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This film tends to touch base on issues in several other of his films. In "Vixen," the issue was marital bliss and touched on the concept of partner swapping. A similar notion is touched on in "Finders Keepers" in marital fidelity, and promoting the concept that "no one goes unpunished." Whether Meyer could be perceived as a fidelity or conservative living advocate, who knows. After all, the man was known for being critical of anti-Vietnam protesters (Meyer had proudly served as a wars footage cameraman in WWII). But it contains the nudity and light humor of his other flicks. It's not one of his more known films, but is worth checking out even if only once. The movie actually has a good plot to it, with senses of drama and a sense of urgency that keeps the pace going from start to finish.

Other than the novel manners in which some northern tourists are murdered, and the Twilight Zone-ish aspects of the plot, there aren't too many redeeming factors behind the film. Granted, the film is one of the early over-the-top gore flicks of the era, it hardly makes the long wait through the opening sequence worth while. And, due to the "B-Movie" like aspects of the film, this certainly isn't for everyone, and makes for a better rental than a purchase, unless B-Movie splatter flicks of the '50s and '60s is your style.

Although there were plenty of nudie cutie and sexploitation flicks of the era that dwelled around the novelty of the advent of the nudist beach, "Goldilocks and the Three Bares" is somewhat disappointing in that it actually attempts to create some sort of legitimacy within the genre. Granted, the dialogue isn't entirely cheesy, and the plot itself is somewhat entertaining, it throws the viewer for a loop by tossing in a nudist colony at the end for whatever effect Lewis hoped to achieve. It's not clearly understood what he hoped to achieve with it, since it has no real purpose. If we understood the fact that this movie was all about the nudist colony and the nudist lifestyle, maybe this would work. But the whole previous 2/ 3 of the film is about Eddie getting the girl, and her uncertainty about opening up to him about her secret lifestyle. "Goldilocks," when basically stated, is just not that interesting of a movie. Granted, there are plenty of retro nudie benefits to it, it's hardly worth the high cost of purchasing the new DVD, and hardly worth the time trying to track it down otherwise.

Granted this film in its own right is extremely rare and expensive when one does find it, beware. The film is usually dubbed in either Swedish or German, and is relatively pointless. Sure, there are a lot of naked people, but this film couldn't even be categorized as "softcore." It's mostly just people at a commune talking about their bodies and what they like about sex. Big deal. However, it is a crucial film, considering it is with revenue generated from its slight grind house/peepshow success that Craven and Cunningham were able to do "Last House on the Left," and subsequently "Hills Have eyes" with Peter Locke as producer. The rest is history.

Beneath the Valley is one of Meyer's better known works, largely due to its broader distribution, over-indulgence of feminine beauty and crass humor. These are all time-honored features of Meyer in his films, but as his last feature (Pandora Peaks typically isn't counted in terms of conventional Meyer timeline), everything gets laid on extra thick. Meyer tests the boundaries of just how far he can go before the viewer reaches sensory overload. Nonetheless the impeccable Kitten Natividad and the often unmentioned, but still unforgettable Ann Marie stay true to Meyer fashion and manage to suck in the viewer while Meyer dishes out social taboos and common problems associated with the modern couple. Nobody is safe from his scathing satire. The homosexual professional, the self-defeating redneck and the two-faced nature of radio/TV evangelism all get a thorough walloping in this film. This film also serves as the epitome of Meyer's work with photography and cinematography. His virtually-patented "up through the bed springs" shots are unmistakable and this film serves as the perfect showcase and record of this unique, yet effective technique. Never before has any director opted to shoot the love scene from the mattresses point of view! Although this film does indeed lack in comparison to Supervixens or Up! as one of Meyer's late '70s style flicks in terms of dramatic story complexity, it's still Russ Meyer, and that alone makes the film worthwhile.

A few previous critics of this work by Bakshi slam it for being "stereotypical" and thereby negative as a whole by implementing foul humor, language and at times even suggest that because it's a cartoon that it owes something to child-oriented animation. This is absolute pig swill. Bakshi's vision in Heavy Traffic is to present life on the streets as he knows it. His style is truly unique, overlaying animation onto real stills and film sequences to add to the New york flavor that exists throughout the film. An abusive Italian married to a worrying Jewish woman is part of our reality. Gays being abused and people having to worry about their jobs being taken by minority groups for less pay and benefits because they're more desperate than we are is part of our reality. Love regardless of skin color, and facing the consequences for it is SADLY part of our reality. By using animation, Bakshi is exercising his artistic abilities while setting it in times and themes he is familiar with. This film, along with the criminally banned Coonskin should be hailed as modern masterpieces not for their visual aspects, but for the truth lying beneath and his unabashed look at how life really is. Comparing this film to "Shrek" is like comparing the original Night of the Living Dead to the recent Dawn of the dead remake. Granted they're both horror, but they're lightyears apart and don't use any of the same effects techniques. One, like Heavy Traffic, was made for social commentary, whereas the remake, like Shrek, is merely for our homogenized entertainment values.

Although Meyer should be given props for attempting to satire the then-popular westerns with his trademark brand of whit and situational comedy, Meyer still produced a lackluster effort largely through casting, and the unnecessary use of a rather unconvincing 49er who's obviously a young man but is supposed to be a white-haired, lame old man. Go figure. This actor's performance alone brings down the rest of the film significantly, however the set designs and general premise of the story are interesting enough. The general impression from this film is that Meyer had money to burn, otherwise he would've put out a much better quality film. None of the jokes really work, and the only redeeming factor, which is sadly what Meyer's bottom line has always been, is to use breasts as a means for getting butts in the seats. Other than the amorous breasts, great use of design and color, this film is truly a let-down.

This film is a little odd, mixing cowboy motifs with wwII era plot, but is an interesting film with all its plot twists, and of course, lovely ladies bearing it all for the camera. Uschi Digard's small but truly awesome role as the general's daughter makes this film well worth renting or buying on ebay just for her top-heavy erotica scene. Other than that, the action sequences and story are actually well done, however it's obvious this was shot in the states from seeing the monstrous steel towers suspending electrical cables over the valley bellow. Still, an interesting film to check out.