Fruta madura

This is a very basic coming of age that follows Patricia (Betty Vergès) in an odyssey through beaches and hotels meeting people and doing shenanigans. It is from the very start that we can form a good idea of who this 19-year-old German girl is: she is seen coming out naked from the pool greeting people who were waiting for her, including a priest.

Patricia does not know who she is and what she wants, and this fact translates into her often mercurial personality, where she is seduced by spontaneity. From hitchhiking with two young men with dubious intentions, spending a day with a couple by the beach, to pulling pranks on individuals she randomly meets without any consideration whatsoever of consequences, Patricia's unbridled personality is her defining trait.

Another defining trait would seem to be her proclivity for undressing in front of strangers. Whether that is to seduce them or engage in shenanigans, most of the time she is seen with minimalistic attire. And this seems to be the only reason to watch the movie if you find her attractive, because it does not have much more to offer besides some peculiar moments here and there that strike more as episodic than as a result of an aim at narrative cohesiveness. It is not terrible, but it is by no means recommended.

I'm normally pretty indulgent with these 1970's European sub-"Emannuelle" softcore sex films, but this one is even more stupid than usual and pretty annoying to boot. I watched it mainly for Olivia Pascal, but she doesn't show up until more the halfway through playing a nude model with whom the main protagonist is working and with whom she hatches a cockamamie plot to "convert" a handsome but gay photographer. The main protagonist is played by one Betty Virges. She is a nineteen-year-old college student (first seen skinny-dipping in a pool while the local priest is over for tea), who is vacationing in Greece with her parents. Her indulgent parents both give her money and send her to the airport to return to school in Munich, but she gives away her ticket and embarks on a (mostly sexual) odyssey around Greece, narrating the whole thing on her portable tape recorder.

Virges has a very nice body (which you get to see a whole lot of), but she is saddled with a truly stupid and annoying character. She comes on to a lot of unattractive, middle-age guys, for instance, for no real reason then complains into her tape recorder about how "lecherous" they are. She stupidly hops in a car with two creeps and is very nearly raped. She falls in love at one point, but after her supposed lover gets jealous about a Greek guy that's showing her too much attention and storms off, she proves him right by immediately going to bed with the guy (later she also takes a bath with her beau's roommate, for no apparent reason, and makes fun of the poor guy's equipment). This movie seems to want to be some kind of free-spirited/ swinging feminist thing in the spirit of Emmanuelle Arsan or Erica Jong, but the character is mostly just hateful, coming across as both a malicious tease AND a brain-dead slut. And I don't even want to talk about the horrible music on the soundtrack. . .

See this film if you must, but I would recommend instead any of the "Emmanuelle" films (especially the ones with Laura Gemser), "Vanessa" (with Olivia Pascal) or "Avere Vent'anni", which has a very similar plot to this one but is infinitely better. I enjoy these kind of films generally, but I can't recommend this one I'm afraid.

The Fruit Is Ripe isn't a bad quality film, about a sexy and bold student, who isn't afraid to be naked around rich Daddy's friends or flash her breasts at passers by, or anyone for that matter. Instead of going back to college in Munich, our little beauty, Patricia, trades her airline tickets to a more needy couple at the airport and it's off to Greece with rich Daddy and Mummy's spondouli. There's a really great use of locations in this film, particularly the Greek Isles where most of the story is set. Some shots are ultimately breathtaking, you almost feel you are there or wish you were there. This is worth the watch alone. But back to our story: Our naughty and cute Patricia steals a middle aged playboy from the airport with her wife, running after him in tow. Back at his lavish home, basking in the sun, naked on a lazyboy, she makes out with the guy. A cute moment is when she disrupts a pre kiss by asking him "Are you married". Of course he's gonna say "No". Anyone would. Now, half naked, from the waist up, she hails a taxi, causing a collision. She steals a car from two sex hungry studs, then parks it illegally, causing them some pretty hefty fines. She helps herself to a couple's food while watching them make love in the dark. Ultimately our brazen little tease falls in love with a handsome sailor and from there the story kicks in. I'm not gonna disclose anymore, but this is one of Roadshow Vibrant Video's better titles. Verges is such a tease, though I did find her annoying at times. May'be it was her flamboyance, or she was just too much, I'm not sure, but you can't help liking her character. It's her independence, that most viewers would envy. The sex in this is restrained. It's more nudity, and what a beautiful site Betty Verges is from the moment she slips out the pool, at the film's start. I think the underlying message in The Fruit Is Ripe is 'Be who you are, go for it, and don't let anyone hold you back'. Deep down, we all wanna be like Patricia, but the majority of us just haven't got the guts to admit it, and sadly never will. A high point that stays with me in this film is the male of that couple Patricia befriends, as he sings, "Leaving Traces in the Sand", while they sit around the campfire.

A teenage girl runs away from her parents in Greece to hitch rides and generally just bums around. She meets a number of men and most of them are rejects. This is a 'sexual awakening/coming-of-age story'. However, Betty Verges seems a bit too old to play this part. She just has an air of sophistication, and she must be at least 5 to 10 years older than the character's age. Although the movie is set in Greece, the scenes are set in somewhat grimy locales and the photography is poor. The budget for this film must have been minimal. Finally, I didn't even like the soundtrack!

I first saw Grichische Feigen, translated into The Fruit Is Ripe, on pay TV while at university in the 1980's. As far as soft-core porn goes, this has the requisite nudity, sex, and great scenery you'd expect from a low-budget production. The acting isn't as bad as you'd think, there are no serious gaffes in the production (like mike boom shadows or editing mistakes), but the god-awful dialog takes away any redeeming value this may have had if the director, Siggi Gotz who thankfully doesn't seem to have produced anything since 1988, had had any talent in raising this dreck above the mundane. There's the potential, given the Betty Verges actually possesses screen presence, that Gotz could have made something meanful, but he didn't. Unless you're in the mood for softcore porn, skip this one.