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Served as Chairman, New York Film Critics Circle: 1993/94.
Favorite interviews were with: Michael Douglas, Sophia Loren, DeForest Kelley, Joan Chen, Joe Henderson, Ismail Merchant, Klaus Kinski, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Spike Lee, Malcolm McDowell, Zoe Lund, Melvin Van Peebles, Ultra Violet, Wolfgang Petersen, Claudia Cardinale, Serge Silberman, Margarethe von Trotta, Alec Guinness, Leonard Nimoy, Susan George, Joseph Losey, Gale Anne Hurd, Dennis Hopper, Peter Greenaway, Katt Shea, Ken Russell, Maggie Greenwald, Jim Jarmusch, Peter Brook, Jurgen Prochnow, Andy Warhol, Judy Davis, Chuck Vincent, Fred Zinnemann, Wim Wenders, Max Von Sydow, Michael Moore, Terry Gilliam, Rita Jenrette, Karen Lynn Gorney, Bruce Beresford, Jack Thompson, Russ Meyer, Sam Raimi, Abel Ferrara, John Sayles, William Greaves, Nino Manfredi, Lee Van Cleef, Michael Cuscuna, Bille August, Jewel Shepard, Andy Sidaris, Michel Deville, Claude Sautet, Claude Lelouch, Alfonso Arau, Alan Parker, Reinhard Hauff, Traci Lords, Jim Jarmusch, Martha Coolidge, Candida Royalle, Giuseppe Tornatore, Edward James Olmos, Paul Hogan, John Mackenzie, Peter Hyams, Jennifer Beals,, Adrian Lyne, Samuel Fuller, Dario Argento, James Toback, Lasse Hallstrom, Fred Williamson, Gabriel Axel, Joe Bastianich, Aaron Sanchez, Danny Meyer, Steve Hanson, Matthew Kenney, Douglas Rodriguez, Simon Oren, Stanley Donen, Lindsay Anderson, Helena Bonham Carter, Edward Pressman, Harold Becker, Larry Cohen, James Ivory, Jack O'Connell, Michael Phillips, Kevin McClory, Jackie Mason, Joan O'Brien, Stanley Donen, Joseph B. Vasquez, Don Bluth, William Lustig, Al Goldstein, Simon Wincer, Valeria Cavalli, Dave Fishelson, Lizzie Borden, Roberta Findlay, Rob Cohen, Doris Wishman, Robert Tapert, Bruce Campbell, Bill Cosby, Pasquale Squitieri, Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Tim Kincaid, Joel M. Reed, Gregory Dark, T.L. Lankford, Fred Olen Ray, Victoria Paige Meyerink, Lawrence D. Foldes, Rick Marx & Ted V. Mikels
Reviews
Climax #4 (2024)
Big names, all-sex
Ricky Greenwood directs another empty orgy feature for Dorcel, its sole achievement being to somehow duplicate the exact same running time (76 mins.) as its predecessor. Talk about directing with a stop watch!
It gives the leading French porn label exposure again to the very top talent from the USA, shot in the USA. There's about a minute of intro before the non-stop XXX action begins: we see six beauties in colorful and very sexy (it's Dorcel, baby!) lingerie lounging around in front of picture windows supposedly for a fashion show, when three studs arrive to service them.
Ricky treats it ike a three-ring circus, his caera moving from pair to threesome around the space, capturing standard porn positions. Nicole Doshi is the most adventurous, delivering a couple of d.p.'s, and condoms are used throughout.
Wall-to-wall sex may be popular in porn but it's quite boring and reduces these superstars to being sex workers, which of course they proudly are -it's just that their status as "actor" or "actress" is eroded. Top-billed Kendra Sunderland is poorly served, with poor makeup -her face covered with acne -not exactly sexy.
The Deadly Dream (1971)
Just deadly
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Alf Kjellin; Produced by Stan Shpetner for Universal TV; broadcast by ABC-TV. Screenplay by Barry Oringer; Photography by Jack Marta; Edited by Robert Kimble; Music by Dave Grusin. Starring: Lloyd Bridges, Janet Leigh, Leif Ericksen, Don Stroud, Richard Jaeckel, Carl Betz, Yvonne Gilbert, Philip Pine, Arlene Dahl and Salome Jens.
