Mondo Meyer: Critic and Author Irv Slifkin talks about Russ Meyer

It's been nine years since Russ Meyer, the Eisenstein of sexploitation cinema, passed away, leaving behind a body of work that can be best described as unique, unusual—and certainly soft and supple.

This Saturday night in Philadelphia, the man who gave us "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!," "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" and other campy cult classics featuring the most bosomy ladies ever to grace the screen will be saluted by one of his longtime pals. Philadelphia-based film critic/author Irv Slifkin will host "MONDO MEYER!" an event at PhilaMOCA that includes a screening of Meyer's 1975 flick "Supervixens." This will be followed by Slifkin telling stories about the movie and his friendship with Meyer. After that, burlesque crew Miss Rose's Sexploitation Follies will pay tribute to the filmmaker with a Meyer-themed revue. (Those who would like to attend the event can go here for information.)

RogerEbert.com tracked down Slifkin to talk about Meyer, his films, their friendship and lost Meyer projects involving Elvis Presley and beavers.  

OK, let's start with "MONDO MEYER!" How did the event come to be?

What made you choose "Supervixens" as the Russ Meyer film to screen?

That's quite fascinating. Now, I'm not mad at you at all for playing "Supervixens" (the poster for it is hanging in my kitchen), but I would think with the recent passing of his most famous screenwriting collaborator, Roger Ebert, you would go for playing "Beyond…" or "Beneath of the Valley of the Ultravixens."

Yeah, good point. "Beyond…," though, has been pretty readily available and I don't like "Beneath…" as much. We still have Haji in "Supervixens," who recently passed away. I also have some stories about "Supervixens" I can relate to the audience.

Did you find "Beneath…" to be too, well, cluttered, like I did?

I agree. All over the place. Lots of good stuff there, but not focused.

Why did it take a year to get this event off the ground, and was it intentional to have it near the day of Meyer's death?

Not necessarily intentional—just the way it worked out. There were different elements that had to come together, from me gathering my stories to us picking a film to the show part of the program. Scheduling decisions, venue availability, me trying to get my stuff done.

I wanted to get into your friendship with Meyer. I read that remembrance you did of Ebert earlier this year where you said you saw "Beyond…" in college and you were awestruck. Then, you met Meyer after you graduated. How did it get chummy from there?

OK, I need stories about staying at his place now.

The place was like a museum with every inch of the walls—and the ceiling—covered with Russ memorabilia. For each woman he had a liaison with, he had a plaque with her picture and mini-trophy with an engraved saying, "For the loving exchange of bodily fluid." His spare bedroom had a big bed without a mattress, which he said some of his ladies preferred. I believe you see it in a movie or two.

Any Meyer repertory players ever drop by?

Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. Since this all happened in the '80s, I'm curious about Meyer's career at that point. I mean, "Beneath…" was the last, full-fledged film he directed, and you met him a year later. So, where did he go from there? You mentioned about calling him from Budapest.

He called me from Budapest. Russ always had other projects. He told me about a film called "The Jaws of Lorna" that he wrote with Roger Ebert, something to do with resurrecting Elvis by using secretions taken from beavers. My sense was he didn't want to foot the bill himself and he kept having meetings all over the world about financing this and other projects that never panned out. For years, he was working on a documentary about himself and his life that eventually became his amazing, three-volume autobiography. But he shot tons of footage, went back to Europe where he served during World War II, carried a camera around with him and even shot on a street I was living on at the time because it was called Large Street! He told me at some point it was tough to find the women who starred in his films, that the new generation wasn't his type.

The doc was going to be like eight hours long. I think John Waters said it should be called Berlin Alexander-tits.

It 's funny thinking that he started making movies at that perfect time where buxom and curvy women were so in. I'm guessing that era in the '90s where waifish supermodels were in vogue just crushed him.

Yes. He hated porn and abhorred all the skinny women with the obviously fake boob jobs. At the video conventions, he was usually placed in the porno area amongst these women and the triple-X companies. It became an ordeal for him.

I can't help thinking that, even though Meyer is forever known as a softcore sensationalist, there was a sense in his films that he held women in high, respectable regard. I mean, many of his female characters were bold, sensible, even heroic. I always go back to that line in "Common Law Cabin" where Babette Bardot tells a guy, "I only say what you think, so you'll hear how lousy it sounds." That's a ballsy line to give a gal in a movie.

He had high regard for women. He used to carry a framed photo of his mother around when he travelled and put it on his table next to him.

It's also funny to see how men are often portrayed as impotent, downright effed-up beasts who need women more than women need them. This is practically embodied by Charles Napier in "Supervixens," whose character becomes so visibly impotent at one point that he commits one of the most absurdly violent acts I've ever seen committed against a woman in a movie.

Definitely. Charles told me he and Russ were going through woman trouble at the time and that was the impetus for some of the violence in the film.

Hearing you say that puts that scene in such revealing perspective, because it's so bizarre yet it encapsulates how dysfunctional men's feelings can become when they get all caught up with a woman.

Interesting insight. I think Chuck and Russ were similar: gruff, manly exteriors, but really sensitive on the inside. Napier went on The Sally Jessy Raphael Show with his wife and cried on the air (I think it's on YouTube). And Russ shared some stuff with me that I never expected to hear from him.

Like what?

Well, I don't want to give that away if this is being published. Off the record, I can tell you.

I'll guess we'll discuss that the next time I'm in Philly. Here's a question: You have a favorite Meyer actress? Mine is Uschi Digard. It often seemed like Meyer couldn't even rein her in as an actress and just let her do whatever. I loved reading in "Big Bosoms and Square Jaws," Jimmy McDonough's book on Meyer, how that was kind of true.

I guess mine is Erica Gavin. Oddly, Uschi probably had more screen time than all of his other girls.