SoTrumpBelieve
Must See Movie...
Matrixiole
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Candida
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Satchmo_on_Satchmo
Up!, writer-director Russ Meyer's twenty-fifth film, is a rare find: a feature that should be a bona-fide turn-on for many. A character who bears a corny resemblance to Adolf Hitler is murdered after enjoying some gay and straight sex. Most of the rest of the film deals with the question "whodunit?" although the activities of busty characters like Margo Winchester are interesting distractions for sure. This is the second Meyer film I've seen that features a black woman giving head to somebody, and the subject matter hasn't ceased to titillate me yet. Meyer, or "King Leer" as he was sometimes called, hasn't failed to deliver an erotic, primal, and at times silly motion picture that wouldn't be complete without the undulating of a totally nude Kitten Natividad as she narrates the story. Natividad's "roll call" of the characters gets a bit tedious by the third go-round, but who watches Meyer films for the story? The visual impact of many a "King Leer" film's sensual subject matter makes up its "money shots," and with a character wearing a leather mask flicking a lengthy tongue around in front of the camera, they're in there...and then some.
MisterWhiplash
Russ Meyer makes his films, when they're at their best or most brilliantly deranged, like the dream of some sexually charged sixteen year old who's seen his share of pornos and 70's era exploitation films. They're crazy visions of women with (usually) nothing lower than 36-C cups, men with third legs (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more), and enough fornication to blow the head gasket of any puritan viewer. That being said, Meyer isn't exactly a real porno director. He makes sex films in the same way that Robert Rodriguez makes wild action or horror or kids films: as a do-it-yourself-auteur (i.e. writes, directs, produces, edits, DP's, even camera operates), he's all about getting a pulpy sensibility of what would otherwise be typical trashy material. Meyer also is gifted with a wonderfully cringe-worthy sense of humor. To give just a brief example- and maybe as one of the quintessential scenes in any exploitation flick- the scene where two completely naked women, one Eva Braun Jr with a knife and screaming maniacally about the fall of Nazism and the plight of his 'father', run after one another trying to kill each other in the woods.So Up! is in another in a whole body of works where Meyer turns the conventions of the usual in movie-making, like a kooky member of National Lampoon, but at the same time I'm not sure it's one of his very best. It's a little scatter-shot in the story, if there is one closely to even follow with the Greek Chrous (Kitten Navidad) where in every time whatever semblance of a story is taking shape we're led off by this narrator and Meyers's editing which takes us into a strange loop of sequencing of events and images (which in and of themselves are good, but distracting). But when Up! does click, it works very well. Mostly this involves the early scenes with Adolph Schwartz (ho-ho), who gets masochistic sex from a dominatrix and a man with a huge thing, and then gets killed mysteriously in his bathtub. Then we're thrust into some backwoods group, including a shifty but well-intentioned sheriff (Monty Bane), a big, uproarious homunculus in Rafe (Bob Schott), and of course Meyer's 'harem' of girls.It's fun, in all basic intentions, to see these girls have fun and go into exuberant glee doing their scenes, as opposed to the more degrading XXX features that get pretty boring after a while. This is where the dream facet comes in, where everything is just so surreal (the frolicking sex out in the open, wherever it is, the Nazi stuff right out of a typical exploitation flick from Europe, the double-climax that combines sex AND violence), that you just have to go along for the ride and laugh with all the craziness. What helps is Meyer's great cinematic eye- yes, great- as he shoots and edits as though every image has to be just next to perfect. While the actual content is sometimes all over the place, like with Rafe's rape scenes, where he turns into a true drunken gorilla, the actual quality of the film-making is nearly flawless. Which is to Meyers's credit, as what is in Up! could be the makings of a much more lewd and crude effort.Hard to find (had to look deep on line) and not without little dips in real strength in the comedy, Up! demonstrates some great Meyers' product: beautiful, voluptuous, and mostly funny women (loved the one woman who's voice sounded out of femme fatale noir), total horn-dogs and beasts in men, and a bit of vicious satire to boot. More beer!
