Review of Wild Gals Of The Naked West / Black Snake

Introduction

This release is the most curious mixture of Russ Meyer`s work. Wild Gals Of The Naked West is a 1962 jiggle flick typical of Meyer`s output in the 1960s. Black Snake is his 1973 potboiler which followed his brief dalliance with mainstream Hollywood.

Wild Gals is Meyer`s entry into the Western genre and as you would expect is pretty subversive. The commentary of an old Westerner on his particular patch of prairie, this 1962 opus is not one of Meyer`s best and is as usual merely a vehicle for presenting boobs on screen. Amping up the silliness quotient in the movie (which plays out like the excesses of the Casino Royale finale at times), this is no Blazing Saddles but is a fine example of Russ Meyer at his most subversive.

Black Snake stars Anoushka Hempel (former Bond Girl and fashion designer) as Lady Susan, a cruel plantation owner in this violent and unpleasant exploitation piece against colonialism and slavery. Meyer described the movie as his statement against racial bigotry, but any high ideals he might have had about the picture were not supported by the public who stayed away in their droves because, as Meyer admitted ruefully "There weren`t enough tits in it". Co-starring David Warbeck as one of Meyer`s typically ineffectual male leads, the movie`s supporting cast is far more interesting. Carry On and Hammer regular Percy Herbert steals much of the picture (not a hard job) as Lady Susan`s right-hand man and slave overseer Joxer. An out-and-out sadist and thorough bastard, he even tries to rape his mistress at one point in the proceedings but mysteriously she doesn`t hand him his meat and two veg in retribution. Chuck in a crazed, half-naked performance from Dave Prowse in full Frankenstein mode without the makeup and you`ve got one weird sadomasochistic mess on your hands.

Sex and nudity is not as pronounced as with other Meyer films, but homoerotic elements and some pretty vicious beatings make for a movie that you might not want to show Aunt Prudence. According to the IMDb, Anoushka Hempel (`Noosh as she was known in the 70s) bought the UK distribution rights to both Black Snake and her engagingly dopey distaff take on 007 "Tiffany Jones" to suppress the movies. Obviously the story is either a consignment of cojones or something`s escaped.

Video

Wild Gals is presented in the original 4:3. Colours are as ever very bright, but there is some print damage. Black Snake suffers far worse as a non-anamorphic (letterboxed) 2.35:1 transfer. If there is anything to recommend this disc it is the ability to compare a movie photographed by Meyer (Wild Gals) and one where he had a cinematographer (Arthur J Ornitz on Black Snake).

Audio

Both movies have bog standard, slightly shrill Mono soundtracks reproduced in Dolby 2.0.

Features

There are the usual tv spots for the DVD collection and the trailer reel present on all discs in the collection. Otherwise nada.

Conclusion

There is little really to recommend this disc in the collection. One film is typical Meyer stag-movie fare while the other is a far darker exploitation piece. The poor transfer of the Panavision movie further depreciates the disc for collectors. However, given the suggested rarity of Black Snake and its unusual tone and content, Meyer fans might be advised to include this in their collection.