Movie Review: Girls Are for Loving (1973)

Girls Are for Loving (1973) - USA - Spy Thriller - Rated R

Directed by Don Schain

Stars Cheri Caffaro, Timothy Brown, Sheila Leighton

Fills the void of spy movies where not only is the lead character a female James Bond but she and others in the movie have no problem with losing their clothes and getting down and dirty.

It seems Ginger McAllister has traded in her domestic private detective license and is now on call by none other than the CIA on international affairs to thwart evil doers who would dare to threaten the United States, and if she has to get fucked along the way...well, it's just another part of her job.

This time, though, Ginger's nemesis is another beautiful woman named Ronnie St. Clair. It seems Ronnie has her eyes on a trade agreement between the U.S. and an Asian country. The U.S. is set to loan the country money to purchase U.S. goods under contract and Ronnie wants the names of the companies that will get the contracts so she can make a fortune off of them on the stock market; even if getting this information involves kidnapping and murder.

Girls Are for Loving takes the character of Ginger and puts her in a spy movie. In her two previous outings Ginger was a private eye in some low budget movies, but this time they have a much bigger budget taking her to international locales where she succeeds in losing her clothes just as well. The addition of the Ronnie St. Clair character ups the ante of what the film has to offer by pitting Ginger against a woman just as beautiful as herself and just as willing to lose her clothes.

Of course the movie is sexist as hell in presenting the women as eye candy, as most 70s films of this ilk were, but it transcends that usual mold by presenting both women as in-charge of their actions and destinies and their worlds revolve around them rather than either of them being the usual submissive female who gets naked while the heroic man saves the day. They do get naked, but they enjoy that freedom and Ginger makes no excuses for her open sexuality as evidenced in the line "I like to fuck".

The addition of Timothy Brown also escalates the Ginger series as the first film of the series has Ginger having a negative attitude toward blacks but this movie adds not only a partner but also a love interest and he is black. You may remember Timothy Brown as Spearchucker Jones in the first season of the M*A*S*H TV series.

The plot of this movie is basic and sketchy at best, but we're really not here for the plot. We're here because two lovely women and others are going to get naked, and full nudity not just topless, and have sex, and tie each other down. Oh, and there's also explosions, pretty awful martial arts type fighting, chases, gunplay, and all the other things that make for an action spy movie outing.

This is begging for a newer DVD release as the current release by Monterey Video is rather dark in my opinion. In many scenes it is not a problem but for some night scenes and low light scenes it is difficult to make anything out at times. Luckily most of the film, the good parts, do not suffer from this problem.

This is not a pan and scan cropped version of the movie on this DVD. Some prints of this movie that were shown in theaters and released on VHS suffered from being cropped to cut out the pubic regions. I guess to not get an x-rating? The DVD version shows a lot more than the theater/VHS version did.

Recommend: Yes. Though sloppily done in several places, if you like spy movies and especially if you like sleazy movies, Girls Are for Loving combines both in a successful and fun way.

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Movie Poster: The Vampire Lovers (1970)

The Vampire Lovers (1970) - UK - Horror - Rated R
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Stars Ingrid Pitt, Pippa Steel, Madeline Smith, Peter Cushing

A sexy woman is introduced into a well established family's household as a houseguest and strikes up a  companionship with their teenage daughter. Unknown to them this woman is actually a vampire who draws their daughter into a lesbian relationship with her and begins a reign of terror on the townsfolk as she attempts to restore her vampire clan.

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Movie Poster: Snuff (1976)

 

Snuff (1976) - USA - Exploitation - Rated X

Directed by Michael Findlay, Horacio Fredriksson, Simon Nuchturn

Stars Margarita Amuchástegui, Ana Carro, Liliana Fernández Blanco, Michael Findlay, Roberta Findlay

 

Pretended to be a snuff movie using footage from a previous Michael and Roberta Findlay movie called The Slaughter with new footage tacked on, including a bogus supposedly actual 'snuff' killing on film. The plot involves a cult leader of the likes of Charles Manson who surrounds himself with biker chicks and plots some murders.

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Movie Review: To All a Goodnight (1980)

To All a Goodnight (1980) - USA - Horror - Rated R
Directed by David Hess
Stars Jennifer Runyon, Judith Bridges, Forrest Swanson, Linda Gentile, Kiva Lawrence

A killer Santa is on the prowl at a girls' finishing school, but the danger Santa poses to the girls is nothing compared to the danger of the viewer falling asleep while watching this.

Two years ago at the Calvin Finishing School for Girls on a Christmas Eve a prank gone out of control causes one of the students to fall to her death. Two years later, the present, the current crop of girls are planning to spend Christmas break at the school with some boys who are flying in for this occasion. But it seems the boys are not the only new guests arriving as someone dressed in a Santa suit has already arrived as is ready to treat some naughty boys and girls to some killing that's not so nice.

It is difficult to fairly rate To All a Goodnight viewing it today rather than when it first came out. It seems littered with slasher movie conventions, yet it originally came out in 1980, before so many of those conventions became standard and is one of the movies that set those in stone. It does borrow from what came before, but what it did not borrow is something to keep any interest going.

Sitting down to watch this movie you had either have had a good night's sleep before this or something like toothpicks or tape to hold your eyes open. Though it starts off well enough, it soon lingers with seemingly nowhere to go but filling time to make it a full length movie. They could have cut the time in half and still kept every moment in the movie.

Although the killer in this movie becomes obvious at a certain point, I won't give any spoilers but someone is not present when the killings take place, I did not see an additional surprise ending coming and it did explain inconsistencies with the identity of the killer. Yes, ultimately it was hokey, like a lot of the 'baited' scripting in this movie, but it was a nice touch.

