A three pack of films from legendary, cult director Russ Meyer starts us off this week. First is Vixen, a film about the wife of a pilot who takes in outdoors types for hunting and fishing. Vixen sleeps around (including her brother) and there’s an Irish communist who wants the pilot to fly him to Cuba along with a black man who is the friend of the brother. It’s slightly more than soft core porn, but that’s what Meyer was known for. There’s a couple of cool shots from under the bed while having sex that was neat.
The second film is SuperVIXENS which is about a guy who works at a gas station and has a crazy wife. He’s arrested and leaves town to escape. Along the way he hooks up with a farmer’s foreign wife, the daughter of a hotel owner and more. Again it’s slightly more than soft core porn, but the saving grace is Charles Napier who plays a cop looking for the man. He’s actually the reason the man is on the run. Napier is fantastic in the role.
Third is Beneath the Valley of the UltraVIXENS. This one is all over the map and was the least enjoyable to me. There’s a narrator talking about a small town and all the people in it and how they are all connected. There’s junkyard employees, a radio DJ, a hot wife and more. The first two films have more of a straight forward plot which is really saying something. This felt out of place besides the fact it’s slightly more than soft core porn as well.
All three films have been restored and scanned in 4K and come with tons of bonus features like multiple commentaries, interviews, and more. Fans of Russ Meyer will eat this up. If you aren’t into nudity, racism from the 1960s and 1970s and stereotypical characters then these aren’t for you. If you grew up on Meyer or cult flicks then you will love them.
Next is Tito, Margot and Me, a documentary on world-renowned ballerina Margot Fonteyn and international diplomat Roberto “Tito” Arias. I will admit that before watching this documentary I had never heard of the couple. She was a famous ballerina, he was the son of a powerful family in Panama. He had ties to Fidel Castro and somehow John Wayne. She traveled the world dancing. Their marriage had its up and downs. They don’t hide the fact that he was unfaithful. He was also shot and left in a wheelchair, but she loved him nonetheless. Their marriage came during a time of civil unrest, revolutions and more yet they stood together no matter what. The documentary interviews family members and friends and is full of personal photos and footage of her on stage. For not knowing who they were it was an interesting watch. You expect a political family of that time to know Castro, but John Wayne popping up shocked me.
Last we have Ninja Scroll. Watching it the other night made me think I had seen it back in the day. It’s the 94 minute movie from the early 1990s. It definitely felt like things I watched growing up. Set during feudal Japan, it’s about a mercenary swordsman who fights a group of supernatural ninjas called The Eight Devils of Kimon. Of course he can’t go it alone so he’s joined by an old government spy who blackmails and poisons him to help and a woman samurai whose body is riddled with toxins which come into play with the lead character. The death of the lead bad guy definitely felt familiar so I must have seen this before. I know it’s up there in terms of importance for anime with being one of the first films to breakthrough outside of Japan. It’s visually very cool and super violent. It’s not for kids with the violence and adult themed elements. The animation style is fantastic and is what I think of when I think of classic anime like Ghost in the Shell and Akira. I believe it’s been available before, but if you haven’t seen it in a while I highly recommend it.
The Nerds Templar 