Main Cast: Erica Gavin, Harrison Page, Garth Pillsbury, Michael Donovan O'Donnell
Release Year: 1968
Country: US
Run Time: 70 minutes
Plot
Tom Palmer (Garth Pillsbury) is a good natured "bush jockey," flying chartered tours in and out of scenic British Columbia and entertaining visitors at his remote mountain cabin. He shares his secluded home with his wife, Vixen (Erica Gavin), a hot-blooded wildcat of a woman who is irresistibly drawn to illicit physical affairs despite truly loving her husband. Her pants are even hot enough to flirt shamelessly with her own brother, a motorcycle riding hooligan named Jud (Jon Evans), though his African-American friend, Niles (Harrison Page), earns nothing but Vixen's racist contempt. When Tom brings a wealthy young couple to the lodge for a few days of fishing, Vixen goes on the offensive and soon has her way with both visitors, helping to patch up their marriage in the process. Next she decides to ease the sizzling sexual tension with her brother by joining him in the shower, and their incestuous coupling is witnessed by Niles. Again, Vixen cruelly insults his race and taunts him for dodging the American draft by heading for Canada. Frustrated and angry, Niles starts talking with Tom's new charter flight customer, an Irishman named Mr. O'Bannion (Michael Donovan O'Donnell), who is secretly planning to hijack Tom's plane to reach Cuba. He's a Communist, and after a political debate, Niles decides to join his cause and help O'Bannion carry out his terrorism. Once the felonious duo are up in the air with Tom and Vixen, though, she refuses to keep her volatile tongue still, and nothing goes as planned. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
Review
This phenomenally successful softcore melodrama-comedy truly put independent director Russ Meyer on the map, earning millions on a small investment and gaining more publicity than any of his films (or any other "adult" feature, for that matter) had enjoyed at that time. It wasn't long before Hollywood crunched the numbers and started sniffing around Meyer's backdoor, leading to a short stint with the major studios that the director abandoned after only two films. While more explicit than his prior releases, Vixen doesn't match the accelerated mayhem of previous triumphs like Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! or Motor Psycho, though it does begin to establish the cartoonish glory that would distinguish the director's future efforts. Despite a wealth of juicy elements including racism, incest, and the legitimacy of the Vietnam war, Vixen is ultimately plotless, with major characters being introduced merely to afford leading lady Erica Gavin a stream of sexual partners. Gavin is easily the worst actress to ever provocatively drape herself before the Meyer lens. Her overwrought attempts to convey the wanton lust of her character merely make her look like she's ready to vomit, and while her ripe nastiness and frank racism seems sincere, it renders her physical charms unpleasant. Still, who can resist a dirty movie that spends nearly a third of its running time debating the merits of Communism and features its star performing a lascivious dance with a dead fish? Though its usefulness as "erotica" is questionable, Vixen will certainly please fans of Meyer's outrageous work. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
The film concerns the misadventures of the oversexed Vixen (Gavin), as she sexually manipulates everyone she meets. The story's taboo-violations mount quickly, including themes of incest, racism, and violence.
In the heart of the Canadian wilderness, sultry and sexually assertive Vixen becomes quickly bored when her husband Tom, wilderness guide/pilot (Garth Pillsbury) leaves for the mountains. The hypersexual Vixen vents her frustration by attempting to seduce anyone within reach, including a client's wife, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and eventually her own brother (Jon Evans).
After witnessing Vixen's exploits throughout the film, it ends by veering into surprising political satire as Vixen's racism and the creeping threat of communism are discussed at length among the characters as the film draws to its end.
