Mondo Topless (1966)

Director:

Russ Meyer

Release Date:

17 November 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Russ Meyer's Busty Buxotic Beauties

Plot:

After a quick tour of San Francisco, Russ takes us on a nonstop tour of breasts in motion. Prominent...

Plot Keywords:

Stripper | Dance | Female Nudity | Exploitation | Buxom

Cast

Babette Bardot	...	Bouncy
Pat Barrington	...	Herself (as Pat Barringer)
Sin Lenee	...	Lucious
Darlene Grey	...	Buxotic
Diane Young	...	Yummy
Darla Paris	...	Delicious
Donna X	...	Xciting
Veronique Gabriel	...	Herself ('Europe in the Raw' footage)
Greta Thorwald	...	Herself ('Europe in the Raw' footage)
Denice Duval	...	Herself ('Europe in the Raw' footage)
Abundavita	...	Herself ('Europe in the Raw' footage)
Heide Richter	...	Herself ('Europe in the Raw' footage)
Gigi La Touche	...	Herself ('Europe in the Raw' footage)
Yvette Le Grand	...	Herself ('Europe in the Raw' footage)
Lorna Maitland	...	Herself ('Lorna' screentest footage)

Also Known As:

Mondo Girls
Mondo Top

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-15 (2006) | Germany:16 | UK:18 | Finland:(Banned) (1967) | USA:X (rated by MPAA: 1973)

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Movie Connections:

References Lorna (1964)

Russ Meyer blast from the past

Although Russ Meyer made this movie in a hurry to make some fast money, he later came to see it for what it is - a classic sendup of the go-go and striptease girls of the swingin' 60's! The movie is sparse, even by Russ Meyer standards - just a music soundtrack accompanied by an announcer who introduces the "girls"!

But the "girls" are something else! Most of them are California based professional strippers of the era who jumped at the chance to get in front of a movie camera and do their go-go bad thing. All of them are eye catching, but one stands out, literally, from the rest.

Russ was actually ready to run this film through his paces, featuring the already well known Lorna Maitland, when he got a phone call from a great "procurer" friend, one Andy Anderson. He told Russ that he had a major discovery in front of him from downtown San Francisco and that Russ should "get his body down to a certain club a.s.a.p." in order to be the first to shoot her. Andy said "I'll hold the dogs off until you get here!"

Russ complied, went to the club and together, he and Andy went to the dressing room of one Vivian Cournoyer. She had apparently just begun dancing at the club and was new to the art of striptease and the area, temporarily staying with a friend. Identifying himself, Russ asked Ms. Cournoyer to show what she had whereupon Russ got to see, according to him, "the greatest set of breasts I've ever seen or filmed", all the more remarkable on a petite 112 pound body!

Realizing he had to act quickly in order to be the first to get this buxotic lady on film, Russ Meyer drove with her to the desert early the next morning and spent the entire day shooting stills and film of the woman he called Darlene Grey for his ode to the go-go era, MONDO TOPLESS. Darlene Grey went on to a short-lived career in magazines such as Arv Miller's FLING, posing as Candy Morrison, Vivian Moyer and Angela Carter.

Then, as Russ tells it, she just disappeared from sight after less than a year of posing. Nevertheless, Russ Meyer still claims that MONDO TOPLESS has been one of his best selling videos over the years "simply because of Ms. Grey's great heaving chest".

If for no other reason, enjoy this movie for the "girls", but especially for the extended "desert boogie au go go" done by Darlene Grey near the beginning. No less a film critic than Roger Ebert felt compelled to specifically comment on the voluptuous Ms. Grey in MONDO TOPLESS. Seeing her cavort, topless in the desert, holding a tiny AM transistor radio in one hand is an experience never to be forgotten!