Horrible shaggy dog story with a nice feel to it but zero delivery of the goods. Neuropsychiatrist Lloyd at Heisenberg Institute develops a stolen from "Charly" isolation of the DNA intelligence factor which he injects into maze-running guinea pigs. When he announces his plan to use it to upgrade human intelligence, a recurring nightmare serial begins for him in which the mysterious tribunal seeks to kill him for crimes of science against humanity.
The film's premise is: Which is dream, which is reality, and Lloyd's apparent nightmare is just as realistic-looking as his daily life. Cheap gimmick -nightmare sequences were filmed in continuous portions, and then cut up in nightly editions for Lloyd. A red herring of staged trickery by enemies to drive Lloyd crazy by sleeplessness is subtly advanced, then dropped. Poor ending is the meanest copout imaginable.
Four Star Playhouse: Moorings (1953)
Terrific short story
Charles Boyer never fails to deliver a powerful performance, and "Moorings" is no exception. The script by Gwen and John Bagni has amazing story surprises, leading to a most heartwarming ending.
Chuck plays a shipping magnate, whose doctor has ordered him to stay home, away from managing his globe-spanning nautical empire, for six months of rest, necessitated by a heart condition. Whiling away his spare time, he is fascinated by a mysterious beautiful woman he spies on the beach via his binoculars, with her Lassie-type dog and cute little boy playing with a toy boat. Boyer can't resist making their acquaintance, befriends the kid and is surprised to discover the lady is blind!
He takes her problems to heart and becomes a super Good Samaritan to them, escalating when the boy is gone, taken away surreptitiously by her ex-husband, a sea captain sailing down to Panama with the kid in tow.
I was bowled over by the mounting tragedies of the story, only to be brought to a terrific, irresistible finish. This is amazingly good, and Dorothy Malone is effervescent as the blind girl.
Lost in Trans-lation (2024)
3 by Midnight
Midnight wrote all three stories on this Devil's Film DVD. All drawn from the Transfixed series.
"Table T&A" was previously issued on two VODs by Adult Time: "Trans-cended" in 2023 and "The Art of Teaching" in May 2024. Its title is dumb and hardly evocative of transsexual content. Gracie Jane plays an unlikely teacher who's grading Multiple Choice exams with her former student and now teacher's aide Lulu Chu. Even this set-up is deficient, as it should be essays they're slaving away grading, since the multiple choice sheets merely need counting up correct choices, duh!
Main gimmick, which also is poorly done (introduced but proving irrelevant) has Daphne, an actress who may be cis or trans, given that she appears in NonSex roles so far, cast as Gracie's wife so as to create "suspense" (not) on whether Lulu and Gracie will get caught in the female-cuckold action. Mechanical sex is the result as Gracie's big dick is put to use with Lulu's mouth and pussy -casting seems strictly random.
"Slumber Party Peeking" opens disarmingly, with TS actress Erica Cherry on a bed with chubby and cheerful Eliza Eves, chatting about how nice it is that Eliza's parents said okay to their daughter sharing her bed with a transsexual girl for a sleepover. Segment title is a bit overstated: intimacy begins when Eliza catches sight of her friend's big dick exposed while Eric is asleep. They're soon having sex, performed romantically and sensuously.
After the inevitable money shot facial, instead of the scene ending as usual, director Stella Smut allows the girls to become playful, even having a mini-pillow fight. Their affection and Eliza's relative innocence are emphasized in an upbeat coda, wrapping up an irresistible scene sure to please.
A newcomer to transsexual porn, the diminutive but strikingly pretty Valeria Atriedes, is very impressive in the romantic vignette: "Sugar Mentor", representing far better than usual work by the directing team of Siouxsie Q and Michael Vegas.
Once you get over the weak story line and poor dialog by Adult Time hack Midnight, the pair of actresses give empathetic performances as a trans-female who has completed her gender-affirming surgery thanking her key financial sponsor with a rousing sex scene. Besides the arousing sexual performances, the show has a most unusual kink included (one that I don't recall seeing previously in transsexual porn) of Atreides lactating, to the delight of Penny.
By Any Other Name (2024)
Ineffectual "holistic" erotica
Inka Winter's heart is definitely in the right place: I'm firmly in favor of her wanting to expand explicit erotica to include femme-friendly content that is positive, not gonzo porn that currently dominates this area of entertainment.
