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Every boy's wet dream… well that's how the early 80's sex teen comedy "Private Lessons" plays out… and maybe more audacious than most with its precariously lurid context. While I wouldn't call it one of the best of its sub-genre, it still was rather a popular and influential outing that would spawn knockoffs like "Homework", "My Tutor" and to some extent "Class". This is one of those films that its best to just go along with its low-brow attitude, as its quite asinine (especially the plot progression)cringe-like (with the circumstances characters find themselves in) and smutty. But then again the hormones run wild. Older lady… young boy. What fantasy can you think up?

15 year old Philly Fillmore's father has gone away on business, where he's left home alone with Nicole the new French housemaid. Soon Philly becomes infatuated in her, but her open advancements towards him come at a surprise. While shy at first, she slowly starts gaining his affection. But unknowingly to him, his crooked chauffeur Lester has blackmailed Nicole to seduce Philly in the scheme of getting money out of him.

What the film has going for it is the iconic soundtrack of buoyant tunes from the likes of Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Crazy Horse, Air Supply and Earth, Wind & Fire. It was like a jukebox at times with some oddly placed tunes. The other distracting element (other than spending a lot time leering of its attractive female cast and extras) was that of European goddess, Emmanuelle's Sylvia Kristal as teasingly upfront foreign housemaid. She looks beautiful; the best moment arises when she seductively strips in front of a gobs-smacked Eric Brown. Although another body double was used for Kristal's nude scenes. Eric Brown plays the gawky naïve young lad Philly whose curiosity turns to obsession --- in what he believes is love for the housemaid. Howard Hesseman is good as the deviously slim bag chauffeur Lester and Ed Begley Jr. has fun with his little support role. In one humorous sequence he does his best "Dirty Harry" persona with Hesseman at the end of it. Patrick Piccininni plays Philly's obnoxious pal Sherman and Pamela Jean Bryant is Sherman's stuck-up older sister that Philly kind of fancies. Or better put likes to see naked. Ron Foster turns up as Philly's father and Dan Barrows amusingly chips in as the gardener. Also showing up in minor, but enjoyable parts are Peter Elbling, Dan Greenberg (the writer) and a delightfully titillating Meridith Baer as an uptight school teacher. It's technically well-made by director Alan Myerson and breezily paced with Greenberg's simple material.

The last time I saw this movie before getting the newly-released DVD was back in my childhood, let's say 6th or 7th grade. Back then, the naughty scenes were quite exciting and the plot was good for a giggle. And of course young, awkward boys enjoy some small hope that one day they will become more suave through kind experiences of female beauty. On general principal I thought I should add the DVD to my collection. Overall, I was not disappointed.

One major detraction I didn't remember seeing before was the crude white-paint censor blots in the two full-frontal nude scenes (boooooo!). This film has a few details on refused-classification.com which suggest that it might have been doctored in this way in order to gain its R rating, even back in 1982. I wonder why it was not offered with a "director's cut" as a special feature of the DVD (e.g. "Dressed to Kill") - artistically speaking, I would rather have a scene cut than done up with something so cheesy and distracting as a censor box (shame!).

This movie is what it is - for me it represents just a little piece of my childhood, and contains a few moments that were interesting to revisit. If the features of the DVD had been more complete I would have given it about an 8. I'm hoping I will be amused by the commentary when I hear it.

Great topic about a boy coming of age lead by an older mature woman. The movie gathered much publicity not only in the US, and Europe, but also in Asia when it came out.

The movie was made in the transitional time when the raw sexual expression of the '70s was starting to change to cuter expression of the '80s. It carries some of the sexual topics that were prevalent in the '70s, but the expression is much more juvenile and charming.

Silvia Kristel was spot on for the role. She was by then well known for her role in the movie "Emanuelle". The movie was like the "JAWS" of that segment of the movie industry. Just like Richard Dreyfus became a big star, Krystel rightfully became a star.

The movie doesn't have much story to it, but it's mostly about the comical scene of youngster getting seduced by an older woman. Even so, the movie keeps things entertaining, and it's a good movie even after all these years.

I kind of liked the subplot that went between Phillip and Sherman too.

A good movie that captures the culture of the early '80s.

