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R-rated movies about strip clubs and a murderer on the loose became popular in the 1980s, with director Katt Shea and starlet Maria Ford doing fine work in same. Scotty Fox cashes in with a hardcore porn version and it stinks.

First off, besides the striptease footage and XXX sex, Scotty delivers dialogue scenes in which the cast read their lines so poorly as to seem like rejected takes. Even when Alec Metro, cast as the police detective on the murder case of emcee/comic Tony Tedeschi, muffs a line, it's full speed ahead.

The set for the strip club is embarrassingly small and the stripteases deadly dull, strictly filler. Sex scenes are standard, with an emphasis on lesbian action. All violence is off-screen, unlike the R-rated movies where less censorship (yes, softcore permits gore while hardcore is not allowed to mix sex & violence) existed.

The solution of the murder is simply announced in the final reel by Alec prior to his sex-scene, a 3-way with Roxanne Hall and Stacey Nichols. Listed in the cast in both opening and ending credits is Brick Majors, who does not appear in the final cut.

Paul Norman presents five highly effective vignettes that deal with fetishes artistically rather than the current fashion of turning everything into Gonzo time.

"Latex" is unusual in that the ladies involved (Kaitlyn Ashley and Tatiana) wear colorful latex that seems more like body paint, in their threesome with John West. Ashley is also very stimulating having sex with her boss in "The Office".

The couple Shawna Edwards and Joey Edwards do role-playing in "Geisha", and outdoor sex in the watery "The Grotto" features Chandler with Christian Steele.

Norman rounds out the show with "The Kitchen", a BDSM lite episode in which both Jill Kelly and huge-bust Rocki Roads submit to meanie Eric Price.

Extremely low budget and crudely put together, "Mission: Phenomenal" steals from the hit TV series, right down to a tape cassette player that self-destructs. It's lightweight porn, heavy on the big tits of its femme cast.

Kyle Stone leads the motley team, charged with rescuing a kidnapped daughter of a "condom magnate". They succeed, but along the way we get to watch both the good guys and the bad guys have sex with huge rack ladies.

Crystal Gold is miscast as the kidnapped youngster -she would have been more convincing as one of the bad girls. Her lesbian scene with Kim Kitaine is a highlight, however.

JR Carrington earns breast in show honors, cast as Kyle's main squeeze. Director Stuart Canterbury usually has much bigger budgets, and doesn't do much with this familiar material.

Following the team's successful rescue of the kidnapped congresswoman, Kidman comes up with a daring followup plan, which requires a new Lioness to be recruited: Genesis Rodriguez joins the cast and makes quite a strong impression. It's easy to see how Taylor Sheridan is able to recruit top talent for his shows: Genesis as well as lead Zoe Saldana get to emote at high throttle in his well-written confrontation scenes for them.

Like the great "Homeland" series, "Lioness" presents here concise, forceful peeks into the strained home life of such as superhero as Zoe plays, including a wonderful, fresh look at the dangers children face in an otherwise placid scene of Zoe's youngest daughter operating a lemonade stand -wow!

The superstars both shine here: Morgan Freeman making the most of brief footage as he must make the Executive Decision, plus steely Nicole holding her own against all comers. A firefight in Iraq (!) is a key element of the tight the Lioness team getting ready to head to Mexico with their new Lioness to infiltrate a top cartel and eliminate a Chinese official, the one behind the congresswoman kidnapping.

Especially powerful in this segment is how drastic is the sacrifice routinely required of a new Lioness, plus Sheridan's cogent writing for Zoe's speech about the patriotism of a team recruit, notably from an immigrant family.

Cameraman/director Ralph Parfait wrote the inept script for this Vivid Video shot in Hawaii -it's ridiculous.

It starts off as basic hedonism, with tour guide Peter North taking young folks from the mainland on a tour. The actual video is merely an excuse for lots of outdoor sex with an attractive femme cast, but subplots about stealing diamonds, vandalism and other crimes unfold with zero logic, just filler that makes little to no sense. It's obviously a case of Parfait ony interested in getting the requisite XXX footage delivered and anything else optional.

