with a trout to believe it - apparently all improvised according to a highly appreciative Meyer!).

Needless to say, it`s not long till she seduces the husband, as well as the wife and its perhaps these scenes that offended the religious moral right so much on its release, although they`re pretty tame by today`s standards.

Meyer frequently uses camp humour in his movies, and that`s apparent here - but not during the sex scenes, which are played here, pretty straight.
After some 60 minutes of bed-hopping action (figuratively speaking as most is outdoors) the movie gets a little serious, culminating in a conclusion that includes a political critique of both democracy and communism. Dark stuff!

And check out Gavin`s curious eyebrows - were they drawn on with a pen?

Video

Shot in 1.85:1 but presented here in 4:3. Curiously the featurette included is presented 16:9 . The transfer is fair to middling with modest signs of wear to the print.

Audio

I`m guessing mono but reworked to Stereo. It`s a period piece that stands up rather well considering Meyer`s aversion to post-audio dubbing (chiefly or budgetary reasons).

Features

There`s a fascinating featurette, which features a contemporary interview with Erica Gavin who, apart from a role in Meyer epic `Beyond the Valley of the Dolls` did little else in film. At 19, seeing herself for the first time on the big screen, she became obsessed with how `large` she looked (actually not as large as many Meyer models) and became quickly anorexic. She looks a little frail today, probably as a consequence, though comes across as a fiery and intelligent woman.

There`s also a really good audio commentary from Meyer who seems a natural at the job. It`s all delivered in a very intimate, personal way with Meyer using the work as a confessional for his many misdemeanours and memories. All in all a very entertaining addition - and you can`t say that very often with regard to audio commentaries!

There`s an extensive boilerplate trailer reel, which features sizzling clips from many of his other movies, also released by Arrow.

Finally there`s a newspaper clipping / photo slide show activated with the chapter advance button, principally for people with too much time on their hands.

Conclusion

Whilst `Vixen` is an entertaining enough movie in it`s own right, and possibly Meyer`s most erotic movie, it lacks much of the Meyer-magic that makes many of his other pictures so endearing to lovers of camp & kitsch erotica.

It`s also a difficult movie to rationalise with some extremely hateful racist slurs coming from the lips of a woman who`s body we might have been admiring so much just moments before. Whether this peculiarly schizophrenic juxtaposition was intended by Meyer is something we`ll never know as he reveals little of this thinking on the commentary.

With those reservations aside, there is still much to enjoy with some great exterior locations, plenty of on-screen nookie and some of the cheesiest performances ever committed to celluloid. And with a generous helping of extras, it`s inevitably a disc that no Meyer completist will want to be without.