brchthethird

One of the last hardcore films released theatrically, as much of the adult industry was transitioning to the home video market. And if this was a last stab at legitimacy, then well done. Of the adult films I've watched so far, both from the Golden Age and more recent ones, this felt the most like a "real" movie. The sense is that the sex served the story rather than the other way around. All the technical aspects were quite good, and even the acting was respectable more than just being functional. Tish Ambrose and Eric Edwards were good leads, with Edwards in particular getting to delve into some pretty heavy subject matter, but the standout scene for me was a particularly violent scene between Herschel Savage and Sheri St. Claire. Beyond that, the film was well-paced and had an interesting score. My only real issue was that the entire buildup of the plot was resolved rather perfunctorily in a 5-minute action scene. On the other hand, with a 10-day shoot and a fraction of the budget of a Hollywood picture, it's not like they could have done something on the scale of Rambo. Overall, while I may have been more affected by a couple of the other early 70's titles I've seen so far (e.g., The Devil in Miss Jones), I really enjoyed this one, which bodes well for the other 80's theatrical hardcore I have coming up.

For my money, this is one of JCVD's best movies. It delivered the action one would expect, while also moving beyond its pulp trappings and becoming a moving drama that is able to better contextualize the violence that is the primary draw for movies of its genre. And having incredible cinematography and an excellent score certainly helped that along nicely. My only complaint, and really hardly a complaint, is that nothing explosive happens after the opening scene where Leon's brother is killed, at least not on that kind of visceral level. And the plot, which carefully took its time, never felt like it was building to some incredible showdown as in Bloodsport or Kickboxer. Just the same, getting to know the characters a bit better was a decent tradeoff. None of the performances were what you would call Oscar-worthy, but they did what they needed to do. Harrison Page was an excellent sidekick/foil to Van Damme's character; and the sister-in-law and her daughter also came out looking pretty good. Michel Qissi (Tong Po in Kickboxer) got a nice small role as a French Foreign Legion agent on the trail of Van Damme, who spends most of the runtime AWOL trying to get to his brother's widow, and then secretly supporting her with the winnings from his fights. And kudos to whoever designed Deborah Rennard's wardrobe. She might not have had Brigitte Nielsen energy, but she certainly dressed the part. Anyway, I am probably overrating this a tad, but the rating for at least this one largely reflects my overall enjoyment. Which is not nothing.

Tommy Toole is Stanley Jones, the new rent collector for a stereotypically Jewish landlord. All the tenants who owe are women and, naturally, other arrangements are made (with one exception). Fairly standard porn setup which has been done to death by this point, although I suppose it would have been somewhat novel in the early 70's. Sex was fairly rote, although there were a number of funny bits and dialogue that made me chuckle. What I didn't appreciate --more for pacing reasons than anything else-- was that the VCX DVD (copyright 1984) had footage from a completely separate feature spliced in throughout in order to pad the runtime, and random flashes of pornographic images inserted (hehe) into the already short dialogue scenes. As an early example of theatrical hardcore, I can't be too harsh with it, but it's not one I'm likely to revisit.

Oh, and too much whipped cream for my taste. (The mere sight makes me nauseous.)