|
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
Review
by
Troy Guinn
Film:2
DVD:8
|
 |
| I
asked Eccentric Cinema for a DVD to review, and for my sins, they
gave me one. My enthusiasm wilted when I faced the task
of viewing 1976 softcore comedy The Booby
Hatch, but I rose to the occasion and sat manfully
erect at my computer and firmly brought the review
to a successful climax. And if my attempts at wit in this
opening paragraph arouse your interest, then brother have
I got a film for you. |
|
Let's
start things off by admitting that the only reason this movie
received a serious DVD treatment from the always-reliable folks
at Synapse Films is because it was made by the efforts of several
people with connections to George Romero's famous zombie films,
Night of
the Living Dead (co-writer John Russo, co-producer Russell
Streiner) and Dawn
of the Dead (actors Rudi Ricci and David Emge), as well
as Dan O'Bannon's Return
of the Living Dead (story creators Russo, Streiner, and
Ricci). So Booby Hatch can be considered
a curiosity for completist fans of those works, but if that's
your motivation for sitting through the film, you'll find it about
as rewarding as standing in long lines at conventions for an autograph
from the guy that played the "pie-in-the-face zombie"
for two seconds in Dawn of the Dead. |
|
The
Booby Hatch begins with a promo reel for Joyful Novelties,
a company specializing in manufacturing sex toys and conducting
experiments in "better sex" research. One of the company's
employees, Cherry Jankowski (Sharon Joy Miller), is frustrated
at home because her fussy, intellectual live-in boyfriend Herman
(Doug Sortino) insists that sex before marriage will only cheapen
their relationship. After we are subjected to the cheesy-yet-infectious
theme song (with lyrics like "Cherry Jankowski / I'd give
her my house-key") we see that a typical day for Cherry
consists of dealing with flashers and men with mirrors on their
shoes, a stuttering janitor that lusts after her, and a neighbor
who keeps tricking her into his apartment so that he can rape
her. Herman secretly dresses up in women's clothes while Cherry's
away, and tells her that her abuse from other men is her own fault. |
|
Meanwhile,
another Joyful Novelties employee is having frustrations of his
own. Four-time company "Stud of the Year" Marcello Fettuccini
(Rudy Ricci, the leader of the motorcycle gang in Dawn
of the Dead), finds that his on-the-job performance is
at an all-time low… In other words, he can't get it up for the
daily sexual experiments conducted in the company's lab. In addition
to suffering the expected jibes from his fellow employees ("Check
out Fettuccini's droopy weenie!"), and being threatened
with termination by Joyful Novelties president Theophilus Suck
(N. Detroit), Marcello is disowned by his father, who is more
proud of Marcello's street-smart brother, Angelo (David Emge,
"Flyboy" from Dawn of the Dead,
doing a passable Bogart impression). |
|
Marcello
and Cherry have lunch together, and we learn that they are former
lovers and also see that each is the other's only real source
of compassion and sympathy. The film follows Cherry and Marcello's
mutually humiliating experiences, intermingled with scenes from
the daily doings at Joyful Novelties, where technicians in lab
coats observe copulating test subjects and monitor the quality
of their orgasms… and where the experiments sometimes turn fatal.
Eventually, Cherry discovers that Herman is gay, and Marcello
discovers that his lost libido magically returns as he and Cherry
rekindle their romance. |
|
Made
in the wake of the '70s flood of New Age sexual self-help manuals
and the birth of the "sex therapist" (a movement much
more effectively parodied in Woody Allen's Everything
You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask),
The Booby Hatch lacks the wit for
satire with any real bite. Softcore sex films were the last bastion
for vaudeville humor, and this is the kind of film where rapists
dress in raincoats and wear phallic false noses, where transvestites
dress to look like Milton Berle rather than to look attractive,
and where the attempts at laughter rely on verbal puns rather
than make the most of the comedic potential of the storyline.
In a film so obviously uncomfortable with the liberated society
it tries to portray, it's no surprise that when Cherry and Marcello
go to see a modern sex therapist, the doctor turns out to be a
panty-sniffing deviant who puts the make on each of them. In the
end, The Booby Hatch is a funny idea
without the comedic talents to make it sparkle. |
|
As
for the sex appeal, there are plenty of nude bodies on display,
but the eroticism is about as successfully handled as the humor.
Still, one of the endearing things about Booby Hatch and other
'70s skin flicks is that not all the nudes may be attractive,
but at least they look like real people, as opposed to the steroid-and-silicone-injected
plasti-Borgs that populate porn nowadays. Hey, you know you're
an old fogey when you wax nostalgically for the "good 'ol
porn".
|
|
The
Booby Hatch
is pretty tiresome fare, but one bright spot is, surprisingly,
Rudy Ricci as Marcello. Despite his unconvincing attempt at a
heavy Italian accent, Ricci has nice comic timing, and makes the
most of the weak dialogue while adding some real warmth and pathos
to the character. Too bad the same cannot be said of Sharon Joy
Miller, whose bland line-readings make Cherry seem dull rather
than sweet. |
|
|
| Never
let it be said that the quality of any movie determines the effort
that Synapse Films puts into giving it an attractive DVD package
for a home. A film of this age and budget limitation is never
going to look great, but Synapse compensates by giving us two
versions. The second version of Booby
Hatch
goes under the title The Liberation of Cherry
Jankowski, and some scenes occur in a different order from
that of the original print. There is also an added bit at the
end, where Marcello dynamites Joyful Novelties into oblivion,
with the help of his brother Angelo. |
|
Other extras include a commentary from Russo, Streiner, and Ricci,
in which they reveal that they were close to closing a deal to
have a budget of several million to film Booby
Hatch
in New York, only to have things fall through, forcing them to
settle for making the film in Pittsburgh for $20,000. Other problems
came when they had to cut much X-rated material and film last-minute
scenes to pad out the running time. All of which tempts one to
cut these gentlemen a little slack, but only a little. |
|
Rounding out the extras is a featurette on
David Emge, discussing how he met George Romero, and how he got
the role of Angelo in Booby
Hatch.
Which, considering Emge has all of two scenes in the film, leaves
no doubt as to what is the perceived target audience for this
DVD. 2/19/10 |
|
HOME
| REVIEWS
| TOP
|