Holly Body is very hot in her extended sex scene with Jon Dough, while top-billed Heather Hunter is wasted. Anthony Crane gets an unusual credit as "Guerilla filming advisor), evidence ot the amateur approach here (as contrasted with the huge "Island Fever" hits made in Hawaii several years later by Digital Playground, starring Tera Patrick and others).

Beyond the stupid pun title, "Kobe's Tie" has director Toni English (a/k/a Kelly Holland) on an off-day. Vivid release consists of a dull party where everyone wears masks, to set up Mark Davis's Cinderella-type search for the girl who wore a man's tie as part of her masculine ensemble.

Of course it's Kobe, and the plot gimmick extends to her roommate Brooke Ashely pretending to be her when wealthy Mark goes hunting for the mystery lady. The whole movie is a boring excuse for sex scenes, and their success is strictly based on the performers, such as Julia Ann looking great in a threesome with the two roommates.

Mitch Spinelli is rather contemptuous in this breast-fetish video, sloppily made and decidedly unfunny. Jonathan Morgan's stupid overacting kills off the attempts at humor.

Tony Tedeschi plays Johnny Calzone a/k/a Breastman, talking with a dumb Italianate wise guy voice. He likes to shoot videos of busty girls, and with a snap of his fingers magically transports himself and breast-obsessed nerd Jonathan Morgan to "Breastland", which looks just like the rest of the video in a cheap way.

There's plenty of group sex on view and zero plot, with the finale being Morgan getting to hump Wendy Whoppers, saving the biggest (volleyball-size) breasts for last. Only surprise is a young Mark Davis, hard to recognize with a full head of hair and billed as "Mark David".

To ensure the second season gets rolling smoothly, Sly collaborated on the screenplay of the first segment with Terence Winter. Result is quite amusing and basically light-hearted, at least most of the way.

Sly's daughter gets him bailed out of jail, and he's ready to pick up where things left off. He confronts Savage, the ATF agent who's set to testify against him, flirts a bit with romantic interest Dana Delaney and plans to expand his marijuana business.

Meanwhile back in Brooklyn his ex-buddies in the Mafia are up to no good, and their violence is ready to hit the fan in future episodes. Taylor's casting of Neal McDonough (late of "Yellowstone" villainy) as the new top bad guy bodes well for Sly's later rumbles.

The static direction of Albert Ray reduces this aloof adaptation of "Madame Bovary" to a chore to watch. Unsuspecting Depression Era audiences were expected to sit through a listless drama of uppercrust folks in Rye, New York, supposedly an escape from the problems of their own working class existence, but the characters and story are remote.

Lyle Talbot is poor as the hapless hero whose wife Joyce Compton cheats on him with the creepy European played by Ivan Lebedeff. Lila Lee plays the girl who was set to marry Lyle in the first place, and H. B. Warner is stuffy as his father. It's extremely difficult to care about any of them, and if this was meant to be titillating at the time, based on the infidelity theme, it fails miserably.

Writer-producer Hennah Sekander skillfully juggles the case of the week with plenty of character reveals about the "Matlock" ensemble (romantic relationships), making for a potent episode played against the backdrop of holiday cheer. Even Beau Bridges shows up to lord it over everyone as the law firm CEO, with Maddie still hot on his trail regarding involvement in her daughter's death.

Script constantly emphasizes the ageism that Bates faces as Matlock the elderly lawyer (something her predecessor Andy Griffith didn't have to deal with in the original series). She's casually called Grandma many, many times and treated condescendingly. But crafty is her middle name, and despite many twists and turns, we're always confident she will win her first case after being promoted to the firm's Pharma team.

The lawyers are battling with an appealing young music student (nicely played by Dominique Gayle) who suffered during drug trials and is suing the drug company. Her lawyer is played by 24-year-old actress Zamani Wilder, which underscores the vast age difference with opponent Maddie.

