Paul (Paul Lockwood) is the owner of a topless go-go club. Whenever he isn’t tying one on, he’s busy cheating on his wife Kelly (Anne Chapman from The Blue Hour) with a series of sexy sex workers. Meanwhile, a plot brews to knock over the club. While Kelly is busy making time with Ray (Gordon Wescourt), the stud bartender, thieves enter the bar with the intention of ripping the joint off, which further complicates matters.
The opening scenes of Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers! are pure Russ Meyer. It contains his patented rapid-fire editing as he juxtaposes fast cars with hot and busty go-go girls. The credits sequence set in the bar, where the names of the cast and crew appear on liquor bottles is also fun, and the theme song is a real toe-tapper too.
The oddest scene finds a hooker insisting on shaving Paul (if you know what I mean) before doing the deed. She then flashes back to her days as a young Mennonite flying a kite in a field just as she reaches her climax. (Meyer’s cutaways to an erupting fountain in the next sex scene is a bit more conventional.)
Chapman is dynamite, and it’s a shame she only made one film with Meyer as she definitely understood the assignment. Meyer loved using impossibly busty actresses for his films and not only can she act, but she’s also impossibly busty. In fact, I’d even say she was overqualified for the role, if you catch my drift. She gets a great underwater fuck scene too. (This one features cutaways to a demolition derby.)
The melodrama is a bit lacking in comparison to Meyer’s other stuff at the time. It’s an overall smaller movie that’s also missing some of the sheer exuberance that hallmarks his best work. With a director like Russ, whose cinematic vision is so singular, the only competition he really has is himself. Compared to other directors’ output at the time it’s breezy fun. When judged against his filmography, it comes up a bit short. Don’t take that as a knock against it as Finders Keepers, Lovers Weeper! is still an enjoyable flick and a terrific vehicle for Chapman.
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