My two favorite Adult Entertainment filmmakers are Nica Noelle and Missa X, both with similar aims as Inka, but they have demonstrated quite a resume of hundreds of excellent videos both female-friendly and highly erotic. Winter's newest feature "By Any Other Name" scores highly in ambition, but low in achievement. Put simply, Erotic cinema needs to be erotic, and this feature is dull, both in its story scenes and in its three much-too-lengthy sex scenes. And the use of softcore camera angles renders the sex XXX but only borderline. It reminded me of Joe Sarno's ancient (now) technique of shooting actual "real" sex scenes but presenting them as visually softcore, before he went whole-hog XXX with his dozens of subpar hardcore videos in the 1980s.
The filmmaker whose work it most closely resembles is director Todd Haynes, most specifically his Douglas Sirk-oriented success "Far From Heaven", starring Julianne Moore. Like Haynes, Winter has a nostalgic, almost campy (but played straight) aspect in its 1950s costuming and hairdos. But the characters never come to life.
Lead player is Mandi Slade, previously an actress in bondage/fetish videos, who directed "The Blind Date", a female-friendly porn feature in 2023. She's a plump, matronly-looking actress playing a shrink, whose sessions with her patients form the starting point for the action. Maria Dietrich and Astro Domina pour out their family stories to her, with emphasis on the impact of their mothers, and it's not very interesting. In fact, during Maria's second session, Mandi loses interest and stops listening, instead conjuring up an erotic fantasy (lasting over half an hour, like the movie's other two sex scenes) of patient Astro Domina humping a stud (Leo Vice) outside, for which she has to apologize to Maria for being inattentive, and schedule a freebie session to make up for the lapse.
Mandi is married to professor of thermodynamics Dillon DIaz, whose acting is quite good. The other two rather tedious sex scenes are Mandi with her husband, and then an unlikely 3-way involving Mandi, Dillon and Mandi's psych intern Johnny B who she is mentoring. That threesome is a throwback to the bisexual porn genre of several decades ago with Gay Porn actors Dillon and Johnny involved in blow jobs with each other, not just servicing Mandi.
The closest content to eroticism is the Astro/Leo sex scene, both Asian-American performers. Porn has a number of mature female stars lately, such as Erica Lauren, Maggie Green, Andi James and Sally D'Angelo, but Mandi's appeal is in her ordinary "non-porno" look, not good looks or sexiness of any sort. If she was a great actress, for exmple one could look to the fabulous "Devil in Miss Jones" porn star of the '70s Georgina Spelvn, a favorite of mine, one could overlook her lack of visual appeal, but no such luck. As directors, both Inka and Mandi have cast beauties (like Lumi Ray and Alexis Tae) in their movies, so why not here?
All told, nice try, but no cigar. In a porn context, the classic line from Irving Mills & Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" applies, no pun intended on swing or swinging.
Luxure: Les rendez-vous de ma femme (2024)
Hot wife vignettes
Dorcel presents five separate vignettes portraying threesomes in this quite standard edition of its long-running "Luxure" series. NOTE: Luxure translates as LUST, not luxury, with the French word for luxury being "Luxe".
The beauty of Dorcel's actresses is terrific: different types but all classy and sexy in the extreme. Lumi Ray traveled to France to participate, following the French label's frequent use of American stars over the years to buttress its Euro talent, dating back to Tracey Adams and Carolyn Monroe several decades back.
Of the other cast members, Victoria Nova impresses as a newcomer to porn but a perfect, older MILF, with amazing boobs (contrasting with the more svelte figures of the other actresses. In her segment, she makes love to a couple of studs and has her phone relay the action for her husband to watch -he digs being a cuckold, and is played in a cameo by director Bodilis. Main fault of the feature is a sameness to the vignettes - the beauties clad in black lingerie scene after scene that looks like it was all bought (by director Bodilis) at the same boutique.
The feature has a new intro sequence and logo, just Dorcel, instead of the traditional Marc Dorcel, and his producer and music credits have also been shortened to Dorcel.
Delicate (2024)
True love never runs smooth
Allherluv reunites Scarlett Sage and Anna Claire Clouds for a subtle romantic vignette, concerning how different personalities may come into conflict but they're underlying love can defuse the situation.
