Cherry, Harry & Raquel! (U.S., 1971, Russ Meyer) - From the director of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), comes one of his signature sexploitation thrillers. Prolific character actor Charles Napier (in his debut role) plays a border sheriff named Harry who conducts a marijuana smuggling ring with a crooked politician named Franklin. Franklin orders Harry to track down and kill the "Apache," a former associate who has started his own drug smuggling business. Meanwhile, Harry lives with a buxom nurse, Cherry (Linda Ashton), but frequently meets with his favorite prostitute, Raquel (Larissa Ely). The two ladies fated encounter includes getting stoned and getting down in typical Russ Meyer fashion. Subject to repeated censorship at the time, director Russ Meyer was one of the most divisive and prolific cult directors of the 1960s and 1970s.
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The fall series will showcase rarely exhibited films that took art-house audiences of New York City and West Berlin by storm during the period of 1968-1989. Based on archival research, this series looks at what audiences at the time were watching and how it formed their thinking on the politics of sex and gender. Program notes based on the films' exhibition histories in NYC and West Berlin will be provided at each screening.
Free and open to the public
Parking $3 in Core West Parking Structure