Gloria Leonard

Roommates

One of the ironies of classic porn films, especially those that are revered as some of the greatest of all time, is that they are often lacking in the porn department. If you compare films of yore to today’s offerings, you would see how much more brash and in-your-face current titles have become. But much like trying to decide once-and-for-all the best athlete of all time or the greatest band of all time, the idea that comparative analysis between films of different generations can produce incontrovertible evidence that one is better than the other is more food for thought and fodder for discussion than an exact science.

Today’s porn has a lot working for it that directors and producers didn’t have two or three decades ago: societal values are looser; porn is more acceptable; and the technology that exists today allows filmmakers to do things and capture things that just weren’t possible back then. Despite the advancements, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the level of shock value contained in adult films was any less prevalent then than it is now, if taken in correct context.

But when we say “lacking in the porn department” we don’t always refer to quality. And in the case of Roommates, from 1981, the concern for many die-hard porn fanatics is a question of frequency. Still, the film is considered a triumph of adult cinema and for good reason. It has an excellent script, solid acting and keen production values. It conquered the Adult Film Association of America awards the year it was released. And it even managed to cross over into mainstream territory thanks to its being given an “R-rating” makeover.

Directed by Chuck Vincent, Roommates concerns three women, all strangers, who share an apartment in the hopes of not only making it in New York City, but also putting behind them some of the headaches and heartaches that have followed them in their lives. Their arrangement is a chance for all of them to start anew.

Billie (Samantha Fox) is a former call girl who has aspirations of making it in the world of advertising. Joan (Veroncia Hart) is a drama school graduate who is trying to hit the big time as an actress. And Sherry (Kelly Nichols) is a prominent fashion model whose fast-paced lifestyle had taken its toll on her relationships and her sobriety. Over the course of the film, the three of them form a close bond, relying on each other to keep on the straight and narrow. However, as hard as they try, their pasts continue to haunt them.

Billie gets blackmailed by a former pimp who threatens to expose her past should she fail to keep turning tricks. She gives the occasional blowjob to various men throughout, including a very inexperienced client played by Ron Jeremy. She also services several men at a bachelor party, but feels the old pain return when she realizes the bachelor party is for her lover Jim (Jack Wrangler).

Meanwhile, Joan hits it off with a gay co-actor named Eddie (Jerry Butler) during auditions for an upcoming play. Though they are close, she has been carrying on with a married man for weeks, holing up in hotel rooms and the like for quickie fucks and blowjobs that she hopes will lead to a declaration of love. When she discovers that her lover’s wife is pregnant, she is crushed but finds solace (and an unexpected fuck buddy) in Eddie after the two are approached by an agent who says that he wants to represent them. In their celebration, they fall into each other’s arms, knowing that it ultimately can’t go anywhere.

Sherry, in contrast, has been living on the edge, drinking and doing amyl-nitrite in line with her party lifestyle. Much of the time, her vices take her into frightening territory where she gets abused and violated by strange men. During one binge, she does a 69; during another, she gets gang fucked by four ruffians who use a bottle and tire iron in the attack, and piss on her as a final humiliation. She gets rescued from that attack by a guy named Joel (Jamie Gillis), who turns out to be a deranged pervert who then stalks her. In one scene, he masturbates over Sherry’s unconscious body. In another, he coerces Sherry into taking off her panties in a classy restaurant and proceeds to rub her clit under the table with his bare foot. His mind-bending performance as the insatiable psychopath earned him Best Supporting Actor Awards from the AFAA and CAFA for his mind-bending performance.

Roommates is beautifully crafted, beautifully acted and offers a rather sobering look into the struggles of big city life for three young girls trying to make it to the big time. And while it bubbles over with street cred due to its stunning level of realism, it comes up just a bit short in  the fantasy department, which unfortunately hurts its porn cred. Should that in any way sully its status as one of the all-time great classics? Watch it and decide for yourself.

 

Running Time: 129 minutes
Released:   01/2003
Studio Name:   Video X Pix
Director:   Chuck Vincent

 

The Opening of Misty Beethoven

How do you determine whether or not an adult film is successful?

Do you look at objective measurements like raw sales receipts, awards won, or technical merit? Do you place precedent on more subjective arguments like star power or the strength of individual scenes? Or is it a combination of everything?

Not too long ago on this blog you may have caught the entry about Debbie Does Dallas, which, it could be said, is perhaps the most well-known and endearing porn flick ever created. At the time, we used the term “arguably” for a few reasons. First, there are other classics that have endured decades of scrutiny and have burrowed themselves firmly and comfortably into adult film lore. Second, there are too many variables to use the term “best”. Third, when you use equivocation within the context of a discussion you’re less likely to be called an idiot or a moron by readers because you have left the door open for debate instead of declaring yourself the expert.

