Beneath The Valley Of The Ultra Vixens [1979] [DVD]

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She talked about her role administering Russ’ estate, and how any profits benefited a cancer charity.

For a while, she was going after the actors who were trying to make extra money by doing conventions and stuff. Suddenly she takes her robe off, sits down on him and rapes him, all the while preaching to her listeners about his salvation. At least a film a year, from the black-and-white, nudie-cutie, creeper-peeper, titillate-and-tease talkies of the late 1950s, through to the ballistic-sadistic, primary-colored, explicit distillation of his erotomania in the mid 1970s. Somehow it seems fitting that Russ Meyer’s final home was situated right under the Hollywood sign, in a barely noticed area in the shadows of the iconic emblem of glamorous moviedom.

But for anyone who wants to remember a 'gentler' age; or is studying that period of time, I would recommend this production. In the latest in our series revisiting locations of golden age adult films, Ashley West describes a recent road trip to visit the home of Russ Meyer in Los Angeles – where the Sultan of Sleaze filmed his last feature, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979). Now, it all looks rather tame; when compared with some of the 'nasty' material around today, There was a degree of 'innocence' with Russ Meyer's style. They had several distinguishing features: for one, Russ was an independent auteur, directing, producing, writing, and shooting almost every one of his movies. A screwball adult sex comedy the lots of simulated screwing is the best way to describe Russ Meyer’s “Beneath The Valley of the Ultra Vixens”.

On the way to Russ’ house, I passed a familiar building, a medical and dental center I recognized as having featured in ‘Ultra-Vixens.

I’d heard the stories of manipulation and neglect from some who’d been close to Russ, and Janice was frequently painted as the villain. After Eufaula Roop leans back on her chair and moans, the teen-aged Rhett climbs from under her desk and she takes him to the bathtub. I'm so glad this was available on the DVD format I hope this means I can replace worn out videos of other films he likes. We see a lot of a few other women, too, including a melon-breasted Christian radio announcer, and, rather unfortunately, a junk yard proprietor (you'll understand when you see her). The movie's plot follows a man (Ken Kerr) who is interested in sex only "beneath the valley"--get it?

I’d heard stories of how Russ would wheel it outside to the swimming pool to work on his latest movie, or disappear for weeks at a time while cutting together his footage. As the dentist hurts Lavonia's teeth and she counters by grabbing his crotch painfully, Lamar rapes the nurse. It’s flawed but I highly recommend it as it’s about the most definitive account of Meyer and his films.This is a Russ Meyers film, his final full length film as director and as usual his fascination for the female form is in abundance. While Lamar is trying find other tail to try his technique on, Levonna becomes Lola with aid of a wig and a Mexican accent. They're having problems in (you guessed it) the bedroom, as Levonna wants to have sex normally, but Lamar only likes to go in through the backdoor. Natividad "because of the shit-kicker style, worked with Bob Easton, who is a very good dialect coach" and because June Mack "spoke without any trace of accent.

His van, emblazoned with the name of his film company, once essential for location shoots, stood idle waiting for the sultan of sexploitation to make one last move. To my surprise, Russ’ van was still parked in front of the house, almost 20 years after his passing, this time in an open garage next to the residence. There's plenty of nudity as you might expect, and all the girls have overly inflated chests in the true Russ Meyer style. The single greatest thing about this picture, though, is the phenomenal narration by Stuart Lancaster, written with Meyer's signature verbosity (aided in great part, I think, by Roger Ebert's screenwriting).

She initially claimed Meyer told her to do that, but he wasn’t of sound mind then and almost certainly had no idea what was going on. The sex and nudity in these movies nearly always is played for laughs, and of course it is soft-core porn, but even today this is racy stuff--the hardest that Meyer's work ever got. By today's standards, it seems strange to remember that Russ Meyer was once considered very risque and was pushing back the excessive censorship of that age. Believe it or not even in Smalltown USA there are still people who are unfulfilled and unrelieved in the midst of plenty.