Weird mixture of sexploitation and film noir
A peek into the life of a very sleazy man: Mike Torson. He is a male prostitute and above all a blackmailer. He has one goal in his life: to own a Park Avenue apartment. And he has no scruples getting there.
This is an exception in Doris Wishman's oeuvre, for it does not concentrate on women, but has a male lead: Buck Starr. He did appear in three other Wishman movies, but is otherwise unknown. In his only leading role he portraits Torson quite well, actually. But Torson himself is such a vain creep, you never feel a bond with him. And neither with mister Starr for that matter.
Other ingredients of Doris Wishman's work are still there: lots of half naked women, close ups of feet and legs, sleazy acting, failing continuity, ill fitting musical scores. The sex is like it still is in modern television. The actors either keep their underwear on, or make love fully covered by a blanket. The only thing that works in this movie is the film noir atmosphere, but that alone does not make up for all the faults and B-features.
Both Buck Starr and Mike Torson made me feel uneasy. That is a good thing by itself, but it doesn't change. After half an hour one still feels unsettled and then it becomes quite boring actually. Torson really has nothing positive about him and that makes him a robot, inhumane. So the viewer can't really relate to him. And that means sooner or later you have had it with the man.
Interesting effort to combine film noir with sexploitation, but it failed, hopelessly.
For me a 4 out of ten, because of the first part of the movie, when you are still fascinated by what's going on.
This is an exception in Doris Wishman's oeuvre, for it does not concentrate on women, but has a male lead: Buck Starr. He did appear in three other Wishman movies, but is otherwise unknown. In his only leading role he portraits Torson quite well, actually. But Torson himself is such a vain creep, you never feel a bond with him. And neither with mister Starr for that matter.
Other ingredients of Doris Wishman's work are still there: lots of half naked women, close ups of feet and legs, sleazy acting, failing continuity, ill fitting musical scores. The sex is like it still is in modern television. The actors either keep their underwear on, or make love fully covered by a blanket. The only thing that works in this movie is the film noir atmosphere, but that alone does not make up for all the faults and B-features.
Both Buck Starr and Mike Torson made me feel uneasy. That is a good thing by itself, but it doesn't change. After half an hour one still feels unsettled and then it becomes quite boring actually. Torson really has nothing positive about him and that makes him a robot, inhumane. So the viewer can't really relate to him. And that means sooner or later you have had it with the man.
Interesting effort to combine film noir with sexploitation, but it failed, hopelessly.
For me a 4 out of ten, because of the first part of the movie, when you are still fascinated by what's going on.
- Hans-56
- 5 oct 2010