This excellent, though aging badly, film, is well worth digging out of the dusty shelves of your video store. It's definitely not highbrow fare, but this story of an earnest 15 year old's relationship with his sexy French housekeeper is certainly watchable.

Although the subject matter is actually quite serious, many moments in the movie will have you laughing out loud. Patrick Piccininni is priceless as the best friend of the 15 year old Phillip, who eggs him on. Eric Brown is even better as Phillip, who isn't quite sure how to respond to his housekeeper's advances.

"Private Lessons" is more than just a reversed-role "Lolita"--it's far more entertaining to watch. It does, however, join a whole series of fairly predictable teen guy-and-teacher/housekeeper movies like "My Tutor". What I especially like about this film, though, is that it doesn't have the heavy air of moral judgment hanging around it. The characters are depicted as perfectly-capable agents of their own will, which is extremely refreshing. It was hard to watch "Private Lessons", though, without looking back on my teen years and longing to be in Phillip's shoes!

"Private Lessons" isn't astonishingly bad... if you can look at it from the standpoint of it being a cheap adolescent thrill on late-night "Skin-emax" or any other premium station du jour. I'm mostly fine with plots involving taboo; even the "Onegai" series of anime doesn't phase me. But I will say this: the one and only reason anyone should feel compelled to watch this movie is to see the rather hot (back then anyway) Sylvia Kristel in the nude. It does have a cute premise, but it's never done much justice due to all of the amateurish writing and pacing.

Eric Brown is Phillip Fillmore (Philly Philly??), a 15-year-old kid with hormones gone berserk. In other words, he's pretty damn average. His deadbeat dad has left on a... business trip (wink wink nudge nudge) and has left Philly back home with his recently arrived immigrant housekeeper Nicole Mallow (Kristel) and sleazy chauffeur Lester (Howard Hesseman). Seems Philly's got the hots for Nicole, and Lester takes advantage of this, persuading Nicole to fake her own death at the hands (or loins) of the boy so he can make off with Philly's money like a bandit. But Nicole switches around mid-plot, deciding instead to help stop Lester's Half-Baked Evil Scheme™. Cue several slapstick hijinks culminating in a final sex scene and serve.

Obviously, you don't watch movies like this for plots, no matter how inane and far-fetched they may be; you watch them to get sprung. Alas, this was back in the early eighties, and unless you had a big name and/or a lot of cash to burn, your film was almost destined to rot in film quality hell. Such seems to have been the case with "Private Lessons," and the fact that it is billed as a comedy rather than an adult movie bewilders me to no end. Even with the nudity, the filmography is agonizing to watch, but since this was probably produced as a "quick buck" teen-pleaser, that's not surprising. Panning shots of Kristel fondling or teasing Brown while the kid makes goofy, unrealistic "shocked and amazed" expressions are about as dynamic as this thing gets.

I should also mention that the character of Philly's chubby friend (Patrick Piccininni) is simply the most irritating part of the movie in my opinion. Some people have commented that this character, who comes across as being doomed to remain a virgin for the rest of his life, is rather cute in his behavior, and I fail to see how they arrive at that judgment... as if one gawking teenage boy wasn't enough. Hesseman's character is strictly porno-level, period, end of story. Even Dan Greenburg, the author of the book this film is based on, had the ego to have a bit role as the hotel owner, even going so far as to appear fully credited in the "profile" shots of the cast during the closing credits!

It's hard to recommend "Private Lessons" for any other reason than the aforementioned Ms. Kristel and the fact that it is better than most soft-porn out there. Aside from these aspects, it's downright mediocre.

When a rich man leaves town for a business trip, he leaves his young 15-year-old son Philly (Eric Brown) at home in the care of his sexy foreign housemaid, Miss Mallow (Sylvia Kristel) and their sniveling chauffeur Lester (Howard Hesseman - 'Johnny Fever' of WKRP IN CINCINNATI). Like many red-blooded teenage boys, Philly and his young buddy Sherman are looking for cheap thrills by spying on sun bathing girls and dreaming of sex. What a surprise Philly's in for when Miss Mallow catches him watching her undress from outside the window one night and then invites him inside to get the best view. Soon, the maid is seducing the boy, and Philly begins to experience every adolescent male's fantasy - scoring with an older woman. The problem is, Miss Mallow and her partner Lester have other plans in store for this aspiring Casanova.

