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This phenomenally successful softcore melodrama-comedy truly put independent director Russ Meyer on the map, earning millions on a small investment and gaining more publicity than any of his films (or any other "adult" feature, for that matter) had enjoyed at that time. It wasn't long before Hollywood crunched the numbers and started sniffing around Meyer's backdoor, leading to a short stint with the major studios that the director abandoned after only two films. While more explicit than his prior releases, Vixen doesn't match the accelerated mayhem of previous triumphs like Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! or Motor Psycho, though it does begin to establish the cartoonish glory that would distinguish the director's future efforts. Despite a wealth of juicy elements including racism, incest, and the legitimacy of the Vietnam war, Vixen is ultimately plotless, with major characters being introduced merely to afford leading lady Erica Gavin a stream of sexual partners. Gavin is easily the worst actress to ever provocatively drape herself before the Meyer lens. Her overwrought attempts to convey the wanton lust of her character merely make her look like she's ready to vomit, and while her ripe nastiness and frank racism seems sincere, it renders her physical charms unpleasant. Still, who can resist a dirty movie that spends nearly a third of its running time debating the merits of Communism and features its star performing a lascivious dance with a dead fish? Though its usefulness as "erotica" is questionable, Vixen will certainly please fans of Meyer's outrageous work.