When the case, ultimately involving millions of dollars the drug firm stands to lose, turns on a somewhat dirty trick involving the law, Maddie is faced with a crucial decision: should she do whatever it takes to win the case and preserve her upward movement at Beau's law firm (and thereby get closer to avenging her daughter's death) or sympathize with the young student who is suing their client?

This dilemma is a dramatic issue facing all fictional characters working undercover, whether spies or undercover cops, and it adds depth to Matlock's character. Bates' strong acting drives this issue home.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with Hollywood romantic movies- certainly "Rome Adventure" with Peck and Hepbutrn shows how it's done properly. But then tendency toward schmaltziness, like in the '70s when Erich Segal and Herman Raucher briefly ruined the genre with their megahits, makes one yearn for a more realistic approach, as evidenced in this indie pic from the talented makers of "Little Fugitive".

The film preserves many successful elements from "Little Fugitve", with Peggy Dunn irrepressible as the cute kid at the center of the love story involving her mom Lori March and mom's boyfriend Gerald S. O'Loughlin, fabulous photography of New York tourist locations and realistic portrayals of the way real people behave.

The romantic stars are both professional actors, and that helps a lot in building empathy, especially for March's character. There's a fresh spontaneity to the action, short on plot but strong on multi-dimensional roles. Dramatic moments are scarce but powerful, and the main defect of the movie is a rushed, unconvincing happy ending. When John Cassavetes took up the indie tradition a decade or so later, he has more hard-nosed and less sentimental in his approach.

Independent cinema has its roots in movies like "Little Fugitive", a landmark release of 1953. It was an era of gimmicks, like 3-D and CinemaScope to attract audiences back to theatres when TV was encroaching, and it's quite a relief to watch this touching, highly cinematic bit of NYC realism.

It's a simple tale of youthful pleasures, more than just nostalgic. Little Joey feels like a criminal on the run when his older playmates trick him into believing he's killed his brother Lenny with a rifle, and with $6 left by his mom he's off on an adventure at Coney Island on his own.

THe professionally edited and shot footage is a wonderful artifact of the time, a simpler period, but filled with small, universal truths. One striking fact is that Joey raises money to pay for pony rides when his money runs out by collecting Pepsi and Coke bottles on the beach, and turning them in for 5 cents deposit each - some things never change!

This most unusual episode of the series (skillfully penned by Stanley Greenberg) moves away from the gritty reality and social problems of NYC for a dramatic, highly personal tale of a midlife crisis. The guest stars' performances are fabulous, and an understated George C. Scott is perfect as both sounding board for them and sly catalyst for change.

Director Tom Gries, later to direct the classic Western "Will Penny", uses a highly stylized approach, more suited to a theatrical piece than "East Side/West Side"'s location photography. Simon Oakland plays a successful Jewish businessman who had suddenly left his wife (without a bye your leave) seven months ago for Cleveland, and returns to his boyhood neighborhood to rent a room above a grocery store from a Black family led by James Edwards and Royce Wallace.

He tries to recapture the feeling of his youth, and Gries artfully uses him in dream sequences as an adult back in his past similar to Bergman's classic fantasy scenes in "Wild Strawberries". Meanwhile, his long-suffering wife Norma Crane is helped by Scott to find some meaning in her empty-nester existence by volunteer work in an orphanage, still wondering whatever happened to her errant husband.

Crane's acting is spectacular as the couple is eventually reunited and she must adjust to the shock that Oakland left her on purpose, high and dry. With the assistance of a wonderful little turn by an all-wise doctor Muni Seroff ( very fine, unsung character actor), and especially by Scott, there's hope for this couple after all. And the story of Edwards' upwardly mobile quest for the American Dream forms a perfect counterpoint to the main story of Crane versus Oakland.

