Last Call

My review was written in November 1990 after watching the movie on Paramount/Prism video cassette.

"Last Call" is a very sexy made-for-video feature from the team who recently hit with "Night Eyes". February release through Paramount should score heavily with the intended voyeur market.

"Night Eyes" had a cleaned-up afterlife in broadcast tv using the title "Hidden View". "Last Call" is similarly structured to allow for a tamer version. For video, it exists in unrate form (reviewed here) as well as an R-rated cut.

Shannon Tweed follows in Tanya ("Night Eyes") Roberts' uninhibited footsteps as the alluring heroiee who teams up with yuppie real estate wiz Wiliam Katt to pull off an elaborate scheme designed to skin unscrupulous investor Matt Roe.

Roe has royally screwed Katt in a land development deal involving mafioso Jospeh Campanella and Tweed's job as Roe's personal assistant allows her to get important papers for Katt to use against the creep.

It turns out (with black & white flashback sequences filing in the details) that Tweed has her own hidden agenda of revenge against Roe. Ultimately they gain control of his secret bank accounts and bleed him dry.

En route there are numerous sex scnes involving Tweed, as well as her erotic dance routines in a nightclub as a performance artist. Stella Stevens, who like Tweed got an early career boost as a model for Playboy magazine, is also extremely hot in a sex scene with Roe, who just happens to be the boyfriend of Stevens' daughter (played by Karen Elise Baldwin).

The necessity of packing int ons of steamy footage to a complicated storyline gives "Last Call" a unique structure. Genre fans will be fascinated by the final reel packing in lickety split plot twists and switches to make u for lost time in the sack. Director Jag Mundhra stretches credibility, but it's fun to watch.

Tweed lets it all hang out in a performance that transcends the exploitation content. Stevens, as always, is a delight and proves there's no age limit for sex symbols. Katt does an okay job but his character is unfortunately written as not much more sympathetic than the villain Roe.

First, the good: Shannon Tweed is beautiful in this film and some great clothes. I also liked the vibe and aesthetics of the club (and the clubgoers) where she did her weird performance early in the film. I like Shannon Tweed's big hair. And I like some of the music as well.

The bad: All the rest. You can tell this movie was written by a man because they made Paul incredibly lame and unlikable but he still gets to bed Cindy. He seems like a slime from the beginning of the movie, but it was confirmed for me when he sees an unconscious man who may still be alive but instead of calling for an ambulance or the police he just leaves and focuses on his business, then goes and uses that as leverage to get into Cindy's home and then her bed. When he finds out he's been taken advantage of by an obvious crook, I don't feel sorry for him in the least. Oh, and earlier in the film, he also insults Cindy's neighborhood when he insists on giving her a ride home. Then, after getting attacked by some goons later, he immediately agrees to her getting involved in an obviously dangerous situation. He also makes rude, sarcastic comments to her throughout the film. Just awful. I kept thinking, "She deserves better."

Finally, the "love" scenes are awful, passionless, and underwhelming. I believe I'm watching the edited version, but even so, the actors have zero chemistry.

S/N: There are some audio issues and awkward editing and acting choices throughout the film.

"Last Call," a 1990 erotic thriller from Jag Munhdra, the director of the steam-fest, "Night Eyes," starring Tanya Roberts and Andrew Stevens, is on the loose again with this little sexcapade which involves handsome real estate guy (William Katt) falling in love with the secretary of the guy he's just merged businesses with (Shannon Tweed). Anyway, the guy, Jason is his name, turns out to be a crook, and he embezzles millions of dollars from his clients' companies. Katt and Tweed, soon fall in love, and together they embezzle back what Katt's company has lost in assets, all the while having little escapades in elevators, staircases, and even on the roof of Tweed's apartment building. Stella Stevens (Andrew's mama) even turns in an appearance.

Overall, this movie was pretty good. It was one of the first to launch the wave of erotic soft-core sex thrillers, which were SUPPOSED TO (but they haven't always) feature: a good plot, decent acting, alluring actors and actresses, and scenes of feverish sex and nudity. "Last Call" directly followed the much sturdier predecessor "Night Eyes," which had scenes with candlewax, in the show, and a health hazard on some stairs.>However, "Last Call" is still enjoyable. Oh, by the way, while Shannon's character is a secretary by day, she is a bad girl exotic dancer by night.

Be forewarned that her act is very, very scary!!!

There are only two reasons to see this one (no, not Shannon Tweed's breasts, which you can see almost anywhere) --

1. Stella Stevens was 54 years old when she made this film, but gives a far hotter performance than you usually get from women less than half her age. Some gals just have IT -- Stella always has, and I guess she always will. Enjoy!

2. The black and white print shirt worn by the villain in the scene in which he gets his comeuppance is the single most hilarious garment in the entire history of human civilization. Enjoy!

Did the people who made this film really believe that someone who had gone out of his way to rent a Shannon Tweed vehicle would be interested in real estate intrigues? The plot of this film is so convoluted that for the first 20 minutes you are literally lost, as the screen is filled with characters talking and you don't know who they are or what they are talking about. If you still want to check it out, if only for Tweed, be warned: a) It's not one of her best films, b) there are only two fairly explicit sex scenes, and they are pretty brief. I was more amazed with Stella Stevens' appearance; for a 54-year-old ex-sexpot, she still looks great. (*1/2)