Up! (1976 film)
Up! is a 1976 soft core sex comedy film directed by Russ Meyer and starring Raven De La Croix, Robert McLane, Kitten Natividad, and Monty Bane.
| Up! | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Russ Meyer |
| Produced by | Russ Meyer |
| Written by | Russ Meyer (as "B Callum") |
| Based on | an original idea by Russ Meyer Anthony-James Ryan (as "Jim Ryan") Roger Ebert (as "Reinhold Timme") |
| Starring | Raven De La Croix Robert McLane Kitten Natividad Monty Bane |
| Music by | William Loose Paul Ruhland |
| Cinematography | Russ Meyer |
| Edited by | Russ Meyer |
| Distributed by | RM Films International |
Release date | October 1976 |
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
A man named Adolf Schwartz, Adolf Hitler in hiding, is living in a Bavarian-style castle in northern California. After an orgy in the dungeon with three women (The Headsperson, The Ethiopian Chef, Limehouse) and a man (Paul) he is murdered when someone places a ravenous piranha fish in his bathtub.
A voluptuous woman named Margo Winchester appears later in the nearby town Miranda and is spotted by local Sheriff Homer Johnson. He tries to make advances but Margo rejects flirtatiously (at this point). After that she is picked up by Leonard Box, a known troublemaker and son of a sawmill owner. An argument breaks out with the result that Leonard subdues and rapes the unconscious Margo, after that she accidentally kills him. This is witnessed by Homer, but he covers up the incident because Box's loaded father would put Margo in jail forever and of course he is horny for the busty beauty. So Margo and Homer wind up sleeping together, starting some kind of relationship, but a mutually unfaithful one as it can be seen later.
Homer helps Margo get a job at the local diner, Alice's. It is owned by Alice who is married to Paul, who was sexually servicing Schwartz. Alice also likes women, depicted earlier in the movie. Paul is similarly unfaithful, he was interested in Limehouse and after Margo finishes work and goes for a swim at the Salmon Creek, he comes after her. While Margo undresses besides the stream Paul does the same before approaching her and they have sex. Homer, who had stopped a woman earlier for a traffic violation and let her go after a blowjob, is in bed with an Native American woman named Pocohontas and shoves her out of the house when he hears Margo's van approaching, after she and Paul finished their date. Still nude she enters the house, seemingly ready for a second round with Homer who's under the shower to clean himself up. Scalding himself with hot water by accident. Margo comments on his red penis that he must have made it with an Indian!
Kitten Natividad plays the "Greek Chorus", who appears nude between scenes throughout the film to provide narration, plot details, and updates.
Margo performs a strip show at a bar which triggers the reaction of the lumberjack Rafe who rapes her. The other guests join in and flee when Homer arrives, both men end up killing each other!
It is revealed that Alice committed the murder because she was jealous about Schwartz, who was also her father, sleeping with her husband, and that Margo is an undercover cop to investigate the crime.
Cast
- Raven De La Croix as Margo Winchester
- Edward Schaaf as Adolph Schwartz
- Robert McLane as Paul
- Kitten Natividad as The Greek Chorus
- Candy Samples as The Headsperson (as Mary Gavin)
- Su Ling as Limehouse
- Janet Wood as Sweet Li'l Alice
- Linda Sue Ragsdale as Gwendolyn
- Monty Bane as Homer Johnson
- Marianne Marks as Chesty Young Thing
- Larry Dean as Leonard Box
- Bob Schott as Rafe
- Foxy Lae as Pocohontas
- Ray Reinhardt as The Commissioner
- Elaine Collins as The Ethiopian Chef
Production
In the early 1970s Russ Meyer made two flops in a row, The Seven Minutes and Black Snake before returning to his older style with Supervixens. He said ""I'm back to big bosums, square jaws, lotsa action and the most sensational sex you ever saw," he said. "I'm back to what I do best - erotic, comedic sex, sex, sex - and I'll never stray again."[1]
Supervixens was a hit and Meyer said afterwards, "I plan to stick to what I know works and make one X picture after the next and be even more outrageous with sex and keep pushing the boundaries further and further."[1]
"Sure it appeals to prurient interest," said Meyer. "Why not appeal to prurient interest?"[2]
The film starred Kitten Natavidad, who Meyer would become romantically involved with. Natavidad later said she "loved" making the film. She was comfortably with the nudity "but what was uncomfortable was when he would direct me and I had all these big big lines and he would say, "don't blink" and I was facing the sun and my eyes would get dry... It was uncomfortable making it because I sat on trees that had ants crawling up my ass."[3]
Meyer said he found "there was a lot of objection to the violence" in the film. "I always felt that they would take it in the manner I presented it. That if a man got a double-bitted axe buried in his chest, he could still wrench it out, run 100 yards and kill a giant with a chainsaw. But they just took it very seriously. So what I've done is to kind of ape the violence that I've had before and it seems to get a good reaction."[4]
Meyer said the film cost almost as much as Ultravixens "simply because I had to do so many inserts and so forth. The cost of additional shooting can be very substantial. You have to consider the escalation of lab costs."[4]
Reception
Meyer later said he was "not particularly" pleased with the film. "At the time I was fairly pleased, but I see a lot of reasons why it was not as successful as Supervixen is."[4]
References
- Meyer: Up to his old chicks againPreston, Marilynn. Chicago Tribune 27 Apr 1975: e16.
- Russ Meyer, Almost An American Institution: Russ Meyer, Almost an American Institution By Kenneth Turan. The Washington Post 9 Nov 1976: B1.
- "The No Fi Interview with Kitten Natavidad". Peep Show Menagerie.
- Russ Meyer: Ten Years After the 'Beyond' Ebert, Roger. Film Comment; New York Vol. 16, Iss. 4, (Jul/Aug 1980): 43-48,80.