Review: Vixen!

Set in Canada, Erica Gavin is the bitchy title character who screws around on her bush pilot husband with almost every man and woman around…including her own brother (Jon Evans). Harrison Page plays Evans’ fellow biker buddy, whom Vixen engages in bitchy, racial banter with throughout. Vincence Wallace plays a rich and bored housewife whom engages in drunken Sapphic action with Vixen at one point.

I was spoiled early with the films of Russ Meyer, with the fantastic camp classic “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”. It has since become one of my all-time favourite films after first discovering it on Aussie cable in my early 20s. Subsequent trips to Meyerland have not been quite as enjoyable. “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” was fairly tame, if pretty well-made for its type I guess, but “Supervixens” spoiled the softcore fun by having Charles Napier (in a terrific performance) violently attack a woman in a very uncomfortable scene that just rubbed me the wrong way. Now here I am reviewing his 1968 starring vehicle for “BVD” co-star Erica Gavin. It’s an OK film for its time and type, but instead of nasty violence getting in the way of the titillation, it’s Meyer’s dopey sense of humour pulling things back a bit. Scripted by the amusingly named Robert Rudelson (whose other cinematic screenwriting effort was “Fools” with Jason Robards), some will enjoy the silly sex romp comedy stuff, but I found it a bit of a buzzkill. Perhaps “BVD” was a fluke, folks or perhaps I’m not as much on Meyer’s wavelength as I’d initially thought.

Things start amusingly with a very randy parody of travelogue narration about a ‘bush pilot’. Well done, Russ. I see what you did there. However, when the lesbian sex scene generates less heat than the incestual sex scene…something is very, very wrong. The actors playing brother and sister seem more into each other than the women…way more. Despite featuring two incredibly sexy bodies on display, the lesbian sex scene turns out to be one of the least sexy things I’ve ever seen because the actresses are (badly) acting drunk for supposedly comedic purposes. It isn’t amusing.

Erica Gavin is absolutely stunning and gets naked early and often, so that’s a plus for this sort of thing. She’s hardly Meryl Streep, but she is well-cast in the title role and the most ‘legit’ thing going on here (aside from her poor drunk acting in the aforementioned scene). Harrison Page got better as an actor over the years (just watch him opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in “Wrong Bet”), but is just OK here. The rest of the cast don’t really rate a mention at all, to be charitable. I also have to say that as much as he did a great job on “BVD”, the editing in this film is pretty shoddy. I was disappointed by that, actually.

The film isn’t especially explicit by 2019 standards, but for the late 60s, this is pretty raunchy stuff. Unfortunately, the film is mostly badly acted and the emphasis on stupid comedy ruins some of the ‘fun’. Gavin is terrific, the film is just an OK titty flick. Worth a look at least once in your life, though as it’s a cult favourite and Meyer’s worldview is certainly…uh, unique.

Rating: C+