A Smell of Honey a Swallow of Brine

David F. Friedman, the producer king of 60s sexploitation sinema, is best-known for SHE-FREAK (a 60s remake of FREAKS) and this movie. I much prefer this one. It's interesting, well-made and doesn't disappoint.

Sharon Winters (Stacey Walker) is a virgin secretary who loves to tease men and entice them to bed with her. When they get close enough to having sex, she accuses them of rape and ruins their lives! In her spare time, she teases her lesbian roommate and when they finally almost get down 'n' dirty, Sharon throws her out! But Sharon meets her match in a nightclub singer who likes to rough up women.

The plot is simple and quick. How can it stretch into an 75-minute movie? There's lots of scenes of bathing, changing clothes, and elongated foreplay scenes that lead to coy nudity, but never sex. Stacey Walker is a fantastic actress who carries the movie on her own. She's pure bitchery and is quite sexy. It's just her hair that bothers me... She made only one other movie for Friedman (NOTORIOUS DAUGHTER OF FANNY HILL), then returned home to her state of Texas and went back to high school (she had dropped out to make movies). No one knows where she is today, but she is sorely missed. Look quick for David F. Friedman playing the juror in the opening courtroom scenes. The musical score by el petra is great, basic garage band rock and roll that is complex in its simplicity. It certainly gives the film atmosphere and a soundtrack CD would be appreciated. Director Byron Mabe (who also directed SHE-FREAK) does a superb job handling the black-and-white cinematography and his editing during the foreplay scenes is wonderfully done.

A SMELL OF HONEY is the best introduction to 60s sexploitation sinema for anyone interested. Everyone should see at least one example of this type of movie to (if anything) compare to the pornography we have now. Something Weird Video is the only source for this on video and their print is rather scratchy and jumps at times.

I don't know what it is, but Stacey Walker, the lead character in this film, has a real screen presence. She is riveting, exuding a real sexiness that transcends physical beauty. Otherwise, there would not be much to recommend this film, as it drags at times and the plot is very predictable once the general premise becomes known. I thought Stacey was at her most erotic in the final scene of the film, when she was hanging out on a street corner with a cigarette dangling from her lips, waiting for a John.

According to the Director, David Friedman, he discovered Ms. Walker on the beach in Santa Monica when she badgered him to buy het a hot dog. While I find that hard to believe, it could possibly be true. Alas that Stacey Walker made only two feature films before disappearing into obscurity. I think she could have been a real star in the sexploitation movie industry had she wanted to. But I suppose it is always better to leave them wanting more. I do however recommend this fiim for Stacey Walker alone.

"Paula, I may be a bitch, but I'll never be a butch!"

A hilarious line in an otherwise rather tiresome skin flick which features a pretty honey in Stacey Walker, but that's about all. This gal's a real tease who lures her boyfriends, co-workers and even her lesbian roommate Paula into her bedroom, but then turns into a whack job who cries "rape" and calls for the police!

The schizophrenic personality of this certified c**t is interesting for maybe a little while, but this story ultimately turns into a real repetitive one-note affair. At least the ending is worth the wait, for those who will still care by that time.

Smell of Honey, A Swallow of Brine, A (1966)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A notorious sex roughie from David Friedman is considered by many to be the Citizen Kane of sexploitation flicks. In the film, a beautiful blonde virgin (Stacey Walker) gets her sexual kicks by stripping down in the nude, turning her boyfriends on and then screaming rape. She sends on guy to prison, another to suicide but she meets her match when she meets a real rapist. As you can tell, this type of storyline isn't going to be for everyone but the first half of the film is played for cute laughs and it manages to get quite a few. The dorky guys who the woman has to lead on are all rather funny and Walker is pretty good in her role. I wouldn't say good performance but her body and girlish charms work well. The second half of the film falls into S&M and dream sequences, which are all very boring but I guess this was the only way to stretch out the running time of 69-minutes. The film also contains the classic line where the woman gets hit on by a lesbian: I may be a bitch but I'll never be a butch!

The story for this one is pretty simple, simple enough that it doesn't really fill a 69 minute running time, so a fair amount of padding is utilized. The incredible Stacey Walker ("The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill") delights in her rotten role as Sharon Winters, a man-hating sexpot who gets her kicks getting guys all hot and bothered and then screaming for the cops with cries of "rape", delighting in their resulting misfortune. One goes to jail, one is financially ruined, and one suffers a particularly nasty fate. It's not until Sharon meets Tony (Bob Todd), a chauvinistic, brutal singer, that she finally meets her match.

This is the kind of exploitation flick this viewer would have dearly liked to have enjoyed a little more. Instead, it's just too draggy for its own good, with scenes of seduction that just go on and on. What does make this tolerable enough are the physical charms of Ms. Walker, who has so much fun treating people - even her lesbian roommate Paula (Sharon Carr)! - like garbage. This leads to that one great line with which many of us who have seen the promotional sequence on all Something Weird DVDs are familiar:

"Paula, I may be a bitch, but I'll *never* be a butch."

Now *that's* priceless.

The almost non-stop garage rock music on the soundtrack does serve as atmospheric accompaniment; it's just too bad that there's not a little more action, as this could have been a trash flick really worth savouring. Of course, we can always have fun with the unbelievably amateurish acting in the supporting roles, such as Tom Hughes as the shy and awkward Dick Owens. Writer / producer David F. Friedman, one of the all time legends in the exploitation genre, cameos as a juror near the beginning; the direction is by Byron Mabe, who'd also acted for Friedman in "The Defilers" and directed "She-Freak".

There's definite curiosity value here in seeing vintage black & white trash (shot in style by the great Laszlo Kovacs) such as this flick; it is worth seeing for people eager to check out the Something Weird catalogue. Kovacs and co-star Sam Melville (who plays Lowell Carter) work under pseudonyms.

Six out of 10.