With his final big-screen movie, the Sergei Eisenstein of skin- flicks, Russ Meyer, festoons Beyond the Valley of The Ultra-Vixens with his usual cynical and scornful look at small-town Americana. With the birth of video-tape and audiences preferences leaning in favour of penetrative, hard-core porn, Meyer bowed out with dignity, refusing to bow down to audience demand and lower himself to such a cheap and easy form of entertainment (although he would briefly return over twenty years later with Pandora Peaks (2001)). All the Meyer traits are here - blockhead male chauvinists, sex-mad townsfolk, a grizzled narrator, women blessed in the mammary gland area - and are loosely stringed together in what makes up the 'story'.Set in the small town of, er, Small Town, USA, our narrator, The Man From Small Town USA (Stuart Lancaster), shows us all it's wacky inhabitants. There's a well-endowed evangelical radio preacher (Ann Marie) who has sex inside of a coffin, a man-eating junk-yard owner (June Mack), and a randy dentist/marriage counsellor (Robert E. Pearson). In the centre of it all is the beautiful, big-breasted Lavonia (Kitten Natividad) and her lug-head husband Lamar (Ken Kerr). They are happy enough, only Lavonia's unquenchable thirst for sex and Lamar's preference to 'entering through the back door' means that they must find themselves before they can finally 'come together'. Co-written with Roger Ebert, Beyond the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens is less a story and more a collection of comic, fruity vignettes. Some of sharp, energetic and funny, others can be plodding. The satire is less sharp here than in his better movies, for instance Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) or Up! (1976), but his admiration of the female form is possibly clearer here than any of his other movies. He's often called anti-feminist, but, with Meyer, it's the women who hold all the power, outwitting and overpowering the numb-nut males, even raping one, a 14-year old boy I may add, in one scene. He certainly doesn't seem to mind though. It's often delightful and even titillating, but ultimately lacks the sharpness and daring of Meyer's best work.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

An on-screen narrator gives us the rundown on the inhabitants of a small south western American town… One young man works in a junkyard and restricts his sexual activities to rear end collisions, which is upsetting to his lovely but horny wife… A German emigrant plays out unusual erotic fantasies late at night… A female radio evangelist has a strange preaching style… The general plot concentrates on the junkyard employee and his wife… In contrast to his other ventures into provocative cinema, Meyer constructs this film more on sex than on violence… The erotic studies are quite varied, filled with his usual fast cutaways to naked, buxom ladies running inexplicably around the country side… The film is not without its macabre overtones either… He stimulates, suggests, teases, provokes, shocks, and upsets his audience in such an unusual way that he has become an American institution

BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRA-VIXENS is a Russ Meyer directed boobs, butts, and bush extravaganza where the plot really only has one purpose - to put the severely silicone-enhanced females in the film in as many clothes-shedding situations as possible...and I for one am totally OK with that.The story surrounds several inhabitants of "Smalltown USA" who are all pretty much a bunch of back-woods nymphos. The main storyline focuses on slow-witted Lamar and over-sexed Lavonia (played by super-sexy Meyer ex-girlfriend, Kitten Natividad...), a couple who have their own unique sexual problems. Lamar can only get turned on by screwing Lavonia in the ass, and Lavonia is an insatiable nympho that just can't get enough dick (or pussy in some cases) from anyone that's around. The film follows the antics of the couple as they try to work through their issues. Along the way, the audience is introduced to several other equally endowed women and equally IQ-deficient men, which leads to some pretty comical encounters...The plot may be gaunt, but the female flesh on display sure isn't. BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRA-VIXENS has more gigantic tits, asses, and furry '70s puss-fros on display (and even a few boners for the ladies...) than you can shake your dong at. Again, the plot isn't anything to really write home about - but the situations that the characters are thrown into are pretty damn funny in most cases, and the virtually non-stop assault of semi-explicit soft-core sex scenes should keep any sexploit film-lover more than amused. My only real complaint would be the gross under-usage of Uschi Digard, Ann Marie, and Sharon Hill - all of whom are just as, if not hotter than Natividad - especially Uschi, who only gets one very short scene. Even so - sexploit fans will rejoice over this one. Not as memorable as BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (my personal favorite of the handful of Meyer films that I've seen) but far more laden with nudity and sex - and I'll never complain about that. A fun and truly funny sex-romp that is well worth a look...8/10

At this point 'Beneath..' appears to be Russ Meyer's last movie, which is a pity. A pity because we could do with his invention and energy and ideas to liven up our dull movie going lives, and also a pity because it isn't one of his best efforts.Meyer's two movies prior to this one - 'Supervixens' and 'Up!' - are two of his best ever, and don't receive the attention they deserve. 'Beneath..' follows a similar format to those two classics but does so with more coarseness and less fun. Meyer takes advantage of the more liberal censorship laws of the late 70s and makes his most explicit movie yet, but loses much of his sense of smutty joyfulness. The one thing that saves this movie is the exuberant performance from the dynamic Kitten Natividad. If you are a fan of Kitten and her sensational body then this is the movie for you! Otherwise I could name at least a half a dozen Meyer movies to watch before this one. A disappointment this, but still has enough glimpses of Meyer's genius to make it worth a look.