Echanges

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.

Ah, the 1970's. A time when it was in to be a swinger. To be honest, today is also a good time to be a swinger but it just felt more daring then.

Joe Sarno offers up a pretty good soft-core film. In fact, just like today, some of the actors are famous hardcore actors. Unlike today, these people were good actors and these films had a plot and character development.

It's pretty much what you would expect out of a swinger's movie. Two couples with open relationships re-ignite the wanderlust out of the MILF of one of the women who has come for a visit. Not much more to it.

Of course, when the MILF is Jennifer Welles then it is a different story. Not too many 40-somethings look as delicious undressed as Ms. Welles. It's worth the price alone to see Ms. Welles look at herself in the mirror as if she's Aphrodite. She's no "Stifler's Mom". She's way sexier.

I also digged Chris Jordan's Anna. Jordan looks and sounds so much like Elaine Joyce that I thought she might be her "separated at birth" twin or even Elaine herself. Anna is always eating but must have incredible metabolism.

Unlike 1990's soft-core porn, 70's softie porn retained the hardcore film's realism (something that 2000's soft-core has brought back on occasion, instead of the 90's music and canned orgasms) and it is here in full force. It's not real but it feels real.

For those who enjoyed the Quebec produced "Deux Femmes En Or", you'll enjoy this one. Another classic film only on Drive-In Classics, the best $2.50 CAN a month you can spend.

Confessions of a Young American Housewife (1974)

*** (out of 4)

Joseph Sarno's cult-classic involves a swinging daughter (Rebecca Brooke) whose life turns upside down when her laid-back mother (Jennifer Welles) comes for a visit and soon the other swingers are wanting to get her in on the action. When mother does join, the daughter has to come to grasp with her own sexuality. I will admit that there's not too much of a plot here and what is here is pretty one-note and predictable but there's no question that it's the best film I've seen from the director. While there are some flaws, there's no question that this film offers quite a bit and is well worth watching by fans of the genre. The big thing are actually the performances, which is something you rarely say with a film like this. Both Brooke and Welles are downright wonderful in their roles. For one, they both come across as a real mother and daughter. Secondly, both women are just so believable in their parts and this helps keep the film so entertaining. This isn't your typical softcore film, instead it really does try to show some real emotion with these two characters and the actresses are so good that you can guy in even with the lack of a good story. Even the supporting actors are good in their roles. Another major plus with this film is that it contains some extremely erotic sex scenes. Again, none of them cross the line into hardcore but what it leaves to the imagination is quite good. The sex scenes are extremely well-directed and it's clear that everyone involved wanted them to be steamy and erotic. The cinematography was also extremely good for this type of picture. CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG American HOUSEWIFE isn't going to be for everyone, that's for certain, but fans of the genre are going to be treated with a real gem.

Joe Sarno was a special and talented filmmaker, and his erotic films were always a cut above the general run of such fare in the 60s and 70s. "Confessions of a Young American Housewife" is the story of a young wife, her husband, and her swinger friends. When the young woman's mother comes to visit, her introduction to their sexual ways becomes the movies main focus. Sarno manages to elicit a rough dignity from his actors, and the characters are more than pieces of meat. The final scene is surprisingly touching: early in the film I disliked the characters for their lifestyle, and by the end I had come to see they were not the emotionally shallow people I had taken them to be. If you are one of those dismal unfortunates who watch HBO and Showtime garbage like True Blood and Tell Me You Love Me to spice up your flaccid middle-aged sex lives, then you will be unable to appreciate this film. For the rest of you with taste, check it out.

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)