3 out of 5

Director: Russ Meyer

Man, whatta weird piece of adult fluff.  Having not watched any Meyer films, I have no idea how the way varied themes fit into his larger spiel.

We have the self-described ‘Greek choir’ for our tale – our narrator – Kitten Navidad, who stops in every now and then in buxom, nude glory to gyrate in the woods while reviewing – in flowery prose – the different players in the story, which is on one hand hilariously random feeling because you’d have no reason to assume that storylines are related except that Kitten tells us so – and then on the other hand it was actually helpful in that I was told that one nude, gallivanting character was the same as another clothed character from a separate storyline.  So maybe this would’ve felt less random if I’d realized that sooner.

We have an Adolf Hitler lookalike who seems to be employing several naked people – several women, one man – to do some S&M style smothering, whipping, and, for a bonus, stick your pee in lil’ Adolf’s bum and let him slobber on your man thing.

We have a couple of naked ladies running around in the woods sexing one another.  This is the gallivanting sequence.  There’s a gigantic strap-on involved here, and one of these girls – I think – is part of the Adolf sequence.

We have Margo Winchester, new to town, who likes jogging without a bra and incites the man-lust of a local yokel, and after a chase and an odd rape sequence (more on this below), Margo employs some karate chops to flip the dude onto some rocks and breaks his back.  Thankfully (?) sheriff Homer Johnson is around to view part of this interaction, and suggests playing it out like the dude just slipped and fell (because defending yourself from an aggressive rape isn’t reason enough for justifiable homicide…).  Margo switches from the battered dame to the thankful lioness and she and Homer shack up for many-a sex scene, after which Margo starts talking like a noir dame.

We have Alice and her husband, running the local diner.  Alice is also one of the running naked chicks, and her husband is the dude who ‘services’ Adolf.  Homer stops by, notices a ‘help wanted’ sign, and suggests that Margo start working there, as she’ll probably draw in the business with her Meyer-esque assets.

And early on someone drops a piranha into Adolf’s private bath, and obviously this is a surefire way to kill someone.  But who did it??  And why???  And that’s what Kitten stops by on occasion to ask us, going over all the suspects.  While this is my first all-the-way-through Meyer film, I know enough to spot his style – the semi-surreal location changes, the faraway setups, the sorta Benny Hill style reaction shots and scene setups.  It’s a B-movie, and it’s soft porn, but it’s not sloppy, and has a legitimate sense of style to it.  It’s easy to spot why Meyer would’ve stuck out from his B-movie peers – the film’s intent as titillation is obvious, but that extra effort was put in to make it entertaining is appreciated.  I don’t know the tone of the ‘X’ for his other work, but while there’s no penetration here, there’re plenty of boobs (of course), and several drooping dingles visible from between the legs… plus several sequences of men disrobing are shot from a slight angle from behind so they can sport what I assume were massive prosthetic dongs.  I dunno if there was some rule against showing real erect penises or something.  What was incredibly questionable about this whole affair, though, were the two rape sequences.  Both are fairly brutal.  The women are definitely attacked.  And while the second sequence has more of a sense of consequence (and a pretty surprising drop into gore – which I dunno if that’s a normal Meyer thing or not) and the girls involved are clearly distraught, both scenes are shot with a similar sort of comic zest, and the music stays with the playful nature of the film’s themes.  And perhaps we’re just going into acting limitations, but Margo – involved in both – doesn’t seem too upset by what’s happening.  Her expression is never terrified or horrified or even resigned, it almost seems to be hiding a smile.  Now these were just ‘actors,’ and so maybe the scenes were fun to shoot, I have no idea, but it sets a sort of weird tone to things which I wasn’t certain how to take.  Margo is totally pitched as the confident 70s loves sex woman (which did seem to be Meyer’s thing), but it’s still odd to go from rape to non-stop sex with the sheriff in the same day.

Not to belittle that, but thankfully the oddity of the rest of the film redeems it.  The Adolf bits are sorta forced, but Kitten’s interruptions are so floofily entertaining, and the batshit over-explanation of ending events is truly, truly hilarious.

It wouldn’t have drawn me back to Meyer, honestly, save existing in those internet-less days where discovering these mavens perhaps only occurred through watching flicks like this, but I imagine Up! as a more minor note in his catalogue, showing elements of his zest for comedy and genre mixing, but beyond some funny highlights, too scattered and unfocused (and perhaps distasteful, even within the scope of the creator’s work..?) to make it memorable.