Russ Meyer
Russ Meyer was an influential American filmmaker known for pioneering the soft-core pornographic genre in cinema. His first film, "The Immoral Mr. Teas" (1959), became a significant financial success and marked the beginning of his career, although it also attracted substantial censorship scrutiny. Throughout his filmmaking journey, Meyer faced numerous legal challenges, particularly with films like "Vixen" (1969), which was deemed obscene by a judge and subsequently banned in certain jurisdictions. Despite such controversies, Meyer maintained a strong stance against censorship, likening his work to "sexual cartoons" meant for satire. He criticized the Motion Picture Association of America for its restrictive rating system, which he believed hindered filmmakers' creative freedom. Over time, his films have gained a cult following, with some being celebrated in prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art. Meyer's legacy continues to evolve, as even feminist critiques have been reexamined in a more nuanced light. He passed away on September 23, 2004, leaving behind a complex and impactful body of work.
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Russ Meyer
Identification: Creator of sexually explicit films satirizing pornography
Significance: Meyer’s films have been subjected to official and unofficial censorship in the United States and condemned as exploitative of women
Russ Meyer’s first film, The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959), was historic in that it was the first soft-core pornographic film actually to make a great amount of money. That success launched Meyer’s career and immediately made him the target of censors.
Even though all of Meyer’s films have been criticized, the film The Vixen (1969) was perhaps the most widely censored. Vice officers in Hamilton County, Ohio, confiscated the film in September, 1969, and a judge ruled that it was obscene, thus prohibiting it from being shown in the county. This ruling was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court. A major player in this case was Charles H. Keating, founder of Citizens for Decent Literature, and a member of the President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. (To Meyer’s great delight, Keating was years later sentenced to federal prison for his role in a savings and loan fraud scheme). In 1984 a student group at the University of Cincinnati planned a campus screening of the film, but the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office informed the university that showing the film would still violate the law.
In the 1960s, the film Mudhoney was seized by deputy sheriffs in Texas who had vowed to shut down any film that showed women’s breasts. The confiscated print was never returned, and authorities said that it would be returned only if Meyer apologized for having made it. Strongly opposed to censorship, Meyer made no apologies for his films, which he called “sexual cartoons in the same realm of satire as Al Capp’s cartoons.”
Meyer contended that America’s leading censor was Jack Valenti, the longtime president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). This, he believed, was because of MPAA censorship, done for economic reasons through its system of film ratings. A film with a rating of NC-17, for example, cannot be advertised in many newspapers. Filmmakers are forced to alter their films, to avoid the NC-17 stamp, which can be fatal to a film’s commercial viability.
Although still banned in some places, Meyer’s films have come to be widely accepted in many communities. He and his work have attained cult status, with frequent showings on campuses and at film festivals. New York's revered Museum of Modern Art added four of his films to its permanent collection. Even feminists have reevaluated Meyer’s films and softened some of their criticisms. In 2015, actors Will Ferrell and Josh Gad were in talks with producers to star in a comedy biopic about the partnership between Meyer and legendary film critic Roger Ebert and the making of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970).
Meyer passed away at his home in the Hollywood Hills following complications from pneumonia on September 23, 2004. He was eighty-two.
Bibliography
Fear, David. "'The Glandscape Artist: Russ Meyer.'" Time Out. Time Out Digital, 12 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
French, Philip. "The Man Who Removed the Sweater from the Sweater Girl." Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 25 Sept. 2004. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
Gleiberman, Owen. "Could a Russ Meyer Biopic, Directed by David O. Russell, Be the Ed Wood of Sleaze?" Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly, 27 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
Martin, Douglas. "Russ Meyer, 82, a Filmmaker of Classics in a Lusty Genre, Dies." New York Times. New York Times, 23 Sept. 2004. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
McDonough, Jimmy. Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film. New York: Crown, 2005. Print.