Master of the mammary Russ Meyer turns his hand to the whodunnit with this riotous excursion into bad taste cinema.
When Adolph Schwartz (Edward Schaaf), a reclusive and perverted German exile, is murdered in his bathtub (by piranha, no less), everyone in the small logging town is a suspect. Lone drifter Margo Winchester (Raven De La Croix) soon makes her presence felt when she shacks up with corrupt sheriff Homer Johnson (Monty Bane) and starts working in the diner owned by Alice (Janet Wood) and her husband Paul (Robert McLane), who just so happens to have been one of Adolph’s sex slaves. Confused? Don’t worry, the Greek Chorus (Kitten Natividad) pops up often to make things even more convoluted.
Like many of Meyer’s movies, Up! isn’t for the faint of heart (and certainly shouldn’t be confused with the Pixar movie). As well as abundance of bare skin (the overly buoyant ladies matched with oversized pendulum penises), there’s a liberal amount of uncomfortable assault sequences. It’s a testament to Meyer that everything rises above its origins in exploitation. It’s beautifully shot; as director, cameraman, and editor, Meyer certainly gets the most out of his surroundings and cast. His eye for finding character in location and actors was wonderful. He plays with the murder mystery theme, but not at the expense of titillation, which is always delivered with a wink without veering into hardcore.
Meyer’s films have always been polarising. It’s heartening to see them being accepted by the more elite movie lovers. That said, you either get them or you don’t. Fans, however, will relish this new scan of Up! and quite rightly so, as it presents the film looking as good as it gets.