Scarlett is an overbearing type while Anna Claire is overly sensitive, feeling disrespected at times by her pal's attitude. Things between them seem to be falling apart when they end up auditioning for the same acting role, but some good, old-fashioned smooching and affection saves the day.
These two pretty performers are irresistible to watch in a Sapphic sex scene, and their skills ranging from kissing to hearty cunnilingus are delightful. They truly appear to be enjoying themselves, even when as performers they're on the clock.
Danger Man: The Gallows Tree (1961)
Spy versus spy
A rather farfetched tale takes Pat on a special mission to find a German spy perhaps operating in Northern Scotland, who was presumed dead in 1950. When his fingerprints show up in a stolen car incident, the British call for Pat to investigate and he fumbles his way into a speedy ending, after a couple of okay plot twists.
I was surprised how inept and befuddled Pat is during this episode, unlike his usually smug and self-assured characterization. Quite disappointing is that the two guest stars Paul Rogers and Wendy Craig, both distinguished actors (Paul in "The Homecoming" and "The Dresser" and Wendy soon to p[lay the femme lead in "The Servant") are wasted in stock roles.
There is a nice location scene of Pat running along the cliffs chased by a bad guy driving a Range Rover, that predates similar Sean Connery derring-do as Bond.
Episode title is merely the name of a pub.
Naked City: The Corpse Ran Down Mulberry Street (1961)
Odd mafia tale
Long before there was a Coppola, Scorsese or even a Chase, "Naked City" tackled a sentimentalized Mafia story, in which the Mafia is never mentioned but hovers over all the action. Before the climax in a shower of bullets and the corny dying scene, we're treated to a quality performance (as always) by Nehemiah Persoff as a good-hearted Italian-American undertaker and fine use of familiar Manhattan locations.
The contrived story involves illegal immigration, namely smuggling an Italian into NYC from the old country in a coffin supposedly containing his corpse, and typical gangster content, as Italian candy that's actually heroin is smuggled in with him. Al Lewis as a chatty but deaf (!) delivery man for funeral homes is the first fall guy in the story, while Persoff learns the hard way the dangers of getting mixed up with gangsters, notably his creepy, down and out godfather, well played by Joe DeSantis. Brenda Vaccaro has a tiny role as the fiancee of Persoff's son, marking her screen debut.
The sugarcoated script by Jo Pagano is lousy, especially in its creaky subplot concerning Persoff's late wife as a "fallen woman". Pagano's best movie was a film noir directed by Cy Endfield, "The Sound of Fury", which IMDb informs us was preserved on 35mm by the only existing print, part of Scorsese's film collection.
Route 66: Go Read the River (1962)
A chance for character actors to shine
Stirling Silliphant's narration and some dialogue is impossibly pretentious, but he does deliver an engrossing story of adventure and escape from trauma in this episode starring Milner. Maharis makes only brief cameo appearances at the intro and near the end, but basically has the week off.
It's great to see John Larch in a leading role as the gruff Sandy Mason, an inventor of a revolutionary turbine engine for speedboats that has him dealing with industrial espionage as he prepares to unveil it in a marathon speedboat race on the Colorado River.
His character is irascible and mean, and Milner has to deal with him as his boss, training him to drive the boat. Exciting on-location photography on the river includes realistic visuals of Larch or Milner piloting the speeding boat, realism worthy of a Tom Cruise action movie. Midway through the episode, Lois Smith shows up as his estranged daughter and we learn of the trauma affecting both of them that drives the story's drama.
Lois is powerful and moving in her small role, while Larch literally dominates the show in a surprisingly complex turn of a character at first who resembles those crazed geniuses of legend ranging from Howard Hughes to Elon Musk. Significantly, he's not the big shot, but just a key employee, who every company is out to sign up (to get his invention), not unlike a free agent baseball star.
The Corvette appears but is a bit player in this watery episode, and the Route 66 theme music only plays as a tag during the end credits, replaced throughout by a beguiling minor theme that reminded me of Dominic Frontiere's famous "Star Trek" theme song. Also notable in a small role in veteran actress Catheen Cordell (whose career spanned six decades dating back to British movies in the late '30s. She appears in flashback as Larch's wife, and unfortunately most of her career she was relegated to minor appearances including bit parts.
