Reviews

Great acting and writing propel this fairly straightforward drama.

The plot is well-known by now. A low-life pimp tries to get out of the life by becoming a hip-hop artist in this acclaimed drama from writer and director Craig Brewer. Set in the ghettos of Memphis, TN. The soundtrack is as dirty and gritty as the characters and story from the film.

Despite the film's clichés, despite the difficulty in feeling affection for a repulsive pimp ... this is an oddly compelling, very watchable film. The pimp's "meeting" with famed rap artist "Skinny Black" is a scene that will go down as one of the most memorable in cinematic history.

And you do end up feeling affection for the pimp. Job well done by the director of this!

If you are a fan of the more modest striptease which leaves more to the imagination, this video is for you. Some excellent video footage here, with reasonably good, unobtrusive voice-over commentary. Some footage is in color, though most in black and white.

It is somewhat disappointing that the video leaves off pretty abruptly somewhere in the mid-50s to the early 60s and the narrator speaks openly of the "decline" of stripteasing in the 60s. But there were still quite a few excellent girls working the circuit in the 60s, many of which went on to appear in famous "B" or exploitation movies.

That being said, as this video proves, there was certainly a high art in dancers such as Sally Rand, Gypsy Rose Lee, Cherrie Knight and Lilli St. Cyr. I had heard of Miss Rand and her "fan dance" for years but had no idea of how intricate and indeed erotic it was until I saw this high-quality footage here. The Gypsy Rose Lee clip was an apt and welcome inclusion. When a stripper can drive you nuts by baring a little bit of clavicle, that's talent!

Interestingly, there is almost no attention paid by the narrator to the use of physique alone as an attraction. In the opening monologue, he states that "contrary to popular belief, burlesque striptease artists came in all shapes and sizes." The selection of girls used in this video certainly bears this out! Makes the tagline somewhat vacuous.

Other criticism is the totally gratuitous inclusion of bondage pin-up girl Bettie Page and the inclusion of a long segment on black ecdysiasts, born more out of a sense of political correctness than germaneness.

There is also DVD bonus material which consists of about 10 vintage reels of little-known or unbilled ecdysiasts. The first reel, "Caught On Barbed Wire", is placed first for good reason: it is the best of the lot, very well-conceived and well-acted, and rivals anything in the main program for electricity factor. Don't miss it!

I gave the film a 6.

Worst aspects: The toilet scene is pretty gross and therefore hard to watch; too many long driving scenes (first time I have ever had to fast-forward through a Russ Meyer movie); overly long scenes in general, without any voice-over to relieve the boredom (like the tree doctor scene .. all in all this film actually moved *slower* than The Immoral Mr. Teas); the Handyman is *really* a dolt (I guess that's the way he's supposed to be, but it's to the point of annoyance here); the bra exchange joke (because it deflates the whole mystique of the 50's bosom); sound was bad (Eve's voice coming out of only one channel and not mastered well); some discontinuity (as was found in Mr. Teas); surprising, but still confusing ending; overly-long art school scene without significant-enough breastworks to justify it.

Best aspects: Eve Meyer's beautiful smile (I didn't know there could be anything that tops her wonderful upper-balcony, but there is!); Eve Meyer's beautiful laugh; Eve Meyer's cute trench-coat, scarf and beret; Eve Meyer's green cat-like eyes (Mr. Meyer, you should have LOCKED THAT DOWN); some great shots of San Francisco; the brunette languishing in the nude in the river bed; the joke about the handyman climbing the sign-pole to read the sign at the top (almost vaudeville!); Eve's legs in the "bathing her legs in the stream" scene; Eve's roadside striptease; a continuation of Mr. Meyer's life-long essay on the sexually- and career-frustrated, almost invisible, American lunch-pail guy.

And did I mention Eve's smile?? (-: Wow!

This is a great film and a must see for anyone who is even a half-hearted interest in Orson Welles. The film is sort of an essay which provides denotations of some of the themes of his earlier films such as Mr. Arkadin and Touch of Evil. This is Orson Welles at his idiosyncratic best.

The first and greatest modernist film-maker may have in fact invented post-modernism with this film.

Co-directed by Welles' wife at the time, Oja Kodar.

When oh when will this come out on DVD? There is a great trailer for this film that would be worth the price of the DVD alone. Somebody is asleep at the switch.

A movie consisting of excellent performances by Jake Weber and Maria Bello ("Auto-Focus", "The Cooler")and the irrepressible Michael McKean turning in a superb performance in a role that could have been a Jack Nicholson role. Also David Thornton, Cyndi Lauper's husband and a former alternative rock musician, in an unforgettable role as a wild-haired "unhelpful" fellow auto parts salesman to the lead character.

100 Mile Rule is well-directed by Brent Huff and features equal parts of humor, drama and suspense. The film, like Tin Men, captures perfectly the world that most of us live in: working dry jobs, eating crow from your boss, trying to "turn the corner" financially, juggling the family flamed batons of Kids, Sex and Finances but having to deal-day-to-day with less than savory co-workers. And, oh yes, the temptations of the flesh which make a playground upon our suburbia-addled minds. Male motive, in all its ugliness, is splayed open for our inspection here.

A thrilling ride and a mind-bender from start to finish, sit back and enjoy this film and the fine actors at work here.