I first saw this unusually risqué teenage comedy/sex fantasy back in 1981 when I was 19, which was considerably older than the 15-year-old character is. But the dream was still something I could relate to, and when I saw that a DVD release was coming out I decided to revisit it and see how it stood up, so to speak, after 25 years. Turns out it's still fun, and Eric Brown is humorous as he stammers while trying to contain his excitement at seeing Sylvia Kristel (and her body double in some shots) naked. Kristel was popular doing this type of film in Europe, so it was interesting to see her in an American production doing something that would never be allowed at your local cineplex today. Not only are some of her sequences sensual, but there are a fair amount of laughs, some of them courtesy of Philly's pudgy know-it-all friend Sherman, and also from Howard Hesseman who has some funny moments being pushed around and humiliated by Ed Begley Jr! As is the case with many early '80s teen comedies, the soundtrack is pretty good too, and features music from Rod Stewart, Air Supply and John Cougar, among others.

The most easily obtainable version of this film I would guess is now the 2006 Lions Gate DVD, but purists should be warned that a couple of quick lower frontal nudity shots have been obscured on this release by an annoying white dot. Well, it's not like this is great art, and the movie doesn't really suffer from the brief obliteration. Besides, this was a forgotten cult classic of sorts and hard to locate for so long that it's just good to be able to view it again. I know some people get uptight about this daring film, especially in these days, but relax. It's just a fun little movie, if not a great one, and sometimes even has a little bit of charm to it as well. And it's nothing that many average teenage boys aren't thinking about already. *** out of ****

Watching Private Lessons made me feel most sorry for young Patrick Piccininni who is the best friend of Eric Brown. While he gets all that experience and adventure with Sylvia Kristel as the new French housekeeper, his friend has this little old lady as his housekeeper.

Both these kids have all the graces of the more sophisticated kids from Porky's. When we meet them they are ogling the slightly older girls at a neighboring pool party. Later Brown gets to spend a few weeks alone while dad played by Ron Foster gets in a little business with pleasure. Hard to believe that even with the idle rich a kid would be essentially unsupervised over a summer. Not like Foster couldn't afford anything. Not even a relative of some kind.

So Brown is left alone with Sylvia Kristel and she seduces him. But it's all part of a plot to part him from a lot of his trust fund money. Guiding the plot is family chauffeur Howard Hesseman who does have a few good lines and some great facial expressions.

All in all the whole thing is rather puerile and stupid. A rich kid's Porky's.

I just finished watching this on TMC. I haven't seen it in its entirely since I was about "Philly's" age...20+ years ago (ugh). Anyway, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Yes, the acting isn't first-rate (except for Begley, Jr's); the production is B-movie; the subject is taboo; the plot's full of holes; but, it has great moments of humor, sensitivity, eroticism without being 'dirty'; and one of the best 80's soundtracks ever. This movie is about having fun. Philly's best friend was hilarious. For me, it was reminiscing about the fantasies it provided when I was a teen. I had forgotten how sweet and sexy Sylvia Kristel was in this movie. Some of her acting was still a bit amateur, but her sweet seduction was first-rate. She put a smile on my face when I needed it most...and that's all that matters.

This is a classic 70s/80s 'hot for teacher' movie about a teenage boy whose sexy housekeeper seduces him. The plot, mediocre at best. The acting, salvageable. The art direction...wait a second! This movie is about recollecting those teenage years with your 70's glasses on, not about quality film-making. It's about T&A and tan lines, cheesy dialog, and being able to see boom mics in the shot. Nothing but FUN!

Don't listen to all the 'boring' people who weighed in on this movie, they shouldn't have watched it in the first place. I hate that PC people like that are actually out there comparing these types of movies to Oscar contenders. News brief: THIS MOVIE ISN'T SUPPOSED TO AND ISN"T TRYING BE IN THAT LEAGUE. This is plain old fun and teen fantasy. All this crap about 'oh that poor boy' is ridiculous. There isn't a 16 year old boy in the world that wouldn't give his left arm to be in this situation.

