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Sexploitation Movies
The term "sexploitation" really came into being with the risque movies of the late 1960s-1970s.  Films of this sort, though, have been made before and since that time.  Generally, though, "sexploitation" describes the 60s and 70s skin flicks.  Some were great, some were awful.  Since all movies of this sort, despite the date, all reach for the same objective, they will appear in this list.


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Features:

"Escort Girl" (1941)
"Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (1965)
"The Flesh Merchant" aka "The Wild and the Wicked" (1956)

"War Goddess" (1973)

Quick Reviews:

"The Dallas Connection" (1994)
"The Horrors of Spider Island" (1960)
"Invasion of the Bee Girls" (1973)
"Return to Savage Beach" (1998)
"Slaves in Bondage" (1937)
"The Woman Hunt" (1973)



The Dallas Connection (1994)-  Like I say, most movies called "sexploitation" are usually from the late 1960s-1970s.  However, in the 1980s and 90s, the proud tradition of sexploitation was continued and updated by Andy Sidaris and, for this movie, son Christian Drew Sidaris.  Director father Andy started the L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies series of soft-core, B-movie action spectaculars.  This film is sometimes thought of as a L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies entry but, in reality, it isn't.  True, this has many of the same women from the earlier films, but they all play different characters.

    Why do most sexploitation movies have to be scripted and acted so badly?  I know these movies aren't supposed to have a "My Dinner With Andre" kind of intelligence, but they can at least look like they were written by someone older than 12.  The women are gorgeous, and since this is a skin flick, they do a good job.  Heroine Samantha Maxx (played by Samantha Phillips) IS arousing, and enticing.  6'1" raven-haired beauty Julie Strain (as villainess Black Widow) is sexy as ever.  Julie K. Smith, the short, but extremely busty blonde is something spectacular (she plays bad girl Cobra).   Wendy Hamilton is another pleasant surprise as brunette baddie Scorpion (we find out later she's not as bad as she seems).

     This movie is dumb, but it's good as a T&A flick.  That's all it was really meant to be.  If that's alright for you, it's worth watching.  I, myself, prefer some kind of cool story to go along with it to explain the nudity.  Otherwise, the makers can just go ahead and make it a full-on porn film.  I'm not that much of a letch.  I like sex WITH a good story and some passable acting.



The Horrors of Spider Island (1960)-  A cheapie sexploitation movie that tries to pass itself off as a horror movie, and fails at both.  This movie is pretty bad, but at least the girls are hot.  However, the best-looking girl, Helga Franck, is the one that shows the least skin!  What the heck!  Alex D'Arcy and Helga Franck act well enough for the material given to them, but the large part of the movie's acting is terrible.  The dubbing is a bit too obvious, and the "effects" were not even good for that time.  Plus, the movie just kind of drags along, without much horror or sexuality.  It's a missed opportunity.  Just a few little additions would have made this more watchable.  I recommend it if you're only paying one or two dollars for the DVD and you have some spare time, but nothing more.

Cast:

Alexander D'Arcy as Gary Webster [credited as Alex d'Arcy]
Helga Franck as Georgia
Harald Maresch as Joe [credited as Temple Foster]
Rainer Brandt as Bobby [credited as Allen Turner]
Barbara Valentin as Babs [credited as Barbara Valentine]
Elfie Wagner as Linda [credited as Donna Ulsike]
Dorothee Parker as Gladys [credited as Norma Townes]
Helga Neuner as Ann
Eva Schauland as Millie
Gerry Sammer as May
Helma Vandenberg as Kate [credited as Helma van den Berg]
Walter Faber as Mike Blackwood
Robert Raglan as Radio Man [uncredited]

Director- Fritz Bottger [credited as Jaime Nolan]
Writers- Fritz Bottger, Eldon Howard, Albert G. Miller.

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Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)
-  William Smith is the hero.  Anitra Ford is the villainess.  Victoria Vetri is the love interest to Smith and beautiful, damsel-in-distress.  I like William Smith.  There aren't too many actors who do equally well at hero and villain parts, but Smith is one of them.  Men are being "loved" to death by murderous women.  William Smith, a government inspector, comes to investigate.  Anitra Ford, as far as we know, is some sort of alien; a hybrid between human and queen bee.  She has the technology to turn human women into bee-like sexual predators.  The only thing we never know is the motivation behind this killing spree.  This movie has an excellent cast, and it's one of the few times I think nudity is as legitimate in a film as it is fun.  You can't really have a movie like this without nudity, believe it or not.  The premise of the movie is interesting enough, but it seems like the writer got too bored to explain the background of Anitra Ford's character, or give us a reason for why this was all going on.  What did the Bee Girls hope to accomplish?  Still, this is an entertaining, watchable movie and I hope it gets a remake with a more elaborate script.  Special mention must go to Victoria Vetri, who I find most impressive in character and figure.



Return to Savage Beach (1998)-  So bad.  Ridiculously bad, even under the auspices that it's a T&A flick.  It's another Andy Sidaris-directed film.  The story is bad, and the acting is bad.  At least the women look hot, and the movie is well-filmed.  Those are the good points.  All the women are great, but Carrie Westcott as blonde Sophia seems to be the standout in this movie.  What's this movie all about?  I doubt if the filmmakers even know.  Main idea:  A bunch of chesty babes called L.E.T.H.A.L. Force goes after bad guys.  That's about it.  Also starring Julie Strain, Julie K. Smith, Shae Marks, and Ava Cardell.  One of the two creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kevin Eastman, has a part as good guy Harry The Cat.  He's the real-life husband of Julie Strain.



