Despite being a big fan of his work,I have somehow not gotten round to seeing auteur film maker Russ Meyer's 5 final works for the last year or so! Preparing to write my 800th IMDb review,I felt that it was the perfect time,to at last count down Meyer's minutes.
The plot:
Going undercover,2 cops raid a bookstore where they find a book called The 7 Minutes being sold.With the book being banned over "moral decay",the cops tell the bookstore owner that along with facing a huge fine,he also faces jail.Making out with his girlfriend,lawyer Mike Barrett finds his fun get rudely interrupted by a call requesting for his skills on a case involving The 7 Minutes.Due to him having been involved in a number of cases related to the case,Barrett gives the store owner directions over how he should plead in court in order to avoid serving time.
As he prepares to notch up another successful 7 Minutes case, Jerry Griffith brutally rapes a girl,who is later found dead.Being a big power player in the city,Jerry's dad Frank decides to take advantage of The 7 Minutes being found in his sons car,by turning Jerry's murder case around,into being a battle of "morality",as Frank makes the count for the final 7 minutes.
View on the film:
Filming over 24 hours worth of usable footage, (good to see that he did not waste any stock!) directing auteur Russ Meyer closely works with editor Dick Wormell to keep each take lasting no longer then 3 or 4 seconds.Along with making the 2 hour running time glide along,Meyer & Wormell also give the film an excellent zany atmosphere,thanks to the rapid-fire editing raising all the tension in the trial to an over the top melodrama.Whilst Fox (who after this flopped,ripped up Meyer's 3 picture deal) put tough restrictions on how much skin he could show, (with there only being the odd peak at Meyer's beauties)Meyer makes sure to still leave a mark that is clear to see,by splashing saturated colours over the most violent scenes,and superbly using extremely stylised close-up,to give the most dramatic scenes an underlying comedic tone.
Although Meyer stayed away from the writing room, Manny Diez & Richard Warren Lewis adaptation of Irving Wallace's novel offers a tantalising mix of off-beat private eye sleuthing with a warped court room showdown.Holding back the court for the first hour,the writers make Mike Barrett's search for defence one that takes the film in a number of fantastic detours,which goes from Barrett trying to get the book dealt with by the book,to searching round for a long lost Hollywood star.Unleashing the court room setting with Wormell's razor-sharp editing & Meyer's fast-pace close-ups,the writers make sure to keep up with Meyer's stylised filming by making the case one that appears deadly serious,but slowly reveals itself to be a delightfully exaggerated affair,as Meyer's clock strikes 7.
The plot:
Going undercover,2 cops raid a bookstore where they find a book called The 7 Minutes being sold.With the book being banned over "moral decay",the cops tell the bookstore owner that along with facing a huge fine,he also faces jail.Making out with his girlfriend,lawyer Mike Barrett finds his fun get rudely interrupted by a call requesting for his skills on a case involving The 7 Minutes.Due to him having been involved in a number of cases related to the case,Barrett gives the store owner directions over how he should plead in court in order to avoid serving time.
As he prepares to notch up another successful 7 Minutes case, Jerry Griffith brutally rapes a girl,who is later found dead.Being a big power player in the city,Jerry's dad Frank decides to take advantage of The 7 Minutes being found in his sons car,by turning Jerry's murder case around,into being a battle of "morality",as Frank makes the count for the final 7 minutes.
View on the film:
Filming over 24 hours worth of usable footage, (good to see that he did not waste any stock!) directing auteur Russ Meyer closely works with editor Dick Wormell to keep each take lasting no longer then 3 or 4 seconds.Along with making the 2 hour running time glide along,Meyer & Wormell also give the film an excellent zany atmosphere,thanks to the rapid-fire editing raising all the tension in the trial to an over the top melodrama.Whilst Fox (who after this flopped,ripped up Meyer's 3 picture deal) put tough restrictions on how much skin he could show, (with there only being the odd peak at Meyer's beauties)Meyer makes sure to still leave a mark that is clear to see,by splashing saturated colours over the most violent scenes,and superbly using extremely stylised close-up,to give the most dramatic scenes an underlying comedic tone.
Although Meyer stayed away from the writing room, Manny Diez & Richard Warren Lewis adaptation of Irving Wallace's novel offers a tantalising mix of off-beat private eye sleuthing with a warped court room showdown.Holding back the court for the first hour,the writers make Mike Barrett's search for defence one that takes the film in a number of fantastic detours,which goes from Barrett trying to get the book dealt with by the book,to searching round for a long lost Hollywood star.Unleashing the court room setting with Wormell's razor-sharp editing & Meyer's fast-pace close-ups,the writers make sure to keep up with Meyer's stylised filming by making the case one that appears deadly serious,but slowly reveals itself to be a delightfully exaggerated affair,as Meyer's clock strikes 7.