I guess this Oopsie! Segment falls into the 'bait & switch' category, as TS superstars Ariel Demure and Jade Venus service a trans-male (classifed FTM) for a change. Yes, Nicky Zeal is a trans-male, only the third such FTM performer I've seen in mainstream porn (after Buck Angel and Austin Spears). His presence is a surprise, as when he gets naked the hairy guy has a pussy, not a cock.

Format is corny, already used in the series, with the comical gimmick quite tired: at the movies both Jade and Ariel place their cocks in a popcorn box or a fake-Pringles style canister to surprise Nicky, not very funny anymore as a prelude to sex.

It's the usual slapstick porn, made kinky by the casting. The issue raised is a dichotomy between positively representing Trans people in real-life versus exploiting them in porn. In porn, what sells is basically "chicks with dicks", as Robin Byrd used to promote with her own brand of positivity on her softcore cable-access TV series decades ago. In real-life among the trans-females who've transitioned, their private parts can fall into either camp (and there have been trans-females with pussies working occasionally in porn, notably Drew Deveaux, but without much success). A trans-male in porn is merely a curiosity thus far, and with the right wing persecution going on currently I fear for the safety of the entire non-cis population.

Digital Playground's press release calls "The Holdup" a cross between "Bad Santa" and "Die Hard", but this Christmas-themed crime comedy is strictly low-brow porn. It's not one of director Ricky Greenwood's best efforts.

Initial segment of the 4-parter has DP regular Scott Nails as a mall Santa, unfunny and no competition for Billy Bob. He has group sex in his store with three elves, Anna Claire Clouds, Mikey Star and Van Wylde, and gets caught by the boss (Lexington Steele) when he tries to erase the store's surveillance camera footage of the dirty deed.

They all get fired by Lex, and no actual crime has been committed thus far. The pair of babes are sexy and that's all the website's fans demand.

I enjoyed this Transfixed segment, because teaming voluptuous Black actress Lily Starfire with the label's favorite (of late) TS star Zariah Aura resulted in solid eroticism.

The 2-minute set-up is pointless, as usual, with the couple celebrating Zariah's job promotion by having Lily pamper her. For the first half of the vignette, Zariah is strictly passive and blindfolded, then she takes over and f*cks Lily in the behind.

Anal sex is usually reserved for a trans-female as "bottom" in this series, but this time out it is cis-female Lily who takes that role. Her very large natural breasts are a treat, and Zariah delivers a successful money shot on them to end the show.

A uniquely intriguing cast is wasted in this poorly-written (by TV hack writer Richard Adams) Kraft Suspense Theatre episode that has hardly anybody for the audience to root for. A talented director, Tom Gries, does little with this material, and the nihilistic ending had me groaning.

Steven Hill and Dane Clark portray Nazi hunters from Israel, in Switzerland to try and capture German nuclear scientist Francis Lederer, whose beautiful daughter Gila Golan is the emotional center of the show. West German undercover agent Eric Braeden gets ahold of Gila as he also wants to capture her father for his government, while the bad guys, led by very evil Albert Paulsen, belong to a mythical/legendary network called Die Spinnen (The Spider) that is dedicated to helping ex-Nazis escape to friendly countries after World War II, take charge of Lederer. And there's another Die Spinnen operative, family man John Banner in the mix.

Just as real-life Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal competed with the West Germans, so too we have Braeden and Dane/Steven forming a combative temporary alliance to get their hands on Lederer. The suspense starts out okay, but Adams' contrived screenplay, mainly set on trains, goes nowhere in a hurry.

The casting agent here deserves a medal: Hill is famous for his role a year later as the lead star of "Mission: Impossible", losing his job after a season because as an Orthodox Jew he refused to work on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. Decades later he became a regular co-star on "Law and Order" for well over a hundred episodes, and I can attest to the fact that the scheduling on that series was far more flexible to accommodate his religious beliefs, as they would shoot for just one day at a time on my block in Chelsea dozens of times over the years (and my neighbor upstairs in my building, Julianne Nicholson, starred on their sister show "Law and Order: Criminal Intent". Dane Clark, the tough guy Jewish actor from Brooklyn plays an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor, a fellow Israeli resident Nazi Hunter.

