Matthew D
With so many great gags, who needs a plot? Meyer, you've done it again!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
05/30/22
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Audience Member
a strange and funny little film from russ the tithouse meyer
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
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Audience Member
Harmless Russ Meyer nudie cutie that really doesn't have that much actual skin in it but still a fairly entertaining homage to all things buxom. As a fan of the film maker I can't help but smile @ his early works but all in all they are nothing in comparison to what was soon to come. The greatest undoing is there is no actual spoken dialog here but just a mildly witty narrative to carry things along. Meyer's is good @ writing it but it makes this a film w/ no actually performance. It just sorta makes you feel like you are causally strolling along which is fine but for those looking for the directors wild ride that he would start to deliver 3-4 years later you're going to be disappointed because you're not going to find it here
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
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Audience Member
Second film by Meyer, shows him making strides in his evolution as a filmmaker. Starring Meyer's then-wife Eve Meyer as raincoat-wearing dame spying on a handyman as he brushes close to buxom beauties (most played by Eve herself in multiple roles) whom try to tempt him while he works. Quirky film, more story driven with minimal nudity and tounge planted firmly in cheek; it feels like a series of live-action "Pink Panther" shorts in both style and story. Nice suprise ending!
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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Audience Member
Russ Meyer's feature-length follow-up to 'The Immoral Mr. Teas (Meyer, 1959)' stays firmly within the nudie-cutie sexploitation subgenre that Meyer pioneered. There are several similarities between this offering and Meyer's debut, and already his stylistic film-making traits begin to shine through. Acting as director, producer, editor, writer and photographer, Meyer kept the crew relatively small and maintained that he had absolute control. Audiences were still hungry for the exaggerated women Meyer idolised, and so he delivered. But in keeping his work so similar to his previous effort, would he be able to better 'The Immoral Mr. Teas'?
The first period of Meyer's career is perhaps his most tedious. While 'The Immoral Mr. Teas' ushered in a new wave of sexploitation movies, they often couldn't compare - Meyer himself usually regarded his competitors with disdain. To shoot a sexploitation movie required little talent, merely a camera and a couple of girls willing to disrobe. But the King of the Nudies brought fresh imagination to the table, and tried to tell a story amidst the nudity. He worked relentlessly.
Looking back at Meyer's career, his nudie-cutie period is a difficult one to gauge. Drive-ins, art-house and grindhouse theatres would often play a plethora of sexploitation movies to adorning male audiences - and talent or skill was not what these audiences paid to see. Three of Meyer's movies from this time have been withdrawn from circulation by the director himself - 'Erotica (Meyer, 1961)', 'Europe in the Raw (Meyer, 1963)' and 'Heavenly Bodies (Meyer, 1963)'. They haven't been seen since their original distribution.
However, 'Eve and the Handyman (Meyer, 1961)' opened to considerable success. Once again the main male character, this time known as The Handyman, is played by an army-buddy of Meyer's - Anthony-James Ryan. There are less women this time around, with his wife-of-the-time Eve Meyer taking on the role of several characters. Her acting capabilities are hardly stretched, for each new character requires little more of her than donning a new outfit, but Meyer never employed his female stars for their acting capabilities.
Again, the movie features no dialogue, with just a sparse narration from Eve. The story is simplicity at its finest, as we follow The Handyman around on his daily business. Little does he know he is being watched, as Eve skulks in the background wearing a trench coat, beret and red scarf. The Handyman bumbles around from job to job, each leading to an inevitable sight-gag. The humour falters, especially compared to the zinging narration of 'The Immoral Mr. Teas'.
Therein lies one of the biggest problems with 'Eve and the Handyman'. The comparisons to Meyer's first feature film are rife, with this at times feeling dangerously like a piss-poor imitation. While Meyer obviously delights in his sight-gags, the entire film leads to one punch-line, and it's just not particularly funny. One-armed viewers are also bound to be disappointed, with no bare breasts on display until the 54 minute mark (and even then, titular character Eve's modesty remains intact throughout). There are a couple of bottoms along the way, but the nudity here is sparse and quaint at best. Considering the target audience this film is marketed towards, it seems like a cheap ploy to lure in paying customers under false pretenses.
It's unfortunate that a director whose debut showed real promise seems content to almost rest on his laurels here, delivering a substandard film that is pretty much more of the same. But if it sells once...
Discuss on the blog: http://paracinematiccinephile.blogspot.com/2011/03/eve-and-handyman-meyer-1961.html
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
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Audience Member
I tried, god knows I tried, this is just too horribly boring
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
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