The Alley Cats

This one's a disappointment for Metzger fans. Although it often reveals his wonderful visual and editing flair, the expected satiric touch is completely missing. The dialogue is often laughable rather than fleetingly ephemeral, the characters pitiable rather than amusing in their self-absorption. It ends up being more of a failed melodramatic attempt at Antonioni-like alienation than the giddy, playful, yet incisive later works of this director.

In the wake of La Dolce Vita, a whole genre of swinging European 'art' films sprang up, with everybody involved looking very chic and trying very hard to be decadent in a way that would now almost be shocking for a TV movie. This is yet another example. In place of La Dolce Vita's extravagant visual style and exuberant energy, however, we get less interesting visuals and random tedium. The cast is attractive but nothing very interesting happens - a few party hookups, a little cheating, a little experimental lesbianism - and all of it is very PG-rated by modern standards. In fact the only taste of action the viewer gets is a vicious confrontation between the main character and her cheating boyfriend, when HE slaps HER around. Not exactly a hero for the modern, sensitive viewer. Really there is very little here to keep a viewer's interest for 80 minutes and even less to like. Avoid.

There are a few obvious reasons for being interested in this movie. The director is a cult figure and there is always the attraction of sex in the cinema. Unfortunately this movie disappoints. This is not one of Metzger's best efforts, in fact it may be one of his worst. Although there are sexual situations there is no nudity or sex shown. This leaves you wondering what is so good about Radley. He does have a certain flair with sex themed films, and shows a refreshing irony. But when the sex or nudity are gone he doesn't seem to be able to carry off the picture. After the first 20 min I fast forwarded through the film stopping at something that looked interesting. Each time I stopped I would hear creative and original lines like, "I want you to turn me every way but loose." or (at an attempted jumping suicide), "It's a long way down." Then I would fast forward again.

One good thing about the film are the girls. They are all good to look at, even if you don't see them as much as you'd like. But when the only thing you can say about a film is that the girls are cute, then you are really grasping for something good to say. I gave it a two instead of a one - for the girls.