When the MPAA introduced their new ratings system in 1968, the “X” intended to cover a variety of films that the board felt only adults should view. Eventually the porn industry perverted the “X” to solely become the purview of flicks that focused on hardcore sex.

Before this happened, a more varied mix of productions earned the “X”. Apparently 1968’s romp Russ Meyer’s Vixen became the first to garner an “X” mainly due to sex and nudity.

Because Canadian bush pilot Tom Palmer (Garth Pillsbury) spends so much time away from home, his sexy young wife Vixen (Erica Gavin) finds other ways to meet her intense sexual needs. This leads her to cheat with whatever men she can find.

When Tom hosts married couple Dave (Robert Aiken) and Janet King (Vincene Wallace) for a fishing trip, this creates tension. The ever-horny Vixen uses the situation to satisfy her needs without fear of the consequences.

As I noted in my review of Hard Wood: The Adult Features of Ed Wood, hardcore pornographic films received mainstream acceptance with 1972’s Deep Throat. A box office hit in its day, Vixen helped pave the way for that development.

No one should expect anything especially graphic from Vixen. While daring for a mainstream film circa 1968, it still remains firmly softcore.

That means sex scenes with lots of boob/butt shots but nothing that resembles actual intercourse. If released a few years later, Vixen clearly would’ve earned an “R” rating, as it never becomes explicit enough for what we view as “X”.

Whatever place Vixen holds in the development of sex films in the mainstream, it fails as a creative endeavor. Whereas a better movie would explore the relationship dynamics and personalities of its characters, this one simply chooses to give us a string of risqué scenes with precious little to connect them.

That means a movie that really lacks a plot. We see Vixen as she cheats on Tom and generally acts like a horrible person – game, set, match.

Why don’t we get insights into Vixen and her situation with Tom?: The movie doesn’t even really bother to explore the “lonely, neglected wife” element, as instead it simply paints Vixen as horny and selfish.

Boy, does our title character deliver a nasty piece of work. Meyer shows a misogynistic streak here, as he makes Vixen utterly irredeemable.

Granted, not every movie needs a lead who we like. Nonetheless, a better flick would compensate with a rich character portrayal that at least gives us insights and makes this person intriguing.

Nope. Instead, we find Vixen as a wholly loathsome person with no attempts to delve into why she acts the way she does.

Again, this makes Vixen come across as anti-female. We only meet one other woman, and she seems less than likable as well, so Meyer doesn’t balance Vixen’s horrible nature with a more pleasant alternative.

For the most part, Meyer depicts the men as fairly decent sorts whose main flaw is that they can’t resist Vixen’s physical demands. As mentioned, a better movie would introduce some facets of the Vixen/Tom relationship to explain her bad behavior beyond “she’s a terrible person”, but we don’t get that.

In the spirit of the times, one might think we’d see Vixen as an irrepressible free spirit. Instead, she simply seems selfish and cruel.

To compound matters, the film depicts Vixen as a brutal racist. She treats Black character Niles (Harrison Page) in a vicious manner, one that the film vaguely attempts to redeem at the end but fails.

Honestly, I assumed that the movie would paint Vixen’s bigotry as a façade that she uses to hide her sexual desires. Instead, that theme never manifests, so she just remains an awful person.

And one who even thinks incest sounds A-OK! Bizarrely, Vixen pursues sex with her brother Judd (Jon Evans), all for reasons that don’t really make sense in the context of the film’s story.

Well, what minor “story” we get, since Vixen essentially lacks a plot. I get the impression Meyer just poured on controversial elements like racism and incest to make the movie seem more daring and provocative than it actually is.

I feel like I should praise Gavin for her refusal to try to soften Vixen. At no point does she attempt to charm the viewer or make Vixen less than the beast she is.

However, this gives Gavin far too much credit. She pouts, she preens, she grimaces and she snarls but never acts.

So why did Meyer hire Gavin? Clearly because she was insanely gorgeous and sexy.

Glimpses of Gavin and Wallace in the buff make Vixen vaguely watchable. However, even their naked charms can’t turn this into anything other than a misbegotten stab at a sex-based tale.

Vixen appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.66:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Given the movie’s vintage and low-budget origins, this became a surprisingly terrific presentation.

Sharpness always worked well. Virtually no issues with softness arose during this concise image.

Neither jaggies nor moiré effects marred the movie, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural, and print flaws never manifested.

Vixen opted for a natural palette that looked very good. The colors seemed accurate and rich throughout the film.

Blacks felt warm and full, while shadows appeared smooth and clear. I found myself completely impressed by this scan.

Though not as good, the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack still held up better than anticipated due to the flick’s age and roots. While speech seemed a bit reedy and showed some edginess at times, the lines always remained easily intelligible and lacked significant concerns.

Effects felt about the same. Despite a little roughness in a few louder moments, these elements largely seemed fairly well-reproduced.

Music came across as moderately robust. Nothing here dazzled, but the mix nonetheless exceeded expectations.

When we shift to extras, we find two separate audio commentaries. Recorded for a laserdisc in the 1990s, the first comes from director Russ Meyer via a running, screen-specific look at his life and career, cast and crew, censorship, the film’s reception and aspects of its production.

While Meyer occasionally offers nuggets related to the creation of Vixen, he mostly chats about a broader array of experiences. Some of this seems interesting, though I admit I view Meyer as an unreliable narrator, mainly because he gives off too much of a “raconteur” vibe for me to swallow his tales as fact.

In any case, this becomes a spotty but decent track, one in which we get some good yarns but not much else. Unsurprisingly, Meyer’s fascination with intimate body parts remained fully intact and much of the discussion revolves around various sexual exploits. This becomes a somewhat tedious piece.

Taped for this Blu-ray, the second commentary features actor Erica Gavin. Along with moderator David Gregory, Gavin talks about aspects of her life and career as well as her experiences during the Vixen shoot.

Happily, Gavin stays much more on-topic than Meyer did. While I wouldn’t call this a fascinating chat, Gavin still gives us a pretty good look at her memories.

A 1981 Censor Prologue goes for one minute, 38 seconds and offers a forceful declaration of opposition to prudes who stand in the film’s way. It came with a theatrical re-release and feels way more 1968 than 1981 but still offers a vaguely interesting archival tidbit.

From 2004, Woman… or Animal? gives us a 20-minute, four-second program. It brings remarks from Gavin and actor Harrison Page.

Taped separately, the actors discuss their careers and their memories of the Vixen shoot. Gavin’s remarks seem fairly redundant after her commentary, but Page’s statements add some new content.

Next comes David Del Valle’s The Sinister Image, a 21-minute, 27-second show from the late 1980s hosted by film historian Del Valle. This episode spans 21 minutes, 27 seconds and includes guests Russ Meyer and actor/model Yvette Vickers.

Expect Meyer to heavily dominate the chat. Though Vickers worked with Meyer in both his roles as erotic photographer and filmmaker, she doesn’t say much here.

Instead, we get a look at Meyer’s career and work. Gregory keeps Meyer focused so we find up with a useful collection of memories.

In addition to the film’s trailer, Entertainment… or Obscenity? concludes the disc. It features film print collector Marc Edward Heuck and goes for 13 minutes, 34 seconds.

Here Heuck looks at the issues Vixen and other films encountered with censorship in Ohio. This turns into a tight little summary of the issues.

Despite the ample physical charms of its lead actor, Vixen becomes a tedious cinematic experience. Between a deeply unpleasant main character and a mix of other flaws, the movie flops. The Blu-ray boasts surprisingly terrific visuals as well as acceptable audio and a fairly positive set of supplements. Expect a high-quality release for a poor film.