If you have fun with the 70s and 80s and you can enjoy low budget, cheesy films...see this. If you take life too seriously and suffer allergic reaction to nudity and political INcorrectness...avoid at all costs.

You don't realize how hot the late Sylvia Kristel was, after watching this. She was a good actress and deserved much more respect for that, and that goes for other actresses around that time in B grade 80's, like Sybil Danning. But not to get off the beaten track, here's a colorfully entertaining and naughty film, with saucy nudity, hot babes, and good acting, save for the fat kid, Sherman, who gets 10/10 for initiative , and with his scenes, that he plays up, he does steal them. We even have a great variety of 80's songs. Private Lessons is a definite one of a kind, a B movie, masquerading as a decent, respective film, instead of it's real B grade Adult, T and A sex sleaze, bellied underneath. This is kind of reiterated in a scene, with the Father of the house, away, who's with a much younger naked girl. While watching the film, we almost forget or disregard, the child molestation aspect of the piece, with Kristel, a blackmailed immigrant, and new housekeeper, bedding teen boy, Philly (Brown, a natural young performer) not that well educated in the ways of sex, until Kristel takes him under his wing, and gives him some private lessons. The not so long film, has a wonderful ease and flow of story, with Hesseman, as a rival butler, not well liked, and up to no good. The plot comes as a surprise in this type of film. I loved Ed Begley in this too, later masqueding for good over evil, one might say. Philly's female headmaster, is something too, WOW, the last scene, with the well advanced Brown, subtlety picking her up, is a classic, as is the freeze frame shot of a smiling victorious Brown at the end. It's his and Kristel's performances that shine among the others in this, especially Browns. A quite decent film, you shouldn't misjudge.

Private Lessons (1981)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The 15-year-old Phillip (Eric Brown) is starting to understand the bodies of women but he gets some "private lessons" from his maid (Sylvia Kristel). What he doesn't know is that the chauffeur (Howard Hesseman) is using her to blackmail the rich kid's father. If the visuals of an older woman having sex with a 15-year-old kid bothers you then it would be best to stay away from this film, which is without question one of the more "out there" entries in the long-running list of teen/sex comedies from the decade. I'm really not sure why anyone would take this too offensive, although I'm sure all hell would break loose if the roles were reversed and you had an older man giving private lessons to a teen girl. The film, for the most part, never takes itself too serious and instead comes off as a typical fantasy as the horny boy grows closer and closer the perfect woman. The film manages to be quite charming up until the final act, which nearly kills the things. I'm really not sure why they needed the subplot of the blackmail because it's not funny and really adds nothing to the film. The relationship between the boy and maid takes up the first hour and it actually turns into something nice but then it all gets thrown away with the blackmail. The best moments of the film happen after the boy fails to get some because he's too scared and then has to take some jokes by his friend. Brown does a pretty good job in the role of the kid and makes for a nice lead. Hesseman is good as the scumbag driver but it's Kristel's body that steals the film. She'll never be accused of being a good actress but she knows how to be sexual and that's all that is needed here. The soundtrack is also a great one as we get John Mellencamp's 'I Need a Lover', Earth Wind & Fire's 'Fantasy', Eric Clapton's 'Next Time You See Here' plus Rod Stewart's 'Hot Legs', 'Tonight's the Night' and 'You're in My Heart'. Fans of this genre will certainly find enough nudity, cheap laughs and more nudity to keep them entertained.

Best Defense (1984) is infamous for awkwardly injecting Eddie Murphy into a Dudley Moore's movie in a very pitiful attempt to make the movie more marketable. The same was done here in a more subtle way. I came to this realization by reading two important pieces of information in the trivia section:

"After viewing a rough cut of the film in the summer of 1980, the producers decided to alter the film by downplaying the blackmail part of the plot and focus on the seduction of Philly by the maid. This required new footage to be filmed."

"All but 20 minutes of the finished product was directed by Alan Myerson; the rest were studio-mandated reshoots by another director."

One good way to spot Myerson's footage is Ms. Kristel's hair where in the more serious plot points she has a smaller and more curly natural hair. When the production geared toward the 'hot for a teacher' tone they worked to make Sylvia more attractive on-screen. The change is quite drastic as I thought she was a different character early in the movie.