Boss Bitch (2024)
Gonzo lesbians
Adult Time presents another trio of Bree Mills' Lez Be Bad scenes on DVD, tailored to appeal to the low end of the lesbian porn marketplace.
One of the three pretends to be "romantic", opening with Casey Calvert voicing over narration as she writes on a pad one of her erotic novels, while syrupy music plays on the soundtrack and we see her in soft focus. After less than 4 minutes that ends, as the gonzo begins: half an hour of non-stop IR action between her and Kira Noir, both almost comically clad only wearing strap-on dildos. How romantic!
Aiden Ashley overacts (certainly as ordered by her director Stella Smut) in a segment titled "Jilted Bride". Yes, she's been stood up at the altar by her lesbian girlfriend, but receives sympathy and plenty of sex from her pal (probably the maid of honor) August Skye. This set-up is over with very quickly, so that we can watch some more IR sex with yet another strap-on dildo (the same make and style sex toy as in the other vignette) in evidence.
Title scene has Kenna James at a job interview where Ariel X puts her through a test, and no surprise -it features yet another dildo. The switcheroo is that she wants Kenna to be the domme, but both women take a turn at domination.
The Devils (1971)
Ken's masterwork
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Ken Russell; Produced by Ken Russell and Robert H. Solo for Warner Brothers release. Screenplay by Ken Russell, based on the play "The Devils of Loudun" by John Whiting and the book by Aldous Huxley; Photography by David Watkin; Edited by Michael Bradsell; Music by Peter Maxwell Davies; Production Design by Derek Jarman; Costume Design by Shirley Russell; Camera Operator: Ronnie Taylor; Choreography by Terry Gilbert. Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Gemma Jones, Michael Gothard, Murray Melvin, Ken Colley, Graham Armitage, Georgina Hale and Brian Murphy.
Russell's outre study of sexual hysteria among 17th Century French nuns, and weird exorcism of devils from their bodies, all revolving around the tragic downfall of libertarian Father Grandier due to false allegation of devilish doings turns out to be infinitely more shocking and horrific than conventional horror films. This is due to the stylized, graphic depictions of tortures and incredibly savage methods of exorcising demons.
Dinosaurus! (1960)
Enjoyable monster pic
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Junior; Produced by Jack H. Harris. For Universal-International release. Screenplay by Dan Weisburd and Jean Yeaworth; Photography by Stanley Cortez; Edited by John Bushelman; Music by Ronald Stein. Starring: Ward Ramsey, Paul Lukather, Kristina Hanson, Alan Roberts, Fred Engelberg, Jack Younger and Lucita Blain.
A brontosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex and Neanderthal man are discovered off the coast of a small Caribbean isle. We see a comic relief old coot reading a Rip Van Winkle comic when zap! Lightning awakens them. Enjoyable highly amateurish acting plus fine stop-motion special effects monsters highlight this flick, but director Yeaworth fails to exploit his color photography -instead, he emphasizes night time and gloomy shadows. The islanders' grim determination for survival is a treat -no beating around the bush or false panic! Satirical adventures of the Neanderthal almost overshadow the dinos' exploits.
The Devil-Doll (1936)
Darkly humorous horror film
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Produced by Tod Browning, for MGM release. Screenplay by Garrett Fort, Guy Endore and Erich von Stroheim, from Abraham Merritt's novel "Burn, Witch, Burn" and story by Tod Browning; Photography by Leonard Smith; Edited by Fredrick Smith; Music by Franz Waxman; Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons. Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Henry B. Walthall, Rafael Otitiano, Lucy Beaumont, Grace Ford, Pedro De Cordoba, Robert Greig and Juanita Quigley.
A scientist experiments with shrinking human beings, and dies, leaving his hope of creating a miniature race of humans in control of their own destiny to Barrymore. He's a convicted financier who escaped from Devil's Island and uses the little people to aid him in obtaining revenge on those who sent him there by sticking pins in their hearts. The film is rather grotesquely funny, especially in the hammy, bug-eyed performances of Barrymore and his assistants, and in the cute antics of the lethal dolls. As usual, Browning creates a bizarre atmosphere in this dated but all the more quaint tongue-in-cheek horror film.
Behind Dad's Back (2024)
What he don't know...
