The Walrus' Rating:

Starring: This is a sexual coming-of-age story featuring Lysa Thatcher as the ingenue. Her youthful freshness and nice acting skills make her perfect for the part. Her mother is Linda Vale and her stepfather is Jamie Gillis. Her best friend is Kandi Barbour, scrumptious as usual. After being caught by her mother on thr verge of having sex with her stepfather, she decides to travel to New York to rejoin her runaway sister. She hitchhikes with magician Jake Teague and his wife Jody Maxwell. Veronica Hart is a wealthy businesswoman whot employs the sister. Eric Edwards is Veronica's boy toy. Arcadia Lake is a painter of erotic pictures who has a tryst with Edwards. A great cast.

The producer and director was Cecil Howard, and this has the very high standards of his best work. The most impressive aspect of the production was the great camera work. This is a visually stunning film. The title song and background music are well done. The script by Anne Randall is very good.

The sex scenes are not particularly rauncy by today's standards, but are rather more sensuous. The scene where Kandi seduces her tennis instructor is both funny and hot. The night at a motel with Lysa, Jake and Jody is both figuritively and literally magical. The hottest scene is between Veronica, with her customary electrical screen presence, and Eric, ending with a well-captured anal (which Howard rarely used).

The best way to sum up why I like Cecil Howard films is to compare him to the current rage among directors, Pierre Woodman. In a Woodman film, a woman will see a pair of handsome strangers, stop what she's doing, and start giving them a blowjob. The scene always ends with a DP. How many women do you know who behave that way? Woodman's characters are cartoon figures feeling nothing but lust and greed. In a Howard film, the sex flows out of characters with individula and distinctive personalities. I do not remember ever seeing a DP in a Howard film, probably because his characters, like most people not in the porn business, just don't do DP's.

By today's standards, the sex scenes are too short. After a suitable amount of foreplay, the actual intercourse is often over as soon as it starts. Of course many films from that era were that way. Also, the ending was sort of confusing.

This is terrific film with a wonderful cast and superb direction. A strong 9. 5.

Posted By The Walrus, www.excaliburfilms.com | 10/12/06 1:58 PM