Private Schwänze

I watched this by accident, I was just flipping through the channels. So, I thought that asking men about what they think about their penises, what they do with them, etc... is all dumb. I think that they should not put this on tv, because little kids can see men sitting in full frontal nudity at 11:00 at night. Maybe it should wait until 1:00 am?

Saying that penises are no longer such a big deal might be true but for a man to talk about his own penis, its ups and downs (no pun intended... wait! on second thought...) and his own relationship with it, now that's a different ball game all together. The very subject of this documentary is still very taboo among men and finding such a candid, fun, mature and, well, enlightening take on it is down right refreshing. Each and everyone interviewed has his own perception on the subject. Therefore this documentary offered a wide spectrum of stand points which highlights one conclusion: there is no right or wrong answers. Every men could relate to their own opinions/self here and many women/men could recognise their own husbands/lovers too. This may not be Earth shattering work but it certainly deserves some attention and in fact could potentially be quite helpful to some. Once again HBO dared...

Here is a funny background story about this documentary. Alan Abel is a legendary practical joker and hoaxster - some still remember him for his legendary "pants for pets" campaign c. 1960 that featured (then unknown) actor Buck Henry as the spokesman for the fictitious organization.

Anyway, apparently the producers of this documentary put out want ads seeking men with very small penises to be interviewed. Alan responded, claiming to have a two inch penis, and wore underwear when interviewed. Only after the documentary was finished and had aired did Alan confess his little joke, after a viewer of the show on HBO recognized him.

This was discussed in Internet newsgroups right after it came out, and oddly Jonah Falcon seemed really angry by it. (I see now there was a news article in the NY Daily News around March 19, 1999 discussing the whole thing, which Jonah included in a rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc posting on March 20, 1999)

Tom Rombouts, Los Angeles

It was okay, I guess, but they included the fraud (Alan Abel) way too much. The second half was really dull. The producers made the entire thing seem way too depressing -- I wish they'd have made it more open and fun, instead of so heavy-handed. And why didn't EVERYONE drop trou? It seemed weird some guys were nude and others weren't.

Great applause and cheers to HBO and the creators of PRIVATE DICKS. This very personal documentary talks about the feelings, physicality and often hidden stories that surround a man's private sexual parts. As a man, I found this refreshing, informative, funny and honestly human. Too often, sexuality is hidden away as if it were some dark and evil secret. I don't understand why some people get offended at such things or say it is a shame that children might see this. We are all one gender or another, and I hope this movie allows people to shake off the VERY, VERY, VERY DESTRUCTIVE and harmful ways of making sexuality into something bad, dark and quite terrible. This is why this film is like A BREATH OF FRESH AIR! This show is made with the most candid, down to earth and honest film-making I have seen in many years. I HIGHLY recommend this to adult men and women alike who are even a little curious how men think and how they perceive themselves.