The title of this MissaX vignette telegraphs that there will be hanky-panky in the offing, but the stellar performances of Penny Barber and Parker Ambrose as mom and stepson generate pleasurable suspense until the inevitable coitus.
Parker's dad is already jealous of his beautiful wife, but his son and her have been innocent with each other, nothing more than an occasional flirtation. But something's got to give, and one day after discussing dad's faults -his jealousy and temper, mother and son give in to their impulses, and a very hot sex scene occurs.
Well-directed by Craven Moorehead, this is a powerful little scenario for fan favorite Penny Barber, and newcomer Parker Ambrose does a good job as her partner.
Transfixed: (Semi) Private Yoga Class (2024)
Coulda used a cis-girl
Though versatile porn actor Wolf Hudosn works very hard, one can't help wishing that a girl was substituted in his place for this Transfixed 3-way episode. It runs an exceedingly long 50 minutes, and way overstays its welcome.
Simple premise has Wolf cast as a yoga teacher who makes a house call to give big-dicked TS star Leilani Li a private yoga lesson in her home. She invites her friend Kasey Kei to attend, and the only surprise here is Wolf's fake double-take of astonishment when Li' dick is exposed halfway through their stretching exercises.
At this point, the talent goes through as many position changes as possible en route to Wolf giving Li a facial, which she genrously shares with pal Kasey. Transfixed fans expecting romantic trans lesbain sex will be disappointed, as this one is all about the cock, namely three cocks on screen.
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars: The Marriage of Lit-Lit (1952)
Time has passed
Seventy years later, this Schlitz Playhouse episode, from a Jack London story, has aged miserably. It plays like a stupid dirty joke, sanitized for television.
The attempt at comedy opens at a Hudson's Bay trading post a couple of centuries ago, where the manager Don Defore gets a crush on extremely cute Indian maiden Rita Moreno. Her greedy, conniving father (Frank Silvera wearing a white wig) connives to barter her for as much in skins, foodstuffs and guns from the trader as possible, and after the marriage continues to finagle more sizable gifts.
It's an embarrassing half-hour, with all the elements of misogyny and racism magnified. Of course it's always a pleasure to watch the beautiful and talented Rita in action, but she's the first to tell you how bad she felt being relegated to such stereotypical and degrading acting assignments in the early decades of her career.
Women Seeking Women 197 (2024)
Disappointing new format
Now in its 197th volume after a couple of decades of popularity, Girlfriends Films' "Women Seeking Women" series has undergone a disappointing makeover. This volume drops the acting out romantic/dramatic stories concept, and basically goes the way of all-sex content.
All four vignettes are structured identically: a pair of attractive new women recite dialogue (awkwardly in some cases) sitting side by side on a couch, recounting briefly how they first met and then became a romantic couple. It's a mutual admiration session each time, addressed to some invisible interviewer. Then they go to a bedroom and make love. That's it.
Two of the couples met at musical events, in one case getting hauled to jail by police for an unspecified disturbance, only to be let go early the next morning. Another couple met at a book shop, where they discovered their common interests. The final pair reminisce while sitting in a kitchen about how they first met at a bar, and fell deeply in love as they got to know each other..
There is zero drama or conflict presented here, and the lovey-dovey talk seems artificial and recited. Absence of seduction or any presentation of a little story of a woman seeking the companionship of another woman betrays the premise of this series.
As to the sexual content, the cast presents a group of fresh talent, giving it an almost "real-life" couples aspect unless one is an early fan of the actresses involved (I had not seen seven of the eight actresses on screen before - only familiar player is redhead Scarlett Mae, who I've watched a dozen times).
The sex is mechanical and repetitive, with the best scene (for me) due to casting two ultra-busty performers Tiffani Madison (only MILF in the cast) and Gigi Sweets, who are especially devoted to cunnilingus (or were so instructed toward that emphasis by director B. Skow). The other girls are heavy into tattoos and seem mainly chosen from the Waif School of porn central casting.
See China and Die (1981)
A lost Larry Cohen gem
Four decades before "Only Murders in the Building" became a TV hit, Larry Cohen wrote, produced and directed "See China and Die", a feature-length TV pilot starring Esther Rolle with the same basic premise. Always an innovator, the B-movie specialist Cohen fashioned a highly entertaining trifle here, which unfortunately was not picked up as a TV series.
