Editing Russ Meyer (section)

===Return to independent filmmaking===
Richard Zanuck, who brought Meyer to Fox, had moved to Warner Bros and there was some talk Meyer would make a film at that studio.<ref>{{cite news|title=Alexis Smith to Stay With 'Follies'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=1 July 1971|page=f12}}</ref> However, Meyer would never make a studio film again. He returned to [[exploitation film|exploitation-style]] independent cinema in 1973 with the [[blaxploitation]] period piece ''[[Black Snake (film)|Black Snake]]'', which was dismissed by critics and audiences as incoherent.

''Foxy'', a proposed vehicle for Edy Williams, was cancelled in the wake of the [[United States Supreme Court]]'s ''[[Miller v. California]]'' decision in June 1973, which modified its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that which lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value". His marriage to Williams subsequently disintegrated.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Dirty Deal?: Pornography Ruling Causing Confusion and Chaos, Many Traditional Publishers and Filmmakers Say|author=EARL C. GOTTSCHALK JR.|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=16 July 1973|page=28}}</ref>

"Those years were very confusing to me", said Meyer. "But instead of rushing off and throwing myself out the window, I was able to psychoanalyze myself and discern what was best for me. I looked myself square in the face and realized I couldn't do everything."<ref name="post">{{cite news|title=Russ Meyer, Almost An American Institution: Russ Meyer, Almost an American Institution|author= Kenneth Turan|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=Nov 9, 1976|page=B1}}</ref>

In 1975, he released ''[[Supervixens]]'', a return to the world of big bosoms, square jaws, and the [[Sonoran Desert]] that earned $8.2 million during its initial theatrical run in the United States on a shoestring budget.

Meyer's theatrical career ended with the release of the surreal ''[[Up! (1976 film)|Up!]]'' (1976) and 1979's ''[[Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens]]'', his most sexually graphic films. Film historians and fans have called these last three films "Bustoons" because his use of color and [[mise en scène]] recalled larger-than-life [[pop art]] settings and [[cartoonish]] characters.<ref name=doylegreen>Green 2004.</ref>

In 1977, [[Malcolm McLaren]] hired Meyer to direct a film starring [[The Sex Pistols]]. Meyer handed the scriptwriting duties over to Ebert, who, in collaboration with McLaren, produced a screenplay entitled ''[[Who Killed Bambi? (Unfinished film)|''Who Killed Bambi?'']]'' According to Ebert, filming ended after a day and a half when the electricians walked off the set after McLaren was unable to pay them. (McLaren has claimed that the project was scrapped at the behest of the main financier and Meyer's erstwhile employer, 20th Century Fox, whose board of directors considered the prospect of a Meyer production to be untenable and incompatible with the insurgent [[family values]] ethos in popular culture.) The project ultimately evolved into ''[[The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle]]''.