Cherry, Harry & Raquel!

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There is a funny sense of hypocrisy in Russ Meyer’s “Cherry, Harry & Raquel!” as the movies starts off with a lengthy statement against censorship and how “no man has the right to decide for another”. After this statement we are treated to a lengthy opening monologue about how marihuana is smuggled in from Mexico, how it’s pure evil as is has a corrupting influence on its users, who are innocent victims subjugating their own free will. On the one hand Meyer embraces the sexual revolution of the 60’s by providing the care-free flower children of that era with gratuitous nudity filled skin-flicks and any protest against them is considered to be a threat to his and their freedom. On the other hand he paints another element so closely associated with flower power, marijuana, as the root of all evil, as a hard drug turning its users into addicts and therefor an item that is rightfully illegal. So far letting people decide for their own selves what they do and don’t do. It’s sad Meyer isn’t with us today, I wonder how he would have responded to today’s current political climate in which marijuana is not only used as a medicine, it’s freely available in several states. But there is another reason there is a certain sense of hypocrisy surrounding his stance on marijuana: “Cherry, Harry & Raquel!” seems to be made by a guy high on drugs.

It’s easy to make fun of a 45-year old movie’s political views especially considering this movie was made in one of the more conservative western countries, but still I would have expected someone who has such a liberal view on nudity and sex as Russ Meyer to have a more liberal approach to other topics as well. A century of American movie making in general shows how political views change over the course of the years and makes me wonder what the general consensus will be on topics that are hold in a negative, prohibited way today. Try to imagine convincing someone in the 80s that one day gay couples will be allowed to marry having the same rights as heterosexual couples do. Or explain to someone in the 30s that black people will eventually be played by black people instead of white people covered in grease-paint.

cherry-harry-raquel-screen-1With a title as simple as “Cherry, Harry & Raquel!” it’s not immediately clear what the subject of the movie will be other than three people named Cherry, Harry & Raquel. The poster doesn’t supply much information either rather than suggesting a “ménage a trois” which never actually happens in the movie. Talk about false advertising.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the title characters:

  • Harry (Charles Napier) is a corrupt sheriff working for a geriatric local politician named Mr. Franklin. They smuggle marijuana into the country, but an associate of them named “Apache” has gone into business for himself so Harry is given the task to take him out with the aid of his Mexican-American associate Enrique.
  • Cherry (Linda Ashton) is Harry’s girlfriend and a nurse working in the hospital where Mr. Franklin has been admitted.
  • Raquel (Larissa Ely) is a prostitute who has sex with every male character in the movie as well as Cherry.

There’s also Uschi Digard running around naked in the desert as a character named Soul. She has absolutely zero function to the plot, no direct interaction with anyone from the rest of the cast and is only used as filler, adding to the strangeness of this movie.

cherry-harry-raquel-screen-4

Random naked sellery eating woman

As exciting as it may sound, the plot revolving around the former associate Harry and Enrique have to take out is poorly executed and makes up only a small portion of this 70 minute movie. They are sent after him, have an encounter with him which results in a fire fight between them. He escapes and manages to kill Mr. Franklin in the hospital. The movie ends with another desert shoot-out. There’s also a small twist when Harry is ordered by Franklin to take out Enrique as well as he knows too much. The gangster element of the movie could just as well be a script to a TV-show as it only takes up half of the movie’s running time. The other half is filled with scenes full of gratuitous nudity, mostly revolving around Raquel as she shags her way around town, but also strange cuts that seemingly have no connection to what’s going on creating a surreal feel. Not only all the cuts with Uschi, but there’s also a scene which comes totally out of nowhere and consists of Harry and Raquel running hand-in-hand towards the camera completely naked. Another scene that seems unrelated to the plot is one where a young black woman is in the hospital, takes a shower and then has her pubic hair shaved by Cherry, followed by a doctor putting on “finger condoms” which are lubricated and the inserted off-screen. It is notable though that this is the first time full frontal nudity is featured in a Russ Meyer movie.

cherry-harry-raquel-screen-3The marijuana the advocates against plays a pivotal role in one of the final scenes in the movie. After discovering the body of Mr. Franklin, Raquel is admitted into the hospital under the care of nurse Cherry. Raquel pulls some joints from her bag in a scene with some terrible line-delivery and they start to smoke them. This leads to some provocative dancing and lesbian sex which is a strange choice in a movie that advocates against the use of drugs. If you’re trying to convey a negative message about a drug, maybe the result of people using that drug shouldn’t be a steamy sex scene between two attractive women.

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Proof that drugs are bad…

What made Meyer’s previous movie “Vixen!” so entertaining was the fact that it was a skillfully made softcore porno. It was pretty linear, had no distracting side-elements and even though 90% of the plot consisted of Vixen having sex or mouthing off somebody it still managed to be engaging. “Cherry, Harry & Raquel!” on the other hand is all over the place. Harry might be the main character, but a lot of time is spent with characters who are not that interesting at all and the dialogue of “Cherry, Harry & Raquel!” is never as catchy as some of Meyer’s previous outings.

“Cherry, Harry & Raquel!” seems to be trying to go for an arthouse take on the skin-flick with it strange cutaways and scenes unrelated to the overall story. It’s one of Meyer’s weaker movies despite the high amount of flesh on display. He would go on to make movies with plots that where even more all over the place like “Up!“, but those were approached as sexy comedies complete with cartoon sound effects. “Cherry, Harry & Raquel!” plays it straight and seems to be wanted to be taken seriously, which is probably it’s biggest vault. Aside from the big bouncing boobies there is hardly a redeeming element in the movie that makes it actually a pleasurable viewing experience.

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The 60s :when fake blood looked like paint

I wonder if Meyer was discontent with the final result of “Cherry, Harry & Raquel!” and decided to slap on a twist-ending and a prologue about the dangers of marihuana to explain the other 65 minutes.

I wonder how long that cable is

Cherry, Harry & Raquel! (1970) Poster
Cherry, Harry & Raquel! (1970) Poster
Cherry, Harry & Raquel!
  • Year:
    1970
  • Director:
    • Russ Meyer
  • Cast:
    • Linda Ashton
    • Charles Napier
    • Larissa Ely
    • Bert Santos
  • Genres:
    Action, Comedy
  • Running time:
    71m

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