Editing Russ Meyer (section)

===20th Century Fox===
After the unexpected success of [[Columbia Pictures]]' low-budget ''[[Easy Rider]]'', and impressed by Meyer's frugality and profitability, [[Richard D. Zanuck]] and [[David Brown (producer)|David Brown]] of [[20th Century Fox]] signed Meyer to produce and direct a proposed sequel to ''[[Valley of the Dolls (film)|Valley of the Dolls]]'' in 1969, fulfilling Meyer's longstanding ambition to direct for a major Hollywood studio. What eventually appeared was ''[[Beyond the Valley of the Dolls]]'' (1970), scripted by ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' film critic and longtime Meyer devotee [[Roger Ebert]]. Ebert, who became the first film critic to receive the [[Pulitzer Prize for Criticism]] in 1975, would remain a close friend and key artistic collaborator for the remainder of Meyer's life.

The film bears no relation to the novel or film adaptation's continuity, a development necessitated when [[Jacqueline Susann]] sued the studio after several drafts of her script were rejected. Many critics perceive the film as perhaps the greatest expression of his intentionally vapid surrealism, with Meyer going so far as to refer to it as his definitive work in several interviews. Others, such as ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', saw it "as funny as a burning orphanage and a treat for the emotionally retarded."<ref>McDonough 2004, p. 272.</ref> Contractually stipulated to produce an R-rated film, the brutally violent climax (depicting a [[decapitation]]) ensured an [[X rating]] (eventually reclassified to [[NC-17]] in 1990). Despite gripes from the director after he attempted to recut the film to include more titillating scenes after the ratings debacle, it still earned $9 million domestically in the United States on a budget of $2.09 million.

The executives at Fox were delighted with the box office success of ''Dolls'' and signed a contract with Meyer to make three more films: ''The Seven Minutes'', from a [[bestseller]] by [[Irving Wallace]]; ''[[Everything in the Garden]]'', from a play by [[Edward Albee]]; and ''The Final Steal'', from a 1966 novel by [[Peter George (author)|Peter George]]. "We've discovered that he's very talented and cost conscious", said Zanuck. "He can put his finger on the commercial ingredients of a film and do it exceedingly well. We feel he can do more than undress people."<ref>{{cite news|title=Meyer to Make 3 More Films for Fox|author=A.H. WEILER|work=The New York Times|date=Feb 17, 1970|page=34}}</ref>

Per his new contract, Meyer then made a faithful adaptation of ''[[The Seven Minutes (film)|The Seven Minutes]]'' (1971). Featuring loquacious courtroom scenes alongside little nudity, the comparatively subdued film was commercially unsuccessful, and his oeuvre would be disowned by the studio for decades after Zanuck and Brown departed to form an independent production company in 1972.