The Seven Minutes (film)
| The Seven Minutes | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Russ Meyer |
| Produced by | Russ Meyer |
| Written by | Irving Wallace (novel) Richard Warren Lewis |
| Starring | Wayne Maunder Marianne McAndrew |
| Music by | Stu Phillips |
| Cinematography | Fred Mandl |
| Editing by | Dick Wormell |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation |
| Release date(s) | July 23, 1971 (U.S.) December 11, 1971 (Japan) |
| Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Seven Minutes is 1971 drama film directed and produced by Russ Meyer. The film was based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Irving Wallace.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
After a teenager who purchased the erotic novel The Seven Minutes is charged for rape, an eager prosecutor who is against pornography (and preparing for an upcoming election) uses the scandal to declare the book as obscene and brings charges against the bookstore. The subsequent trial soon creates a heated debate about the issue of pornography vs. free speech. The young defense lawyer must also solve the mystery of the novel's true author.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Wayne Maunder | Mike Barrett |
| Marianne McAndrew | Maggie Russell |
| Philip Carey | Elmo Duncan |
| Jay C. Flippen | Luther Yerkes |
| Edy Williams | Faye Osborn |
| Lyle Bettger | Frank Griffith |
| Yvonne De Carlo | Constance Cumberland |
| Jackie Gayle | Norman Quandt |
| Ron Randell | Merle Reid |
| Charles Drake | Sargent Kellogg |
| John Carradine | Sean O'Flanagan |
| Harold J. Stone | Judge Upshaw |
| James Inglehart | Clay Rutherford |
| Tom Selleck | Phil Sanford |
| Olan Soule | Harvey Underwood |
| Charles Napier | Norman Quandt |
| Wolfman Jack | Himself |
[edit] Production notes
This was Meyer's second, and last, mainstream production for Twentieth-Century Fox. The film began production soon after the success of Meyer's highest grossing film, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.[1] As with many of his movies, Meyers used several actors from his previous productions, including then-wife Edy Williams, Charles Napier, Henry Rowland, and James Inglehart. Established actress Yvonne De Carlo makes an appearance along with veteran character actor Olan Soule. A young Tom Selleck also had a role in the film, and DJ Wolfman Jack made a cameo appearance.
Known as "King of the Nudies"[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] for his work in the sexploitation film genre,[11][12] Meyer planned nude scenes in this mainstream film.[13] He informed female lead candidates that nudity would integral to their roles,[13] and after casting interviews, considered Marianne McAndrew to be suitable.[14] He subsequently signed her for the lead role of Maggie Russell.[15] McAndrew, previously known for her work as the prim and proper Irene Molloy in Hello, Dolly!,[16] accepted the role based upon her wish to change her own image and in order to gain more work within the industry.[16] She reported that during the filming itself, Meyers was "considerate and gentlemanly".[15]
[edit] Reception
The Seven Minutes received a lukewarm reception from both audiences and critics and was Meyer's first commercial failure.[1][17]
New York Times reviewer Roger Greenspun wrote of the film, "I don't think that a court of law is the right Russ Meyer arena, and The Seven Minutes, which had started out pretty well, bogs down hopelessly in its courtroom legalisms and its absolutely non-cliff-hanging rush to unearth the real identity of the mythical J J Jadway", citing some problems with the film being its complicated plot and "enormous cast of characters". In addressing the film's use of nudity, he wrote "[Meyers] has never been so much concerned with undressing his girls (there are maybe five seconds of nudity in "The Seven Minutes") as admiring their appetites, their overwhelming proportions (but not so much their seductive flesh), their often destructive and self-destructive wills."[18]
Variety wrote that Irving Wallace's original novel was a "potboiler" "which averted the essence of the problem in resolving the story," and noted that Russ Meyer was himself a "censor-exploited as well as a censor-exploiting filmmaker", who began with a story handicap and added a few of his own. They expanded that Meyer used "cardboard-caricatures of his heavies" which obscured issues, and included the "regular time-out for the sexually-liberated dalliances which have been his stock in trade."[19]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Russ Meyer at filmreference.com
- ^ Meyers, Cynthia (December 14, 1969). "Gal on the go". Toledo Blade (Google News Archive). http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JAcVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9AEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6796,1123766&dq=king-of-the-nudies&hl=en. Retrieved 9 July 2010.[dead link]
- ^ Thomas, Kevin (November 30, 1969). "King of the Nudies on Biggest Film Caper Yet". Los Angeles Times (ProQuest Archiver): p. S18. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/585084392.html?dids=585084392:585084392&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+30%2C+1969&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=King+of+the+Nudies+on+Biggest+Film+Caper+Yet&pqatl=google. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
- ^ "Sex Film Producer Gets Major Script". Eugene Register-Guard (Google News Archive). October 19, 1969. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c8IUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4884,4338282&dq=king-of-the-nudies&hl=en. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
- ^ Cross, Robert (February 16, 1969). "The 'skin-flicks' of producer Russ Meyer". Chicago Tribune (ProQuest Archiver): p. A8. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/583320562.html?dids=583320562:583320562&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+16%2C+1969&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Films&pqatl=google. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
- ^ "Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 01, 1963". Albuquerque Tribune: p. B7. October 1, 1963.
