Stuck with bucketfuls of inserts when half of the film was lost, Russ Meyer simply devises a new pop montage

"Cherry, Harry & Raquel!" is not Russ Meyer's worst film, but it may be his dullest. The central story involves a border sheriff (Charles Napier, a face that will be familiar even if his name isn't) who is involved in Mexican pot-smuggling and also has two shapely beauties at his disposal. A third gal wearing an Indian headdress romps around naked in unrelated insertions that were admittedly added just to bulk up the film's still-scant running time. The introduction (what's up with Meyer and his love for quasi-academic narration?) and epilogue are equally padded. The conflict between rival smugglers is flat and uninteresting -- though Meyer's flashy jump cuts are genuinely impressive -- and the scene where the hospitalized kingpin (Franklin Bolger) leers about the nurse massaging his chest is annoyingly crass even by Meyer standards. Cute closing twist, though.