Russ Meyer has died. One of the great shlock film makers of our time has left the building. He was responsible for such esoteric classics as “Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill”, “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and “Supervixens”.

Of course, none of these are exactly guilty of literature or, indeed, art but are more renowned for being exploitative and violent, softcore ‘adult’ movies featuring copious amounts of female flesh but very little sex. His later films certainly embraced the liberal censorship guidelines of the early-mid 70’s and I think many people would struggle to find any redeeming features in his films in this P.C. day and age. But his films featuring could be described as juxtaposing the action films of the 80’s, with his female being the big-bosomed ying to Schwarzenegger and Stallone’s over-muscled yang. But the obscenity and smut that Meyer is renowned for hasn’t stopped his films being adopted by the art house circuit and playing at annually at film festivals around the world not becoming the subject of many film studies courses. Expect to see a retrospective on BBC2 sometime soon!

The man has died, but his legacy lives on.