So the movie was retooled from a extortion plot into a banal teenage-flick for horny moviegoers with a pop soundtrack. Despite this, the theme of seduction of a minor is carried quite straight. This is brave and stupid at the same time. It's odd to see such subject played for laughs.

For all it is worth it is still an entertaining oddity.

A woman (Sylvia Kristel) seduces a 15 year old boy (Eric Brown). They have sex...but it's all tied into some stupid plot or something.

Easily one of the most disturbing sex comedies ever. Does anyone realize this movie is making light of child molestation? I suppose it's OK cause it's a teenage boy--if we had one with a man seducing a teenage girl there would (rightfully) be outrage. Sorry, but having it done to a boy doesn't excuse it. It's still sick. I realize Brown was of age (he was actually 18 when this was made) but he LOOKS 15. I just find it disturbing that some people find this OK.

Plot aside the acting sucks. Kristel is beautiful--but can't act and Brown is easily one of the worst child actors I've ever seen. Even the constant nudity gets boring and isn't even remotely erotic.

I saw this drivel at a theatre back in 1981. I was 19 and with my 14 year old cousin (who could easily pass for 18). HE wanted to see it--I didn't but I decided what the heck? We got in and I actually bought tickets for three teenage boys who were obviously underage. My cousin thought it was boring and the three other kids left halfway through! Let me make this clear--three TEENAGE BOYS left a movie with tons of female nudity! That should give you an idea of how bad this is. I'm surprised this was ever released. A 1 all the way.

Okay, after about 27 years of only seeing the first 30 minutes of this movie on HBO (due to my fears of my parents finding out that their then-teenage son was watching something R-rated), I finally saw the whole thing today on a used VHS tape that still had a clear picture. In summation, I mostly found this movie mostly humorously touching concerning the sex scenes between Sylvia Kristel and Eric Brown (who was 16-playing-15 when he filmed this), pretty hilarious whenever the ridiculous blackmail plot goes into gear during the second half (though I thought it was a mistake to intentionally film the "burial" of Nicole in such a not-so-serious manner), and just nostalgic whenever many of the Top 40 hits of the late '70s play on the soundtrack. Not a great film but Private Lessons was mostly entertaining. P.S. The movie's writer, Dan Greenburg who has a cameo as a motel clerk, is from my birthtown of Chicago, Ill.

15 year old Phillip Filmore and his friend are curious about sex. His father is away for 3 weeks with "business". Lester Lewis (Howard Hesseman) is the disgruntled family chauffeur. He brings in French housekeeper Nicole Mallow (Sylvia Kristel) to seduce Philly. Then the boy is trapped in a blackmail scheme after she fakes her death. Ed Begley Jr. has a small role as tennis pro Jack Travis.

This is every teen boy's fantasy and definitely pedophilely. Young Eric Brown is with naked Kristel in many scenes. It's indefensible but hormone-filled boys cannot get enough of this movie. The story is actually compelling and the acting is surprisingly competent. The kid is good and there are real actors in this thing. It's soft-core porn for teen boys. This and Porky's are the best of its genre at the time.

Imagine having the chance to film scenes with Emmanuelle herself... But enough about the actors. This film is a humorous romp into/through the sexual curiousity of a young boy. His seductress is softened by his naivity and he comes away with confidence and poise. It also has an excellent soundtrack.

A previous reviewer said the movie is not all that bad. What?!?!?! The movie glorifies child molestation. Oh, but Sylvia Kristel was naked in it, so let's give it 5 out of 10 stars. Why not a full 10? Because the filmography was "agonizing," the child's looks of shock were "unrealistic," and the fat friend was "irritating." Nowhere in the review does the reviewer express any outrage that an American movie in 1981 featured scenes of a child having sex with a grown woman. I happened to catch this steaming loaf of a movie while staying at a hotel that had Showtime. To me, even if the fat friend had acted up a storm and was a deserving of an Oscar, I would still have to give the movie only 1 star. That TV's Howard Hessman starred in the movie at the same time as he was appearing in WKRP is particularly ridiculous. But don't take my word for it!