Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers (4 Stars)

"He's a man, isn't he? They all have problems".

This is the 11th film in the Russ Meyer Collection, made in 1968. It was Russ's first attempt at making a thriller, and he succeeded admirably. I have no idea what the reason for the film's title is. It sounds cool, but it has no relevance whatsoever.

Paul Lockwood owns a successful strip club in Los Angeles. In a role reversal to Russ's previous film, "Good morning and goodbye", Paul is a sexual stud while his wife Kelly has no interest in sex. He satisfies his sexual appetite by visiting brothels, but even that isn't enough for him. In the film we see him having sex with two prostitutes, then going home and raping his wife.

The film's main action concerns a robbery. Two men break into the club to steal the money. Paul, his wife and an employee are taken prisoner.

If I remember correctly, this was the last film in Russ Meyer's career that wasn't a moral fable. Maybe the moral lessons are there, but they're not pushed at us with long speeches and Bible quotes like they are in his other films. We still have lashings of religion though. In a bizarre scene the prostitute Christiana first explains the religious significance of the Karma Sutra to Paul, then she talks about Mennonite clothing while shaving his pubic hair with a cutthroat razor.

The men in the film are all unpleasant. None of them have any likeable qualities. They're all violent and abusive to women. Even Paul's employee Ray, who first comforts Kelly, insisting like all good men that he likes her mind not her body, becomes aggressive when she turns down his advances. The women in the film are all kind and loving, even the frigid Kelly.