The Seven Minutes

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The Seven Minutes

The Seven Minutes
Technical
Type: Film
 Color
Alternate title(s): 17 Minuti che Contano (Italy).
Country: USA
Release date(s): July 23, 1971
Running time: 115 minutes
Language: English
Company: 20th Century-Fox
Staff
Directed by: Russ Meyer
Starring: Marianne McAndrew
Produced by: Russ Meyer
Written by: Russ Meyer
Music by: Stu Phillips
Cinematography: Russ Meyer
Editing by: Russ Meyer
Websites and databases
IMDb

The Seven Minutes is 1971 drama film directed and produced by Russ Meyer.[1] The film was based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Irving Wallace. For his role in the film, John Sarno was nominated for the New Male Star of the Year at the 1971 Golden Globe ceremony.[2]

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.

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

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.[3] 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"[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] for his work in the sexploitation film genre,[13][14] Meyer planned nude scenes in this mainstream film.[15] He informed female lead candidates that nudity would integral to their roles,[15] and after casting interviews, considered Marianne McAndrew to be suitable.[16] He subsequently signed her for the lead role of Maggie Russell.[17] McAndrew, previously known for her work as the prim and proper Irene Molloy in Hello, Dolly,[18] accepted the role based upon her wish to change her own image and in order to gain more work within the industry.[18] She reported that during the filming itself, Meyers was "considerate and gentlemanly".[17]

Reception

The Seven Minutes received a lukewarm reception from both audiences and critics and was Meyer's first commercial failure.[3][19]

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."[20]

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."[21]

External links

References

  1. Infobox data from Frasier, David K. (1998). Russ Meyer : The Life and Films : A Biography and A Comprehensive, Illustrated, and Annotated Filmography and Bibliography. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co, p. 209. ISBN 0-7864-0472-8. 
  2. Deming, Mark. The Seven Minutes (awards) (English). All Movie Guide. Retrieved on August 9, 2008.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Russ Meyer at filmreference.com
  4. Meyers, Cynthia. "Gal on the go", Toledo Blade, Google News Archive, December 14, 1969. Retrieved on 9 July 2010.[dead link]
  5. Thomas, Kevin. "King of the Nudies on Biggest Film Caper Yet", Los Angeles Times, ProQuest Archiver, November 30, 1969, p. S18. Retrieved on 9 July 2010.
  6. "Sex Film Producer Gets Major Script", Eugene Register-Guard, Google News Archive, October 19, 1969. Retrieved on 9 July 2010.
  7. Cross, Robert. "The 'skin-flicks' of producer Russ Meyer", Chicago Tribune, ProQuest Archiver, February 16, 1969, p. A8. Retrieved on 9 July 2010.
  8. "Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 01, 1963", Albuquerque Tribune, October 1, 1963, p. B7. Retrieved on 8 July 2010.
  9. "King Of The Nudies to Film 'Dolls' Sequel", Mt Vernon Register News, September 26, 1969. Retrieved on 8 July 2010.
  10. (1973) in Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn: Kings of the Bs: working within the Hollywood system : an anthology of film history and criticism, illustrated. Russ Meyer: King of the Nudies: E. P. Dutton, 110 through 132. ISBN 0525140905. 
  11. Ebert, Roger (2009). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2010. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 0740785362. 
  12. McDonough, Jimmy (2006). Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film, reprint, illustrated. Random House, Inc., 278, 279, 280, 426. ISBN 0307338444,. 
  13. Lisanti, Tom (2003). Drive-in dream girls: a galaxy of B-movie starlets of the sixties, illustrated. McFarland. ISBN 0786415754. 
  14. Landy, Marcia (1991). Imitations of life: a reader on film & television melodrama, illustrated, Contemporary film and television series. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0814320651. 
  15. 15.0 15.1 Haber, Joyce. "Crenna Assumes His Executive Role", Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1970, p. E17. Retrieved on 6 July 2010.
  16. Haber, Joyce. "'Portnoy' Moves Off the Fox Lot", Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1970, p. E17. Retrieved on 6 July 2010.
  17. 17.0 17.1 Kleiner, Dick. "Show Beat", 'The Victoria Advocate NEA, January 24, 1971, p. 11. Retrieved on 7 July 2010.
  18. 18.0 18.1 Scott, Vernon. "Nudity has its place in films, says actress", 'Sarasota Herald-Tribune UPI, Google News Archive, January 29, 1971. Retrieved on 6 July 2010.
  19. Ebert, Roger. "Russ Meyer: King of the Nudies", Film Comment. Retrieved on 2008-01-11.
  20. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named nyt1
  21. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named variety1