Rolle plays a maid working in a Manhattan high-rise apartment building where a murder is committed. Coincidentally, her son (played by Kene Holiday, who never graduated to leading roles) is the homicide detective assigned the case, but the conceit of Cohen's screenplay is that Rolle, a mystery buff, is always way ahead of the authorities in terms of knowledge of the lives of all the denizens of the building, and applies herself to investigating it thoroughly to prove who the real murderer living there is. She even enlists her colleagues having menial jobs (minority actors) there to help out. Of course, Cohen's usual social commentary within his story is how these people, especially Rolle as a maid, are treated as invisible and sorely underestimated by the big-shots. His offbeat sense of humor is also on display in spoofing murder mysteries plus in-jokes.
It's a delightful little movie, peppered with terrific character actors in the supporting cast, many of them suspects, like Fritz Weaver, Andrew Duggan, Frank Converse, Paul Dooley, Jean Marsh and Laurence Luckinbill. The cops arrest the innocent building super Migue Pinero, played by the playwright Miguel Pinero (whose "Short Eyes" became a fine indie movie starring Bruce Davison). Also in the cast is Jane Hitchcock, the famous late '60s model whose only other acting role was co-starring in Bogdanovich's "Nickeldeon".
One of Cohen's trademark modes from his indie movies is on display ah he uses guerrilla filmmaking techniques here: shooting on the NYC streets without permits, in a key scene in the Diamond district in which Kene confronts an art forger, followed by a foot chase, with dozens of ordinary pedestrians on the crowded sidewalk gawking at the action (unpaid extras). This is a technique that soon got Cohen in big trouble when he shot his horror movie "Q" in 1981 with helicopter scenes at the Chrysler building that got him kicked out of town for potentially endangering folks. He also includes an action sequence her spotlighting the Giant Iguana sculpture that was once atop the Lone Star Cafe in Greenwich Village, after Paul Dooley performs a country song at the venue.
Kiss Me, Kill Me (1976)
Claude and Stella excel in well-written suspenser
Stella Stevens proves her mettle as a district attorney in this "shoulda been picked up for series" pilot telefilm. Costar Claude Akins is tip-top in his earthy portrayal of an Old School tough cop.
It's a textbook example of how broadcast TV, within its strict censorship confines, could handle lurid subject matter tastefully, and entertainingly, without reporting to the exploitation content of theatrical movies. The murder case includes kinky and Gay-themed subplots, and benefits from solid scripting by Robert Thompson, including clever plot twists. Especially effective is the emphasis on office politics within the justice system, taking precedence over the details of crime-solving.
In what was to become the standard James Woods baddie role, Robert Vaughn is more subtle but just as instantly detestable. A very big surprise is trick casting of Bruce Boxleitner as the Gay sleazy psychotic killer -who woulda thunk it?
The Bait (1973)
The divine Donna
I became a Donna Mills fan with "Play Misty for Me", and here working in TV she has a starring breakthrough with a fabulous performance as a lady cop. Though it didn't go to series, the show fleshes out her character and the story format/solid supporting cast that definitely merited a pickup.
Leonard Horn sustains suspense artfully, and the structure carefully injects clues, red herrings and plot twists par excellence. William Devane is strong as the adversary, but there's no doubt that such a strong character that Mills has created will prevail.
Only sad note, for me at least, is late in the show a fleeting closeup (plus that voice) identifies the allt-me great (and eccentric) character actor popping up in a pointless part as the night clerk manning the front desk of Mills' workplace building. What a shame that this great talent went unappreciated.
The Alpha Caper (1973)
The thinking man's caper
Leading a terrific roster of talent, Henry Fonda is very good cast against type as the mastermind of "The Alpha Caper", a minor movie for TV that is better than its high-priced famous competitors, like George Clooney's "Ocean's" movie series. Watching "Alpha" for the first time just now, I had the odd coincidence that the movie's premise is based upon Fonda's character as a veteran parole officer has been ordered to retire, a victim of ageism, just after I read the op-ed of Clooney in real life requesting President Biden to drop out of the race, a current case of ageism!
The suspense is fun rather than harrowing as the actual crime takes place, and the ending is delightful. By 2024 prices, the gold they steal would be worth over 115 million dollars!
