Let's be realistic.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Common Law Cabin is one of the more obscure directorial efforts from exploitation legend Russ Meyer. This was one of the ones which came from his 'soap opera' period from the late 60's, in which he made a few over-the-top melodramas. This one is set at a dilapidated tourist trap up the Colorado River run by a depressed middle-aged man, his ex-stripper helper and his sexy daughter. An alcoholic boatman rounds up three suckers to pay money to holiday in this dump, an uptight doctor, his sexually aggressive wife and an ominous stranger. Needless to say, it doesn't take long before things start to get out of hand.This one is a bit rougher round the edges than most Meyer movies, with less impressive photography and editing that we are used to seeing from him. Despite this, its unmistakably one of his movies and contains several elements common to many of his other films, such as married couples at war with one-and-other, violence, buxom women, hints of incest and all of it ultimately being played for laughs in a deadpan manner. The story is pretty lacking here it has to be said and it essentially boils down to a series of events. Like all Meyer movies, much of the success comes down to the women and in this case we have three, Babette Bardot, Adele Rein and Alaina Capri. They are all good value with Capri being the standout, although she was even better in Good Morning... and Goodbye! Which Meyer also released in the same year. It's probably worth pointing out that there isn't any actual nudity in this one, with the edits always cutting away before anything can be seen – so from an erotic standpoint this one is more about acres of cleavage and heaving bosoms. So, it's a relatively restrained affair I guess. It's certainly not in the upper bracket of the Meyer cannon but it's still an enjoyable enough romp nevertheless.

By the time he made Common Law Cabin, Russ Meyer had already found his feet with the likes of Lorna, Mudhoney and the fantastic Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! but hadn't yet found the popularity that he would find with his hit film Vixen! a year later. This was one of Meyer's first films in colour and could be described as a sort of practise run for later films such as Up and Supervixens as it features all the playful sleaze and buxom babes of Meyer's later work but it's a shorter and more concise film. The plot is a decent enough springboard for a sex flick and focuses on a criminal who has stolen a fortune in jewellery. He stumbles on a ranch in Arizona but when his attempts to buy the ranch from its owner are knocked back, he decides instead to seduce the ladies. The film features three of Meyer's chesty vixens; Alaina Capri, Babette Bardot and Adele Rain, and all are nice to look at as you would expect from a Russ Meyer flick. As usual with Meyer; it's not deep or particularly intelligent, although I'm sure that Meyer fans will enjoy it nonetheless. I do prefer most of Meyer's later stuff to this one; but Common Law Cabin is still worth a look.

i don't know if i loved so much cause i was like 14 when i watched it bu this has got to be the funniest movie ever made. i'd never heard of Russ Meyer and i was staying in a hotel watching TV when suddenly there is some bizarre movie about a guy who wants to shag his own daughter, a corrupt cop intent on shagging everybody, a couple who at one point aren't into sex but the next are doing some dodgy s&m and some hot blonde screaming through a field with torches and jumping off a cliff into water for absolutely no reason at all. Genius!! Everybody has to watch this but watch it with an open mind and don't expect much and it'll be the best comedy you'll see ever.

If you're bothering to read this review, you're either a Russ Meyer fan or curious about his films. Common Law Cabin, although a bit of an obscurity when compared to Faster Pussycat Kill Kill or Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, is pretty typical, so if you're a fan, you won't be disappointed, & if you want to find out what Russ Meyer is all about, this has it all. Oversexed chicks with big knockers, greedy white trash criminals, a simplistic B-grade story with dialogue to match, & narration that sounds like it was written for an historical epic, not a sleazy exploitation flick. Plus the obligatory misogyny, violence & disturbing hints at incestuous desires. Bad taste triumphing over, well, everything. All in all, jolly good fun.