The first ten minutes or so of Russ Meyer’s Wild Gals of the Naked West did not inspire confidence. In one scene, Russ stages an Indian attack on the beach where the only prop is a flag planted in the sand?!? Next, he recreates the shootout at the OK Corral without the benefit of any cowboys. In fact, no actors can be found in both sequences, which rely heavily on narration and camera movement to create a nonexistent action scene. I think these two scenes were probably added after the fact to bolster the running time because immediately afterwards ANOTHER narrator (this time an onscreen drunk prospector) shows up to tell us about the titular women.
Fortunately for the audience, things improve drastically from there.
Russ keeps the gags and jokes coming at a steady pace. Some are less successful than others, but there are a few hearty laughs to be had. Mostly, the film plays out like a series of loosely connected Laugh-In-style sketches with a fair amount of nudity thrown in there to disguise the fact that much of it isn’t very funny. (Some, but not all the women wear pasties.) There are scenes inspired by Harpo Marx as there’s a guy in a red clown wig who chases women around. We also get a guy in an ape suit that shows up randomly. Halfway through, something of a plot emerges as a stranger moseys into town looking to tame the Wild West and encounters its wacky inhabitants.
It ultimately doesn’t amount to much, but the rest of the movie isn’t nearly as terrible as the first ten minutes would suggest. Most of this is so lightweight that it will barely even register. However, if you want to watch a lot of bouncing bosoms in a Wild West setting, Wild Gals of the Naked West should fit the bill.
AKA: The Immoral West. AKA: Immoral Gals of the Naked West. AKA: Naked Gals of the Golden West. AKA: The Immoral West and How It Was Lost. AKA: The Naked West and How It Was Lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment