"King Leer" Russ Meyer (Mudhoney) hit paydirt with his 1968 Vixen, which starred self-confessed stoner Erica Gavin (real name: Donna Graff) as the sexually voracious title character willing to take on anyone but black men (whom she identifies with a pejorative) and the handicapped (ditto). Her preoccupied pilot hubby Tom (Garth Pillsbury from If You Don't Stop It...You'll Go Blind!!!) is somehow blissfully unaware of Vixen's extramarital mating, even as she attempts to seduce her own brother (Jon Evans from 1970's gay frontier drama Song of the Loon). Along with the carnal couplings, Meyer mixed in racial antagonism, rabid anti-Communism, the conflict in Northern Ireland, and an innovative use for a dead fish. Also with Harrison Bad Ass Page, Vincene Wallace from A Sweet Sickness, Robert Aiken (Love Camp 7), and prolific character actor John Furlong (Meyer's Common Law Cabin). Meyer wrote the script with Anthony-James Ryan (Meyer's Black Snake) and Robert Rudelson (the Jason Robards drama Fools). Despite (or perhaps because of) its X rating, Vixen was an unexpected commercial success, screening in first-run theaters and attracting viewers whose shoes had never trod the sticky floor of a grindhouse.
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