Maciste_Brother
SpoilersBoy, did I ever have trouble writing a review for UP. This is my third attempt and hopefully my last one. Having seen every Russ Meyer film now, I can say without a doubt that UP is Meyer's most erratic film (and that's saying a lot!). So much so that I really believe everyone involved in the making of UP were either on drugs or drunk, because the film simply doesn't make any sense whatsoever. They were obviously winging it as they went along. The dialogue, though at times brilliantly funny (screenplay was co-written by film critic Roger Ebert!), is totally nonsensical. The characters and their motives don't make any sense and the use of a one-woman Greek chorus (played by Kitten Natividad) is repetitive and quickly becomes annoying. How many times did have to be remimded of who killed Adolph Schwartz? According to an article, Russ had to shoot the one-woman Greek chorus bits because nothing made any sense and she was included to tie-up all the characters and actions. Oddly enough, even with the one-woman Greek chorus, UP still doesn't make any sense: Paul dressed as a Pilgrim; the time at the bottom of the screen (why?!?!); Margo who starts talking like Mae West; the one-woman Greek chorus naming suspects of people who obviously have nothing to do with the killing of the Adolph Hitler look-alike Adolph Schwartz; after the chainsaw scene, Margo and Alice become "friends" but the next scene, Alice wants to kill Margo; the whole conversation between Margo and Alice when they run around in the forest at the end contradicts everything that we just saw in the film, like when Alice says Paul is into young boys and yet we saw Paul making out with her and Margo and a couple of other women throughout the entire movie; Margo's real "official" identity at the end, etc. It's all so disjointed, it's nearly impossible to follow. It looks like Russ and company forgot to shoot many scenes that would have given the film a more cohesive feel to the entire loony proceeding but as it is now, it's a near total mess. And it also looks like they ran out of money when they were shooting the last scene, when Margo, Alice and Paul confront each other, as it suddenly stops right then and there.
And to make things more hard to take, UP, like so many late Russ Meyer films, is an overindulgent and way too boisterous movie. Questionable moments in UP, like the rape scene at the bar, where Rafe, the big silent lumberjack rapes not one but two women at the same time, come to mind. At one point, as Rafe rapes Margo, men at the bar gather around him and cheer him on. One of the men in the crowd is Russ Meyer himself, eagerly slapping the big lumberjack's butt in agreement. This scene is oddly disturbing AND comical. Disturbing because it is rape. Comical because that scene, like the entire movie itself and like all Russ Meyer films made after BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, was made to look like a cartoon. Russ Meyer is to adult films what Tex Avery was to cartoons. All the women have big breasts. And all the men sport huge prosthetic phalluses. The whole thing is so animated and exuberant and over-the-top, with the loud ponderous music playing endlessly, that any semblance of reality is nonexistent. The rape scene is really filmed like a cartoon, with tons of screaming and men with axes in their stomachs that spew blood all over the place and yet they walk away like nothing had happened. So even if some scenes are sorta questionable, Russ makes them so unbelievable that they're not as shocking as they could have been (or should have been). Besides, after the opening scene, where we see Paul (with a fake wad) humping the Adolph Hitler look-alike (Hitler in a sex scene? Ick! And two men having sex. A first in a Russ Meyer flick!), everything that follows sorta looks quaint. But those overindulgent moments still leave a bitter after-taste.But even with all the negative things going against UP, there are some moment of brilliance here and there, and the film is goofy, spirited and so contented in being a bad movie that it almost seems pointless to put it down. Russ has corraled a great cast of unknowns actors that are totally game. I particularly like Janet Wood, as Alice. She had great comic timing and is beautiful. She and Robert McLane, who plays her husband Paul, make a cute couple. Margo, played by Raven De La Croix, was okay and seems to have a lot of fun but she's not much of an actress. Sex scenes are numerous in UP. More than any other Russ Meyer films, except for ULTRA-VIXENS. And there isn't a single impotent men in the entire picture (another Russ Meyer first), so everyone is having a good time. Some scenes are beautiful and sensual but they are hardly hot enough to be a turn-on. It's hard for me to believe anyone got turned on by any of the mostly cartoonish sex scenes.So, to recap: half of UP is truly terrible, trashy and sloppy. But the other half is actually fun, spirited and at times quite original. Like I said, it's not easy to review this film.
Infofreak
I love Russ Meyer movies! It's really difficult to explain the appeal of them to those that are unfamiliar with his work. Best thing is to watch one yourself, and Up! is as good a starting place as any.Prepare to enter a world like no other! Full of women - good ones, "bad" ones, powerful ones. Women who are IN CONTROL. The plot here doesn't really matter. It's a kinda murder mystery involving the death of a pervert who may or may not be Hitler. That's really just an excuse for a slew of scenes like none you've ever seen, and dialogue (co-written by Roger Ebert!) that continually astounds.Kitten Natividad makes her mark as "the Greek Chorus" but the real star here is Raven De La Croix (as Margo Winchester) who is the most stunning women to ever grace a Meyer flick. You've got to see her to believe her! Raven (according to her web site "psychic counselor to individual members of the Hells Angels Worldwide") energizes the movie everytime she is on screen, but is especially unforgettable in a water fight sequence with Janet Wood which surely must be one of the high points of exploitation cinema!So, sit back, relax, and prepare to be astonished by Up! Your world will never be the same again!