Recommend: No. What nudity there is in the movie is too little to have to sit through that much boredom. An additional note in that the framing on the new DVD release cuts from the top and bottom, so the scene in the bathroom with a naked Leia does not show her below the waist as it does on the old VHS copy (the screenshots I am using are from a VHS copy).

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Movie Review: Savage Island (1985)

Savage Island (1985) - Italy - Exploitation/Women in Prison - Rated R
Directed by Nicholas Beardsley
Stars Anthony Steffen, Ajita Wilson, Christina Lai, Linda Blair, Leon Askin, Cintia Lodetti, Penn Jillette

A sexy woman enters into a highrise office complex for a meeting with a sleazy business tycoon. But this meeting is far from cordial and a surprise as he finds himself at gunpoint listening to her tell him a story of women who have been forced to work in a South American labor camp mining emeralds for a wealthy American tycoon; that would be him. But the prisoners of the labor camp along with a group of mercenaries hatch a plan of escape and of revenge against the sadistic and rapist guards.

Savage Island is not an original film, and I'm not meaning in its plot, but then it's not original in that either. It actually is a re-edited film taken from two Italian-Spanish films originally shot back-to-back with most of the same cast, Hotel Paradise and Escape from Hell (both 1980), with additional new footage shot as a wrap-around and stars Linda Blair and Leon Askin. Of the two original movies, Escape from Hell is the better film from a sleaze perspective, and not the least of which it has a more coherent story.

Savage Island merges the storylines from both movies into a shorter running time than either film. The downside is that the movie is choppy in places both because of the editing and because they are combining two movies in which some of the actors are different. On the upside, Savage Island has an abundance of nudity as it is taken from both of its parent films.

If sweaty naked women running around, showering in the open, ripping their clothes off and fighting among each other is not your cup of tea...then what the hell is wrong with you? Savage Island is pure sleaze aimed at slobbering males. It gives what men want in a women in prison movie without taking up too much time with a silly little thing called plot and story; and if you are looking for plot and story in a women in prison movie you are looking in the wrong sub-genre.

One major downside though is Savage Island was only put out on VHS and what DVD distributions of it that exist are from those VHS masters, so the quality is pretty low. Escape from Hell is the better alternative of the two original parent films, but both are available on DVD.

Recommend: Yes, it's full of sweaty naked women.

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Movie Poster: Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)

 

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977) - Italy - Exploitation - Unrated

A.K.A. Trap Them and Kill Them

Directed by Joe D'Amato

Stars Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti, Nieves Navarro, Donald O'Brien

Working undercover as a journalist at a mental hospital, Emanuelle witnesses a female patient bite a nurse savagely. The patient tells her she was raised by a hidden cannibal tribe in the Amazon. Emanuelle and a team go deep into the Amazon to find this cannibal tribe, and unfortunately do and the usual rape, mutilation and torture ensue. Filled with nudity and gore.

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Movie Review: Lord Farthingay's Holiday

Lord Farthingay's Holiday (1972) - USA - Adult Comedy - Rated X
A.K.A. Afternoon Tease
Directed by Charleton Roberts (Joseph F. Robertson)
Stars Donna Young, Alida Tennant (Anna Travers), Casey Lorraine (Casey Larrain), Sandy Dempsey, Ron Darby

An at times slow movie for only 60 minutes is really brought up by the more than delicious beauties on screen naked and having sex.

Lord Farthingay, a British chap no less...righto, is arriving in the states for a holiday (that'll be a vacation for us yanks...jolly good). He will be staying at the Van Updyke estate, home of the snooty, but damn fine, Mrs. Van Updyke.

To make Lord Farthingay's stay an enjoyable one, Mrs. Van Updyke instructs Jeeves the butler to have some musicians play at poolside for the Lord. Looking up For Teas in the yellow pages, Jeeves gets momentarily distracted and when returning his attention to the yellow pages he ends up calling the listing For a Tease which is a sex for hire business, and unknowingly orders a trio of prostitutes for his lordship. Needless to say, Lord Farthingay is in for a hell of a holiday.

The setup of Lord Farthingay's Holiday is basic, as I have summarized, and beyond that it is simply naked women and men having sex interspersed with a few occasional moments of humor. At times the movie does drag, but the women are paricularly attractive with nice bodies which more than makes up for the occasional slowness of the film. Anna Travers, a creamy skinned redhead with near perfect tits, is exactly what I want for Christmas, and Casey Larrain is just damn fine and gets additional kudos for staying in character throughout the movie.

Though there appear to be some attempts at showing penetration on camera, there are fewer gynecological close-ups than with a xxx movie which makes this film more ideal for those who don't want in-your-face pussy, dick and cumshots but still want to see more of an x-rated movie than what an r-rated movie will show. Lord Farthingay's Holiday just verges on porn without actually going there.

Recommend: Yes, for the good looking women and the amount of nudity. Though X-rated, this is not XXX and probably would not appeal to hardcore porn fans.

Available for Purchase as a Download from Something Weird Video 

Movie Poster: Eaten Alive! (1980)

Eaten Alive! (1980) - Italy - Exploitation Horror - Unrated (X)
Directed by Umberto Lenzi
Stars Robert Kerman, Janet Agren, Ivan Rasimov, Paola Senatore, Me Me Lai, Mel Ferrer

Loosely, and very loosely at that, based in part on the Jonestown massacre of 1978, Eaten Alive is the story of a young woman searching for her sister who disappeared in the jungles of Southeast Asia. She becomes involved with a cult in which the leader violently abuses and rapes her and others. They eventually encounter cannibals. This movie is filled with rape, torture, explicit nudity, gore and animal cruelty. It was directed by Umberto Lenzi known well for his other cannibal movie Cannibal Ferox.

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