MovieChat Forums > Pandora Peaks (2004) Discussion > The passing of Russ Meyer

The passing of Russ Meyer

posted 20 years ago by moviemystic
4 replies | jump to latest

The IMDB (via WENN) obit for Russ Meyer was a dud.

They didn't even show his picture - instead they used an old film cover.

Also the name of that Russ Meyer film was The Immoral Mr. Teas, not The "Immortal" Mr. Teas.

And for decades Meyer NEVER "promoted" his films on video - in fact, for many years he refused to allow them on any video tape or DVD.

This continued until only the last few years of his life, when he was too ill in his old age to spend time legally preventing their release.

The movie world has lost a great legend this week, and one who wisely saw fit to keep his films saucy instead of pornographic.

Hundreds of years from now, after all the 20th century porn kings are forgotten, everyone will still know the name, and the entertaining films of, Mr. Russ Meyer.

[–] Black_Gestapo 20 years ago

This is the first I had heard about Meyer's death, but I second the above comments. Russ Meyer was a genuine auteur, a true maverick who made films to his suit his own tastes, and his legacy is sure to live on for a good long time. Sexploitation cinema has never seen his like before or since.

But his death also leaves me wondering - did Russ get his wish of having the following inscribed on his gravestone?:

"More than anyone else in his time, Russ Meyer was responsible for the decay of values in American society."
- Charles Keating (Citizens for Decent Literature)

"I was glad to do it."
- Russ

[–] filmo70 20 years ago

moviemystic, you are totally wrong about Meyer refusing to release his films until a few years ago as you say. He released nearly all of them in the late 1980's on VHS. He use to charge $80 a pop. He was always happy to promote and even happier to make a buck off his work.

[–] moviemystic 16 years ago

Nothing incorrect with what I said at all - the late '80s (and '90s birth of DVDs) indeed IS the late period of Meyer's life that I referred to. (He'd made films since the 1950s.)

[–] sexy_dancer 14 years ago

Backtracker. You said:

And for decades Meyer NEVER "promoted" his films on video - in fact, for many years he refused to allow them on any video tape or DVD.

Meyer first started releasing his movies on home video in the mid '80s - as is remembered quite painfully by anyone who coveted them at the time, because (as already mentioned) he charged a lot for them. The first releases of theatrical movies on home video were in 1977. So much for "decades".

By the time DVD came out, in the late '90s, Meyer had already been selling his movies on home video for over ten years. There was no "refusal" to release them on DVD at all -

There's no shame in making a mistake, but there is shame in attempting to weasel your way out of admitting that you made it. moviemystic is no home video historian.