When the Fox Theatre screened Russ Meyer’s 1968 “Vixen†last February, the sexploitation satire — about a voluptuous woman with a unquenchable erotic appetite — played without incident. No complaints from the 31 attendees. No visits from the police.
It was a different story when “Vixen†ran for five weeks in early 1970 at Cinema 2000, a Yonge Street theatre that showed movies on video monitors to avoid the oversight of the Ontario Censor Board.
Because videotape was a recent technology, it wasn’t covered by the Theatres Act, which governed the Censor Board and regulated the film industry.Â
Still, on March 3 of that year, days after obscenity charges were laid against the theatre’s owners, Cinema 2000 held a free screening of the movie, inviting the audience to decide if it was indeed obscene. Before the film’s climax, police stopped the screening and seized the tape, forcing 200 people onto Yonge Street on a cold winter’s night.
“They forgot to put (video) in the Act, and I think that’s why we were so successful,†Max Allen, who opened Cinema 2000 in September 1969, told the Star. “Vixen†reportedly grossed more than $84,000 during that run.
At the same time, the nearby Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre was screening the taboo-breaking Swedish film “I Am Curious (Yellow),†which had been approved by censors after 57 seconds were cut. “Vixen,†with its copious nudity and simulated soft-core sex, had been playing uncensored.
Erica Gavin stars in “Vixen,” Russ Meyer’s breakthrough movie.
Severin FilmsTwo trials later, Allen — who had distanced himself from the theatre — was acquitted. Time Square Cinemas Ltd., which ran Cinema 2000, was found guilty of staging an indecent performance and fined $1,000.
The controversy made it to the provincial legislature. When politicians debated whether to include videotape under the Theatres Act, NDP MPP Stephen Lewis interjected: “Why don’t you discuss the abolition of the Board of Censors instead?â€
Designed to resemble an airplane interior, Cinema 2000 featured televisions hanging from the walls, running on a closed-circuit system. Its space-age technology was visible from the street. “We had all this gadgetry in the window,†Allen says. “And it didn’t work at all. The machinery would fail every 20 minutes.â€
Yonge Street’s Cinema 2000 showed movies on TV monitors to avoid the censors.
Fred Ross/ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Star file photoNow 86, Allen sits in his ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ home holding the new Blu-ray edition of “Vixen.†“I almost went to jail over this movie,†he said. Then, as now, he wonders what the fuss was about.
“Have you seen the film?†he asked.
The immortal Mr. Meyer
Long before pioneering the American sex film with 1959’s “The Immoral Mr. Teas,†Russ Meyer had worked as a Second World War cameraman and honed his skills on industrial films. In the 1950s, he photographed early Playboy pictorials, before devoting his life to making overstuffed and overheated comedies and melodramas starring buxom women.
“That’s what he’s known for,†said David Gregory, co-founder of Severin Films, an indie producer and home video label. “But it’s a bit more complicated than that.
“He is the true American independent filmmaker. He is the writer, cinematographer, editor, director and distributor. He even answered his phone at the office. John Cassavetes didn’t do all of that.â€
This year Severin has released five major Meyer restorations, including “Vixen,†1975’s “Supervixens†and 1979’s “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens.†The latest two — 1965’s “Motorpsycho†and 1976’s “Up!†— came out this week.
Film historian Elizabeth Purchell, who contributed audio commentaries to both new releases, calls Meyer a consummate showman. “If a film didn’t work the first time around, he would release it under a different title and a different campaign,†she said. “And unlike other early independent films, which are very rough around the edges, Meyer’s films were always immaculately produced.â€
By the late 1960s, that polish (and his grosses) attracted 20th Century Fox, which hired Meyer to direct a sequel to “Valley of the Dolls.†Written by Roger Ebert, 1970’s “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,†more of a stand-alone parody, became a box-office hit despite being savaged by critics.
John Waters and Quentin Tarantino are huge fans of Meyer and his technique: a frantic mix of sex and violence marked by superquick cutting and unusual camera angles. The late filmmaker Jonathan Demme (“Something Wild, “The Silence of the Lambs”) often cast Meyer regular Charles Napier in key supporting roles.
Since Meyer’s death in 2004, most of his films have been out of circulation. Now, thanks to a partnership between Severin and the filmmaker’s estate, they’re being released on disc in their original aspect ratios, free of cuts.
Rumours once suggested the original prints were lost, but Gregory says they were safely stored at the Academy Film Archive and the Museum of Modern Art. “With the exception of ‘Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens,’” he said, “they were all in good condition.†“Vixen,†in fact, was restored by MoMA.
Cinema 2000’s odyssey
Cinema 2000 won its appeal in June 1971 and resumed its “Vixen” showings. Protesters marched on Yonge Street attempting to discourage patrons. By then, Allen had moved on to become a radio producer at the CBC.
Weeks later, censors finally approved “Vixen,†though with edits. “Shorten considerably the lesbian sequence between Vixen and the other girl,†read one censor note. Montreal-based distributor Cinepix, which previously brought “Motorpsycho†to Canadian theatres, complied. The film (on celluloid) opened on Aug. 6, 1971, at the Coronet Theatre, just steps from Cinema 2000. “First time on a large screen!†read an ad in the Star.
“I don’t think it had anything to do with it being a dirty movie,†Allen said. “It was the fact that we had broken the system.â€
In 1975, five years after the initial “Vixen†controversy, the Theatres Act was amended to include videotape. By then, adult theatres were widespread throughout the city; the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema and the Paradise Theatre operated as adults-only venues in the ‘70s and ’80s.
Meyer’s final theatrical release, “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens,†was rejected by the Board of Censors in February 1980.
In 2019, Ontario disbanded the Ontario Film Authority (formerly the Board of Censors), citing changes in viewer behaviour that made classification financially unsustainable.
Today, Ontario theatres follow the Film Content Information Act, a self-regulated system requiring exhibitors to post advisories and content details.
Russ Meyer’s “Motorpsycho” stars Alex Rocco, who later appeared as Moe Greene in “The Godfather.” Â
Severin FilmsThough they are among Meyer’s lesser-known films, “Motorpsycho†and “Up!†remain noteworthy. “They’re two of his most breathlessly edited works,†said Purchell. “And in their depictions of sex and especially sexual violence, each typifies the moment in which it was made — and the market it was made for.â€
Before recording her “Up!†commentary, Purchell screened the film to see how it plays today. “Programmers sometimes worry that younger audiences aren’t going to see these films on their level,†she said, “but I disagree. I think they get that they’re over the top. These new restorations really bring that out.â€
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