''Eve and the Handyman'' is a 1961 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

written and directed by

Russ Meyer Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that fea ...

. The film stars

Eve Meyer Eve Meyer (born Evelyn Eugene Turner; December 13, 1928 – March 27, 1977) was an American pin-up model, motion picture actress, and film producer. Much of her work was done in conjunction with sexploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer, to whom she ...

and Anthony-James Ryan. The film was released on May 5, 1961, by Pad-Ram Enterprises. It was Meyer's follow up to '' The Immoral Mr. Teas'', which had been very successful.

Plot

Eve is dressed in a long raincoat and follows the handyman around as he makes his appointed rounds. She watches as he has humorous run-ins while cleaning toilets, taking scrap metal to the dump, cleaning windows, delivering a tree, climbing poles, and remaining a gentleman while trying to help a topless hitchhiker. But why is she watching him so carefully?

Cast

as Eve *Anthony-James Ryan as The Handyman *

Frank Bolger Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cu ...

* Iris Bristol

Production

The female lead, Eve Meyer, was Russ Meyer's wife. It was the only film of his she starred in although she was heavily involved behind the scenes on most of his early films. She did her own hair and make up and cooked for the crew. "I never worked so hard in my life," she said later. The film's male lead, Anthony-James Ryan, was Russ Meyer's right hand man. The film was shot in San Francisco over a month in 1960. Ryan recalled, Eve typed the script, it wasn't even a script, just a list of ideas. That's all we had to work with. I improvised some of the stuff." Ryan also assisted in production. Meyer says there was a crew of four - Russ Myer, his assistant, Eve Meyer and Ryan. Ryan met his future wife, Jacqueline Stevens, while making the film. She played a nude model.

Reception

According to Ebert the film grossed nearly a million dollars. Ebert also wrote "One of the most interesting scenes in the movie has Eve dancing in a low-cut dress while playing a pinball machine: the rhythm and cutting suggest sexual intercourse, and the scene has a nice balance between eroticism and humor. A frequent Meyer turnabout theme- the desirable woman who is rejected by the undesirable man- turns up in Eve in a hitchhiking scene. Unable to get a lift, Eve takes off one garment after another, still with no success."RUSS MEYER: King of the Nudies Ebert, Roger. Film Comment; New York Vol. 9, Iss. 1, (Jan/Feb 1973): 35-46.

References

External links

*
''Eve and the Handyman''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

1961 films 1960s English-language films American comedy films 1961 comedy films Films directed by Russ Meyer 1960s American films {{1960s-comedy-film-stub