Gila Golan, a favorite of mine from the '60s when she had the female lead in "Our Man Flint", is a star from Israel, never to achieve the career heights of her similarly named Gal Gadot. Eric Braeden a year later became famous playing a Nazi as co-star on "The Rat Patrol", a series created by Tom Gries. Banner of course was the friendly German sergeant on "Hogan's Heroes", while Albert Paulsen was an actor from Ecuador, typecast in German and other European roles. And Francis Lederer was Czech. All of them, except for Gila, are portrayed in a negative light.

The TV writing team of Lou & Peggy Shaw (Lou's biggest hit was as producer and creator of "Quincy M. E." many years later) are responsible for this lousy episode of "Naked City".

Jack Warden gives a one-note performance as a World War II hero, medal winner who got a ticker tape parade down Broadway's Canyon of Heroes, now reduced to being a bum. He clashes with the law due to a jewelry store smash & grab robbery, but gets off thanks to his war record.

Cornball episode starts off with soap opera-style pathos, as his ex-wife Kim Hunter is mean to him when he tries to crash his daughter's wedding. Paul Burke is Mr. Nice Guy, offering him money to get back on his feet and even buying his war medal out of the goodness of his heart. But when stereotypical crass boss Sorrell Booke insults Warden's dignity during a job interview, Jack goes psycho and embarks on a killing spree, believing he's back at war. Guess which cop ends up shooting him down at the end.

Only redeeming feature of sitting through this long slog is the great Sylvia Miles, perfect as an empathetic bar waitress who listens patiently to Jack's sob story about the war -she is one great character actress, who I had the privilege of seeing in her memorable (to me at least) one-woman show "It's Me, Sylvia!" on stage two decades later.

The subject of "Momism", introduced by novelist Philip Wylie way back in 1942, is the starting point for an oddball story by Abram Ginnes, a writer who, after being Blacklisted in the '50s, wrote for "Naked City". Stirling Silliphant was obviously intrigued by this arcane subject matter, and clumsily embraces it for this filler episode of "Route 66" during Maharis's unfortunate absence.

Early in the episode, which deals rather bluntly with the notion of women dominating and thereby harming men, there is a moment I enjoyed fleetingly.

As the central character, an eccentric inventor Arthur O'Connell, throws water on the whole notion of Artificial Intelligence, stating that his mechanical inventions (including a Rube Goldberg-type "Love Machine") cannot think or create. This scene alone shows how dated Silliphant's segment is.

So as Milner becomes involved romantically with beautiful Anne Helm (she's the bright spot here), and works for her mom June VIncent (a dentist to very young kids) and searches among all-male retreats and cults for her errant hubby O'Connell, it seems like a silly version of the Battle of the Sexes.

Story makes fun of O'Connell, but unfortunately, a forced happy ending has June subjugating herself to him, a misogynistic conclusion.

The writing team of Gwen & John Bagni cover all the private eye cliches in this entertaining if corny Four Star Playhouse segment of a failed pilot for a Frank Lovejoy series.

What makes it fun, besides the fine performances, is the concentrated format, covering an entire movie arc in just 25 minutes of running time. McGraw's trials and tribulations in a case starring film noir veteran Audrey Totter add up to the usual "don't be the fall guy" routine, enlivened by a couple of plot twists and some very snappy dialogue. It's not all that different from a satirical sketch taking off on the genre: it's easy to imagine Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca or Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman in the roles in a send-up.

Lovejoy does a good, if effortless, job and Totter is fun, right up to her bugeyed finale.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Ishiro Honda; Produced by , for Toho; Released in America by Woolner Brothers Pictures. Screenplay by Tomoyuki Tanaka; Photography by Hajime Koizumi; Edited by Ryohei Fujii; Music by Akira Ikufube. Starring: Nick Adams, Tadao Takashima, Kumi Mizuno, Koji Furuhata and Takashi Shimura.

