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IITHE STAR; Sunday, September 11,1979Too much of a good thingRuss Meyer recently confessed that his latest film bears un-intential similarity to the work of cartoonist Al Capp The characters in “Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens” do. indeed, resemble the voluptuous and conniving Daisy Mae-style females of Dogpatch, while their male counterparts are usually seen as Li’I Abner throwbacks whose brains aren’t even a close match for their brawn It is ironic that “Valley” succeeds as a cartoon, with live people in place of hand-drawn characters, while “The Villain” recently failed to achieve that goal despite its director’s attempt to film a Roadrunner cartoon with Kirk Douglas as Wile E CoyoteBut, despite this meager success. “Valley” manages to make sex boring a monumental achievement, when one considers the length of time the human race has managed to surviveONCE THE NOVELTY of women with gargantuan busts wears off, “Valley falls into a slump that even the surprise appearance of director Russ Meyer near the film’s end cannot resurrectFor one thing. ‘‘Valley’’ suffers from the plight of other dirty jokes, since that is basically what its story is One either likes dirty jokes and can’t wait to pass them on. or one finds them beneath contempt and, like the pun. the lowest form of humor For another thing, watching actors and actresses cavort about on the screen for over 90 minutes when none of them has any discernible acting talent is an incredible test of one's patience Since most of Meyer's non actresses are recruited from the ranks of stripteasers. one can see why their talents tend to lie in physical attributes rather than their acting talents In Meyer’s favor, however, one must admit that he has man aged to retain a lively imagination as a director and, in the case of the current film, as cameraman and editor as well After 20 years, having made 22 movies that relied primarily on nude pho tngraphy and a broad sense of humor, the fact that Meyer ap proaches “Valley” with a great deal of visual ingenuity is quite impressivethrough the current release, have featured, as Meyer called them, “... dominant females even pre-women’s lib ” The men are dupes and buffoonsIn “Valley,” the film’s leading male (Ken Kerri is Lamar Shedd, a wooden-headed dope manipulated by his wife, the lusty Lavonia (Francesa “Kitten Natividad) and by his boss, Sal, (June Mack).Lamar's loving ways differ from his straightforward wife’s and. as an attempt to reform him. she disguises herself as an exotic dancer. Somewhere along the way a faith healer named Eufaula Roop (the film’s most buxom female, a Midwestern performer named Anne Marie) becomes involvedSince the story’s so amazingly simple, it’s surprising that it manages to be confusing at the same time Blame must be heaped upon the co-writers of the script. Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times (writing under the pen name R Hyde), and his partner in crime, director Meyer lt;B Callum in the film’s credits) The script jumps from scene to scene with little apparent purpose The friendship between Meyer and Ebert, which resulted in Ebert's penning the script of the 1970 artistic disaster “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.” has bred rather disastrous resultsIN AN ATTEMPT to tie the jumpy script together, the film's writers have included a most charming and witty character one who doesn’t resort to disrobing to entertain the audience In a clever parody of documentary film narrators. Valley’’ in eludes a character simply called “The Man from Small Town, USA Stuart I^ancaster's portrayal of the pick-up-truck-driving narrator supplies some of the film’s more subtle wit Unfortunately, subtle humor is rather rare in Valley Most of its comic content consists of broad sight gags and what Meyer would happily term “red neck humor. Surprising, then, is Meyer's choice to allow Valley” to be shown solely in art film hous es and family type theaters He shuns hard-core porno theaters, hoping, instead, for that wider variety of film-goers that seem to be attending his latest film in droves at the film's openings throughout the countryWhile Meyer’s appearance near the end of the film adds a Fel-lini-like touch to an otherw ise “good oT boy” type film, even he can't rescue the last portion of the movie from its rather draggvclimaxWtmiWithou first and likely be Kenny responsit has his Heights People tury and Mandei I corner of cupied by may reci by ImmaINTERESTINGLY. MEYER’S movies, from his 1%8 “VixenTo paraphrase T S Eliot's “The Hollow Men.” Beneath the Valley of the l ltravixens ends not with a bang but (with1 a whimperIMMAfcome a c father of Naval ac Washingt Kenny, w After tl Doris an opened a took up n Kenny Louise M eral door 16th stree Kenny co seeing th( Kennyi the famil w hen Leo there Ke the subje gained na Kenny's and their Chicago HChess .. (Continued from Page 17) er than the team, was authored by USCF vice president Tim Redman, an internationalDolton. Kevin Lane lt;1506* of Flossmoor. and Eric Hennell (11221 of Park Forest llennell. who upset Illinois high school champion Melvin Alslwrrv .IST. , Ionic rlc*;ir firvt in Clunccompleted that tourney undefeated, ringing up a 4-1 scoreIN CASE YOU’RE starting to think
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Tinley Park Palos Star Herald
Tinley Park, Illinois, US
Sun, Sep 16, 1979
Page 56
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