SAG gives out annual awards saluting an entire acting ensemble, and this relatively unsung theatrical film by Ron Sullivan/Henri Pachard definitel qualifies for such an accolade in the Adult Industry. It benefits greatly from an excellent, spare screenplay by Rick Marx, knitting all the action together.
Setting is a Manhattan bar, owned by a character briefly played by Pachard, with Sharon Kane aboard for her first night as barmaid, on the rebound after a dramatic opening scene where she's dropped summarily by her selfish boyfriend R. Bolla after a farewell hump in the shower.
The bar milieu is very atmospherically lit, and features innumerable interesting characters that Marx and Pachard create in strong, swift strokes, in order to get in six sex scenes without overstaying one's welcome in a trim 71-minute package.
Title refers to a trio of roommates headed by Kelly Nichols, not coincidentally one of the trio of roommates in Chuck Vincent's also shot-in-NY breakthrough feature "Roommates", released the year before. She keeps a tally of how many sexual partners she humps, and is delighted to reach the 160 mark before the movie is over.
Equally oversexed is her roomie Tiffany Clark, while Joanna Storm (whoses good looks are used to promote the movie) plays the innocent, who has a sexual initiation over the course of the show.
Chief among the barflies inhabiting Pachard's bar is Fred Lincoln, wonderful in a NonSex turn regaling everybody with his tales of sexual conquests in far-off lands, anent his service in Vietnam. Even his almost comic relief presences is neatly wrapped up in Marx's clever screenplay, deceptively simple and functional, but actually far better in tying up loose ends than many a mainstream ensemble movie (think: Robert Altman in particular).
Central story revolves around Kane, superb in expressing her feelings and making her presence known in subtle fashion. Bolla visits the bar with his fiancee Sharon Mitchell (his boss's niece that he must marry to get ahead), and must suffer through waitress Kane's dirty looks for most of the evening. Mitchell is attracted to a rather effete guy (I thought Pachard was going for a gay subplot but was completely offbase) played by Michael Bruce who humps her in the bathroom.
Revelation of the movie is Barbara Daniels as Trudy, a mature drunk who sits at the bar downing endless vodkas coaxed from guys trying to pick her up. Only seen otherwise in support roles or bit parts she is terrific and remains in character throughout, ending up taking it in the posterior from philandering Dave Ruby, an overworked husband out on the town for one cheap thrill to brighten his humdrum existence. As NYC porn's resident male submissive, he is perfect casting here.
Kinkiest scene has Ashley Moore as an attractive stud who comes back to the bar after sexually initiating Storm, and then returns to her apartment with her two roommates for a threesome, sucking on Tiffany's strap-on dildo in what I thought would culminate (wrong again!) in a pegging scene, one of Pachard's specialties on screen in VHS projects a decade later starring Tom Byron.
