Very Breast of Russ Meyer

Plexus
Edited by Paul A. Woods
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Russ Meyer is an American phenomenon. The only independent expolitation-movie director to make a multi-million dollar fortune at the box office. He is also the man who introduced the American movie audience to nudity - then paraded his obsession with the buxom female form through an ever-wilder series of films, without ever venturing into the arena of hardcore pornography. From the late 1950's through to the 1980's, the ex-US Army photographer's maverick career left landmarks on the cultural map. With the 1959 comedy The Immoral Mr.Teas, Meyer first put nudity on the screen outside the confines of a naturist documentary. His mid-60's 'gothic' period of heaving breasts and murderous tempers begat Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!, the monochrome melodrama of dangerous chicks out on a killing rampage. By 1970, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls linked Meyer's tongue-in-cheek stories of sex and violence to the drugs and rock 'n' roll of post-hippie Hollywood; by the tail-end of that decade, Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens brought to a comic climax the director's obsession with dominant, heroically-built women.The Very Breast of Russ Meyer is the firstever anthology of articles and interviews on the USA's most recognisable independent filmmaker. Spanning several decades, this unique book charts modern America becoming ever more brazen in her sexuality as Meyer shares his fantasies with her. Includes probably the most comprehensive interview of Meyer's career - conducted at London's National Film Theatre by Incredibly Strange Film Show host Jonathan Ross, and which has never before been published.