Confessions of a Young American Housewife

Taken less seriously and not looking at the plot as a whole it is almost understandable if it gets dismissed as primarily a soft porno hiding in the cloak of a melodrama, since the individual scenes are structured like cliché set-ups for porn scenes.

But WOAH! This turned out to be so much more captivating and thoughtfully put together than the first minutes and the sleazy 70's porno look suggested. The plot develops naturally and builds-up to reveal what turns out to be the movie's main theme. What begins as a movie about a conservative, middle-aged mom opening up to new sexual experiences through the initiative of her daughter ends up as a movie about a mother/daughter relationship with unspoken sexual tensions.

And there is something to be said about how certain colors stick out on that sleazy 70's porno footage which can work artistic wonders on dames wearing colorful makeup typical of that decade as can be witnessed in 'Confessions of a Young American Housewife'...

I'm giving this 8 out of 10 young housewives getting upstaged among her swinger friends by her still juicy mother who everyone wants to feel up and who has the desire to be felt up but is too uptight (for now)

Rebecca Brooke, playing Carole, the young American housewife, doesn't confess much in this move, but has sex with everybody. It's a wonderful compliment to Rousseau, who confesses everything and never has sex. OK, she does confess to her Mom that she is "a very hot, horny girl and has been ever since high school." She doesn't do a lot of housewife stuff, either. OK, she folds a towel once. A towel. Once. It's her mother, Jennifer, played by the bustiful Jennifer Welles, who is the housewife of your dreams. Great in the kitchen, great in the sack. Even though she's about the same age as Brooke, Welles has a mature look that makes her believable as Brooke's mother. Move over, Stifler's Mom, Welles is the original MILF.

Carole and her husband Eddie (David Hausman) live next door to Anna (Chris Jordan) and her husband Pete (Eric Edwards). The foursome are a "foursome." After Mom-Jennifer comes for a visit and stares at herself in the mirror (naked, of course) for a good long while, the four kids strip down in the living room like they were in the gym getting ready for a workout. It's actually their nightly romp, which becomes a group grope with Carole in the middle while she is unloading something about her Momma's breasts that must be a complex with the name of a Greek play attached to it. Best to watch this scene with the sound turned off.

The next day, Pete puts a move on Mom, which Mom thinks is really cool, but that would make the kitchen way too hot, so Mom starts packing. Carole talks her into staying, and the next day the delivery boy (uncredited) from the supermarket shows up. Boing! Mom now has reason to live! And have sex. In the middle of the next night's orgy, (don't these people ever go bowling or something?), Pete slips upstairs and slips into Mom. The next time Delivery Boy comes with the groceries, Mom sets the hook with pie, coffee, and a sweater to keep him warm. Note that Mom, who heretofore has had her hair pinned up in a matronly wad, now has it flowing seductively below her shoulders. You learn to notice those things in film studies class.

Here comes the money scene, where the three ladies go to see Shandara, a mystic of some kind who teaches enlightenment through lesbian sex. They have the night off because the boys are going bowling (so what do I know?). So in see-through nighties, which don't stay on very long, Shandara leads Mom and daughter and friend through ritual kissing, breast-fondling, and a bunch of other stuff that you can fill in on your own. It comes to a close when Mom, in a moment of unfocused lust, almost launches herself at her daughter, but at the last second she stops. Darn. I could go on, but I'll leave you to see for yourself what other trysts director Joe Sarno came up with. Hint: Mom gets it from every direction.

Reviewing this review, I seem to have left out the plot and mentioned only the sex scenes. But then, that's all there is to mention. The movie starts off slowly and hits the finish line at 100 miles per hour. I think Sarno was going to make a movie with a message but halfway through said, "Aw heck, maybe next time," and just set up the actors for one grind after another. As always, the movie is well lit, and well photographed. Sarno is a filmmaker, after all. Recommended.

Had originally seen this on Wometco Home Theatre as an adolescent. WHT (beamed atop the Empire State Building) was the first pay cable network to feature "Nightcap" series of films - ie. Softcore. From my recollection, Housewife played like a well-made B-movie with seasoned performances from Jennifer Welles & Eric Edwards. Both of whom are legends in the Hardcore erotic world. Have no idea why this film has yet to find mass distribution? It would be nice to see Netflix, et al carry what is essentially an R-rated film. Particularly since they already carry Al Goldstein's Midnight Blue series. They simply don't make 'em like they used to!

Its a good softcore movie of 70s .I think this one is the hot one. It is a movie about swinger couple living together, and happy. That's only in happens in movies, not in reality. Now whoever couple goes for swinging lifestyle they always end up bad.

This is a typical 70's soft core sex romp in the Russ Meyer genre, though perhaps less outlandish than some of Meyer's work. This film has higher 'production values' than many of it's contemporaries, suggesting a larger budget. It's plot, writing and acting are straight out the B zone, though. Of late, this film has become a mainstay of B movie channels (such as "Drive In Classics") in the 500 channel universe. If soft core is what you are in the mood for, this is as "good" as anything else in the B range. Don't expect Polanski though, Sarno is just Sarno. Nothing more, nothing less. Jennifer Welles performance as the "mother" is perhaps the best of the cast. None of the actors in the film went on to greater fame, unsurprisingly. Confessions of a Young American Housewife is far from the worst example of it's kind. It is watchable, if this is your type of film. 30 years ago, this would have been an avant garde and riske film. You can see more or less the same kind of thing on Showtime/HBO series these days, and in prime time.