Having said that, there are many inside and outside the industry who would suggest that The Opening of Misty Beethoven is without question the best adult film ever put to celluloid. The reasoning behind the thinking is that the movie satisfies nearly all the objective and subjective reasons laid out above. But is it an airtight case?

Before you answer that, let’s look at a Hollywood comparison between two films. The first film has one of the hottest names in film as the lead character. The other does not. The first film is rooted historical fact. The other is not. The first film has lush green film sets shot on-location, elaborate costuming, and loads of choreographed scenes . The other does not. The first film won 5 Oscars. The other won zero. So, does that mean the first film, Braveheart, is better than Kung-Fu Panda? Well, not if you were to look at the box office rankings. Braveheart is ranked 411th all time and Kung-Fu Panda 48th. But even those rankings would hold little sway if you hate Scottish heroes more than animated, ursine martial artists or vice-versa. It really comes down to what you like.

The case for TOOMB being the greatest of all-time goes like this:

Awards: Jamie Gillis won for Best Actor, Henry Paris (Radley Metzger) won for Best Director, and the film took home the Best Film award from the Adult Film Association of America. It took home the 2002 AVN Award for Best Classic DVD. And it is one of the first films to be inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame.

Technical Merit: Cinematographer Robert Rochester took home an Oscar the following year for a documentary.

Star Power: Jamie Gillis, Gloria Leonard and director Radley Metzger comprise a strong cast and crew.

Strength of Scenes: The film stands as the earliest, widely distributed adult film to have a male character get “pegged” or take it up the ass via a strap-on. Add to that a strong plot based loosely on George Bernard Shaw’s play, Pygmalion, competent acting skills and comedic timing, and it makes for great entertainment. Below are a few of the funnier exchanges.

Misty: “Men stink.”

Dr. Love: “They think you stink. In fact, it’s one of the most perfectly balanced equations in nature.”

 

Dr. Love: “Most women stop sucking at the moment of orgasm. That, however, is when the real woman just begins to suck.”

 

Misty: “What’s the biggest difference between New York and Rome?”

Dr. Love: “There aren’t as many Italians in Rome.”

 

Dr. Love: “You know why people have unsatisfactory sexual relations?”

Misty: “No.”

Dr. Love: “They talk too goddam much.”

 

But can you honestly say that makes it the best? Probably not. Can you say it ranks it right up there among the best? Absolutely.

What can’t be argued is the plotline. Dr. Seymour Love (Jamie Gillis) is in search of the next Golden Rod Girl, the invention of one Lawrence Layman (Ras Kean). According to Dr. Love, the award is “unlike Cunt of the Year or Ballbreaker of the Century, because she is chosen informally and spontaneously.”

After he meets a lowly trick-turning whore named Misty in a porn theater, he wagers with his gal pal Geraldine (Jacqueline Beudant) that he can reform her into the most splendid sexual creature the world has ever laid eyes on, but she must “learn to develop in herself the instinct to convert a trivial act, a mundane routine, a daily chore into something stimulating, creative and above all communicative.”

The film proceeds through a musical montage of Misty’s training sessions, the highs, the lows, the inevitable growth of her ability as a sexpot. She practices her blowjobs on plaster penis molds and takes repeated cumshots to the face as part of her learning curve. It very much resembles a XXX intro to The Wonder Years or something like that.

Her skills are then put to the test in real life situations. First, she puts the moves on a wealthy socialite named Alfredo Spontini at the ballet. His impetuousness leads to a rather funny sequence. Then, she balls an impotent man, named so because he is gay. In seducing him, her legend grows to the delight of Dr. Love. Rumors and stories begin to surface among the townfolk and they begin to filter up to Lawrence Layman himself. Her ultimate validation comes at a socialite party where Misty demands to see Layman in person. Misty, Layman and his wife Barbara (Gloria Leonard) share in a hot threesome where the pegging mentioned above takes place. It’s a totally over-the-top scene.

Through it all, Dr. Love has fallen for Misty, but he has now created a monster. Monsters are good at one thing and one thing only: destruction. We won’t reveal the ending, but there is a major twist that you’ll just have to see.

Let the debate rage on about what classic film is the absolute best. Whatever criteria you use, this one ranks among the all-timers. It set the bar so high that few have ever come close to matching it in all aspects. If you have not seen this one, it’s high time you did so.

Stars:   Constance Money Gary Wright Gayle Schafer Ras Kean David Chase Jacqueline Beudant Helene Simone Grover Griffith Mark Margolis Ian Morley Michael Ronds John Christopher Jamie Gillis Gloria Leonard Casey Donovan Michael Gaunt Terri Hall Marlene Willoughby Mary Stuart Crystal Sync Nancy Dare Cynthia Gardner Peter Andrews Jenny Baxter

Categories: Feature Orgies Classic 70’s Gold

Running Time:   85 minutes

Released:   02/1976

Studio Name:   VCA

Director:   Radley Metzger Henry Paris