Another poor latter-day Japanese monster flick, with the novelty of Nick Adams' presence. Ridiculous plot has the original Frankenstein's heart sent to Hiroshima during World War II for experimentation concerning its immortality. After the A-blast the heart mysteriously grows to be a Caucasian boy (played by a Japanese actor with Frankenstein monster makeup) who is studied by Nick and grows larger and larger. The film's general technique has much in common with the original "King Kong", but adds a lot of silliness. Such as Frank's penchant for eating dogs, plus the mystery of his crawling hand which somehow remains alive and growing apart from his body, not to mention an oversize prehistoric reptile refugee from Godzilla films.

This episode concerns how science intersects with law enforcement, and presents the story in the form of a police procedural. Unfortunately, it lacks the inspiration of the classic story by Philip Dick filmed as "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise (a story published coincidentally the same year as this "Science Fiction Theatre" segment).

The story of a murder in which fingeprint evidence points to another scidentist revolves around experiments to create synthetic human flesh that can duplicate someone's fingerprints. The suspect's fiancee June Lockhart does the research to prove her man's innocence, and the actual culprit is caught in a lousy ending.

Episode earns a D for dullness. The awe and wonder of top-notch science fiction like "Minority Report" is nowhere evident here.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Screenplay by Nathan Juran; Produced by Bernard Woolner, for Woolner Brothers Pictures. Photography by Jacques Marquette; Edited by Rex Lipton; Music by Hal Borne; Stop-Motion Animation by Jim Danforth. Starring: Mala Powers, Marshall Thompson; Douglas Kennedy, James Lanphier, Robert Gillette and Felippe Biriel.

Extremely poor science fiction adventure lifted from a Jules Verne story. Our heroes travel along the African continent in a balloon and have numerous scrapes with danger, against poorly processed stock footage.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Screenplay, Directed and Produced by Herbert J. Leder, for Warner Brothers. Photography by Davis Boulton; Edited by Tom Simpson; Music by Don Banks. Starring: Dana Andrews, Anna Palk, Philip Gilbert, Karel Stepanek, Kathleen Breck, Alan Tilvers, Basil Henson and Oliver MacGreevy.

Not much thought went into this Herbert J. Leder special, but the underlying premises are quite interesting. 1500 leading Nazis were frozen in 1945 and German scientist Dana is experimenting on perfecting a way of successfully reanimating them. Unfortunately, rather than develop this plot, auteur Leder decides to pastiche a whole legion of science fiction and horror genres, featuring a mad scientist and his assistant in his lab, young thing and a buddy hunting for a missing friend, keeping a head alive action, face behind the mask business, clairvoyant discovery of facts via dreams, and zombie-like abortive guinea pig folks hanging around.

Logic is wholly absent as Leder refuses to make his story credible in a record-breaking bit of cinema cliche-mongering. Leder has well-endowed Anna Palk traipsing around in a white nightgown for three separate nights; on the fourth night she sleepwalks in a pink nightgown! We never return to the original teaser plotline, and the ending is even more foolish than expected.

To heavily paraphrase Mel Brooks: "It's good to be Taylor Sheridan". Television's hottest writer-producer wrote himself into the lead role in the Second Season kickoff of "Lioness", and his direction of the concise action scenes is top-notch.

Of course, the emotional center of the show remains safely in Zoe Saldana's character, put under enormous pressure (as usual) to save the day, at the expense of her family life and sanity. In this case, it's rescuing a kidnapped congresswoman shanghaied to Mexico - I would have cast photogenic AOC as the lady in bondage, but that's just me.

Taylor on screen reminded me of Tom Laughlin as the iconic "Billy Jack" in the 1970s, and of course the highly independent Laughlin was also a hyphenate who had Wellesian total control over his productions. Perhaps Taylor could resurrect the mythic Billy Jack character for a new generation. Laughlin's hubris had him ending up running in several campaigns for president - I sure hope Taylor doesn't!