That's because Elroy Schwartz's ingenious script details how the big robbery will be carried out in great detail, quite fascinating. Even the very best caper films of all time, like "Rififi", rely on the brilliant execution of the caper to enthrall an audience, but in this case the first half of the feature as Fonda works out the meticulous planning is great fun to witness, too.
Casting includes Leonard Nimoy as an ex-con lowlife who excels in such a different part than his image: he looks like Ray Romano here! It's interesting that the show's producer and developer is Harve Bennett, who famously produced several of the "Star Trek" features starring Nimoy later on.
I Love a Mystery (1973)
Way beyond the outer limits = camp
It's difficult to watch this '60s artifact (a TV pilot not shown until 1973) that was almost a recipe for disaster. Other than the sprightly musical score by jazz great Oliver Nelson, it has few redeeming features.
First mystery is why Leslie Stevens, noted for his classic horror/sci-fi series "The Outer Limits", would turn to such a stupid comedy spoof project. The casting of the three leads boggles the mind: two talk-show hosts plus an ultra-obscure UK actor with zero talent, hamstrings the movie. And they are saddled with silly roles and dialogue on the level (but without the humor) of The Three Stooges.
Ida Lupino is campy up to a point as the evil madwoman at the heart of the mystery, but I couldn't help wondering if she was just filling in for an obvious first choice for the role, Joan Crawford. Best casting perhaps is the three beautiful starlets playing her daughters, collectively embodying, along with Francine York in a small role, the pulchritude of the '60s. A number of talented comedians like Terry-Thomas and Don Knotts pop up, but clearly the prospects of watching this level of junk on a weekly basis nipped any potential series in the bud.
The Les Crane Show (1964)
Forgotten host
In the mid-'60s I was a true addict for TV talk shows, watching virtually all the famous ones (Tonight Show, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Joey Bishop) and most of the political ones: Alan Burke, David Susskind, Joe Pyne, Lou Gordon (of "I was brainwashed" statement by Gov. Geroge Romney fame) and locally in Cleveland, Don Robertson, not to mention Woody Woodbury's unique series where he avoided the "blue" (naughty) comedy material of his comedy LPs/nightclub act that made him famous. But one of the most unique shows was on late night with actor Les Crane hosting, doing interviews and plenty of comedy.
Crane was extremely handsome - I typed him alongside the newsman/interviewer soon-after: Tom Snyder as a screen presence in this genre, and his lively show was less serious than most. But what made it memorable was his use of the "shotgun mic", a microphone that was mounted on a rod making it look like a weapon. Crane masterfully used it to point at the audience to interview people frequently, a distinctive feature making his show different from most, which generally adhered to the corny host behind desk plus guests on a couch.
The closest thing to Crane's format was Johnny Carson entertainingly going out into his Tonight Show audience, mic in hand, to play Stump the Band. But no one to my surprise ever followed up Les's skilled use of technology (shotgun mic) to integrate the studio audience into the show.
East Side/West Side: Age of Consent (1963)
Acting master class
At one point when I was a teen, "The Defenders" and "East Side/West Side" were my favorite shows - I guess a combination of admiring the acting plus the social consciousness". This episode deals strongly with social issues, in particular the justice system, without preachiness but with strong advocacy nonetheless.
George C. Scott's acting is incredible -at a time when he was so memorably funny in "Dr. Strangelove", here he presents quite similar body moves, tics and mannerisms that drive home the importance of what he says, and alos how he can exert self-control when faced with injustice.
The segment's guest star Carroll O'Connor is also terrific, and it's fascinating how he has been able to imbue significant differences and subtly to an almost stock character -the prejudiced guy here, in "All in the Family" and later on TV's version of "In the Heat of the Night", finding nuance in the variations that defines the bigoted mentality.
The title subject matter about a young couple dealing with the fact of sex with an underage girl being subject to heavy punishment explicitly dealt with a important issue 60 years before. When Scott discusses the law with the Robert Drivas character who is 21, the fact that in different states the age of consent varies wildly, points up the current ridiculous contention by the Supreme Court and right-wing extremists that issues like abortion rights need to be left up to those almighty states, when in fact national laws and consensus are clearly preferable in dealing with treating fairly in determining criminal versus innocent behavior.