- ^ "King Of The Nudies to Film 'Dolls' Sequel". Mt Vernon Register News. September 26, 1969.
- ^ Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn, ed. (1973). Kings of the Bs: working within the Hollywood system : an anthology of film history and criticism (illustrated ed.). Russ Meyer: King of the Nudies: E. P. Dutton. pp. 110 through 132. ISBN 0525140905. http://books.google.com/books?id=53UIAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Kings+of+the+B:+Working+within+the+Hollywood+system%22&dq=%22Kings+of+the+B:+Working+within+the+Hollywood+system%22&hl=en&ei=9900TIGcLIb-nAeRs9SDBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (2009). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2010. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 555. ISBN 0740785362. http://books.google.com/books?id=-1aM7D_ymdAC&pg=PA555&dq=%22King+of+the+Nudies%22,+Russ+Meyer&hl=en&ei=9tg0TPesGJTlnAft3NCJBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22King%20of%20the%20Nudies%22%2C%20Russ%20Meyer&f=false.
- ^ McDonough, Jimmy (2006). Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film (reprint, illustrated ed.). Random House, Inc.. pp. 278, 279, 280, 426. ISBN 0307338444,. http://books.google.com/books?id=iJoQi-OXBM4C&pg=PA426&dq=%22The+Seven+Minutes%22,+film&hl=en&ei=3k8yTOSXEdT8nAfy7LGEBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ Lisanti, Tom (2003). Drive-in dream girls: a galaxy of B-movie starlets of the sixties (illustrated ed.). McFarland. p. 52. ISBN 0786415754. http://books.google.com/books?id=hwFbcgV_LDgC&pg=PA52&dq=%22The+Seven+Minutes%22,+film&hl=en&ei=1V8yTJT5GJWEnQeugbXlAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Seven%20Minutes%22%2C%20film&f=false.
- ^ Landy, Marcia (1991). Imitations of life: a reader on film & television melodrama. Contemporary film and television series (illustrated ed.). Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0814320651. http://books.google.com/books?id=lgLJtSvfFd0C&pg=PA46&dq=%22The+Seven+Minutes%22,+film&hl=en&ei=1V8yTJT5GJWEnQeugbXlAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ a b Haber, Joyce (May 11, 1970). "Crenna Assumes His Executive Role". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles): p. E17.
- ^ Haber, Joyce (October 7, 1970). "'Portnoy' Moves Off the Fox Lot". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles): p. E17.
- ^ a b Kleiner, Dick (January 24, 1971). "Show Beat". The Victoria Advocate NEA (Victoria, Texas): p. 11.
- ^ a b Scott, Vernon (January 29, 1971). "Nudity has its place in films, says actress". Sarasota Herald-Tribune UPI (Google News Archive). http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rzwgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SmYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6311,3710205&dq=marianne-mcandrew+film+nudity&hl=en. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (1973). "Russ Meyer: King of the Nudies". Film Comment. http://www.fmcinema.com/russmeyer/ebert.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
- ^ Greenspun, Roger (July 24, 1971). "'The 7 Minutes':Court Is Focus of Russ Meyer's Latest". The New York Times (movies.nytimes.com). http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9f00e6dc163def34bc4c51dfb166838a669ede. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
- ^ "review: The Seven Minutes". variety.com. January 1, 1971. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117794770.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
[edit] External links
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