Slaves in Bondage (1937)-  Lona Andre plays heroine Dona Lee.  This is an early prototype of what would become, thirty-some years later, the "sexploitation" film.  At this time, movies like this were simply referred to as "exploitation" and usually contained a moral message about the pitfalls of wreckless sex, marijuana, cocaine abuse, and other "not nice" things.  Here, the subject is just prostitution.  There are also moments of lesbian-ism.  For the time period, this movie was extremely avant-garde.  Today, it's just bizarre.  It's weird to see people in an old-time movie speak so bluntly about, not just sex, but prostitution...even "lezzies".  It's made with what we would call today a PG sensibility, but at the time, if they had ratings, this probably would've been called XXX+.  They really couldn't show skin, because it was tough enough to get these movies played in theaters.  I found this movie dumb and nearly unwatchable by bad acting, lazy writing, and near uneventfulness, but it had a good enough plot idea.  A crooked businessman and his female partner use a beauty salon as a front to recruit women as prostitutes for the man's roadhouse.



The Woman Hunt (1973)-  I thought this movie was SO going to stink until I actually watched it.  First off, I don't like the idea of "human hunting", an idea that's been overplayed in movies (especially in the 1990s decade).  Second, I never like seeing women get killed in shows...certainly not good-looking women.  I was really quite surprised by this movie.  It's one of the many made-in-the-Phillippines, American sexploitation flicks that came out of the 70s.  Surprisingly, this is probably more of an action movie than a sexploitation movie.  The action sequences are done very well, even by today's standards.  Yes, there is some female nudity to give the audience cheap thrills, but that's not the only thing the movie has going for it.  This movie tells us something we need to know.  Slavery was alive and well in the 1970s, as it is today.  Some people in undeveloped countries DO prey on women for sex slaves.  In addition, there are some people who like to kill other people for sport.  This movie simply puts those two terrible vices together.

    John Ashley plays Tony, one of the kidnappers who decides to turn on his boss and free the current female prisoners.  The story is very plain and simple and doesn't try to do anything that time, talent, or budget won't allow.  As a matter of fact, the film movies very quickly.  Because of its fast pace, there is no such thing as character development, although the personalities of some of the characters are quite entertaining.  Ashley's character doesn't really have much of a personality beyond the fact that he's a reformed bad guy.  He does a decent job of acting, though.  Sid Haig, as Silas, is probably the coolest man of the cast.  He's totally into the abduction and demeaning of women, and has the best sense of humor about it.  He's a funny, wise-cracking a**hole!  Silas is a bad guy, but he still has some scruples.  He doesn't like to physically "hurt" the women, just humiliate them, and he's still kind of a buddy to Tony, even after he's turned.  Silas doesn't, however, like Karp.  Ken Metcalfe has an interesting, even cool character in Karp despite the fact that he's a total weirdo.  Karp is easily the most violent of the three kidnappers, and he hates women.  The wacky, red-haired hippie dude pretends that he's attracted to women, but it becomes pretty obvious to us that he's a homosexual.  Silas' hatred of the "queenie" Karp is what ultimately leads to his end when Karp shoots him in the stomach.  For some particular reason, Karp targets McGee (played by Pat Woodell).

    Pat Woodell did a good job as McGee, the leader of the kidnapped girls.  She has short hair in this movie, which is unusual to see.  She also bares her breasts which is another unusual (although welcome) sight.  Pat actually gives good delivery of her lines, which is not common to most sexploitation movies.  The most quotable line is what she says to a Japanese businessman putting the make on her: "Why don't you take a running backflip and go f*** yourself."  Charlene Jones as the black girl, Billie, was another cool character.  She just had a good personality, and she was convincing.  Laurie Rose as strawberry blonde, Lori, was cute, but she wasn't the most believable.  I liked her in the movie, though.  She didn't act terrible, but she doesn't really "wow" us with her words.  Where McGee was targeted by Karp, and Billie was desired by Silas, Lori was pursued by Magda.  Lisa Todd, best known as one of the "Hee Haw" girls, played bisexual beauty, Magda.  Lisa is almost always drop-dead gorgeous in her film and TV appearances.  In this movie, she was made up to look a bit strange.  Her character was strange, so it worked.  Magda was the henchwoman/lover of ultimate villain Spyros, played by Eddie Garcia.  She was the overseer of the kidnapped girls; their keeper.  Magda loves girls as much as she loves Spyros; and she was really fond of Lori.  Luscious Lori is nearly molested by the powerful Magda twice!  Lisa Todd, as Magda, still looks good, but in an offbeat way.  Her hair is way big and she wears dark clothes with boobs pushed up-and-out to high heaven!  Kind of like an evil version of Elvira!

    The plot of this movie is not at all intricate, but there still IS one.  It's a simple little 81-minute movie for guys that like TNA and shoot-em-up action.  That's about it.  There's nothing too involved.  I thought this movie was going to be a lot sleazier than it was.  Most low-budget sexploitation movies of this period ARE a lot sleazier.  Heck, a lot of mainstream action movies today are sleazier than this.  Don't pay too much attention to what egghead critics tell you.  This is a fun little movie if you like the content.  The filming and editing isn't the best, but you have to take that with films of this sort.  It's still very watchable.

    SPOILER ALERT!

    Everyone in the movie gets killed off except Tony (John Ashley) and Lori (Laurie Rose).

Cast:

John Ashley as Tony
Pat Woodell as McGee
Charlene Jones as Billie
Laurie Rose as Lori
Lisa Todd as Magda
Sid Haig as Silas
Ken Metcalfe as Karp
Eddie Garcia as Spyros
Alona Alegre as Sam

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