Passion in the Sun

The Girl and the Geek (1962)

** (out of 4)

Big-breasted stripper Josette finds herself on the run from a couple thugs who chase her around as she loses more and more clothing. The stripper's luck takes a turn for the worse when a local freak show geek escapes from his cage.

This nudie is also known as PASSION IN THE SUN, which should tell you just about everything that you need to know. Look, I understand that in 1962 it was hard to see some fresh nudity. Those poor folks didn't have the internet so sadly they had to sneak into theaters that would play something like this. Can you imagine all the horrible movies these people had to watch for the sake of nudity?

Flash forward several decades and the likes of Something Weird Video started to release these types of movies. This one here isn't horrible but at the same time it's extremely poorly made and there's no question that most people are going to be bored by the five minute mark. The film contains the typical bad narration, bad cinematography and of course awful acting. Still, if it's nudity you're after then that is on full display as there are plenty of strip scenes.

I personally love this movie.It's like some sort of fever dream caught on celluloid. There is not much that makes a lot of sense but that is fine. I bought the DVD of "The God-Monster of Indian Flats"and was thrilled to find this gem attached to it. "God-Monster" is pretty bizarre too .The scene with the girl dancing around with the sheep creature will remain burned in your brain forever. But "Passion in the Sun" is the icing on the cake. I remember "The Monster at Camp Sunshine" and it comes in a close second to this one (it involved a monster and nudists) but this is something I can watch again and again.

This movie is a lot of fun to show to your friends as well. Some of mine just hated it while others really had a laugh.

This would be a forgotten film today if the cable TV show Reel Wild Cinema" had not brought it to peoples attention. They condensed the movie to about 12 minutes and cut the subplots, of which the feature version has plenty. The story involves a stripper (Josette Valague) on her way back from a special job when she is kidnapped by two Cubans who are carrying a mysterious suitcase. Why did they grab her? What is in the suitcase? What does the Geek have to do with this? Why are we watching this? The stripper gets away from her none-too-bright captors when one shoots the other out of greed but she steals the suitcase. Why? To keep the plot interesting I guess. While running for her life she pauses to take a skinny dip in a river and then to take a nap where she dreams about herself doing one of her dance routines (talk about self absorbed!). Meanwhile the plot keeps cutting back to a place called the Sans Souci Club (sans souci means "don't worry" in French if you were wondering) where the dancers all sit around naked while applying their makeup and then go onstage to do a strip routine. Back in the main plot the Geek finally shows up and kills the other Cuban, then the stripper . . .er . . ."borrows" a truck but the Geek hitches a ride in the back. They end up back at the very carnival he (it?) escaped from way way back at the start of this picture. What happens? Ah, THAT would be telling. The movie is on DVD now, find out for yourself! The whole movie seems to have been shot MOS with voices dubbed in later. One man keeps his back to the camera in all his scenes but once he turns away and a voice says "Okay" while his mouth is clearly not moving. The carnival is run by a chain smoking fat woman who should deffinitely not be wearing Capri pants. The Geek (Mike Butts, if that is his real name) wears a shaggy wig with tufts of hair glued randomly to his face. He screams a lot and drools way too much. The heroes of the film are two cops in a radio car that is apparently the only one around because they get called for everything! I guess people went to see this back in 1964 for the nudity. Now we can see it to to shake our heads and wonder how many people were that desperate to see a film with nudity in it that they would pay to see this.

Very few living persons have had the privilege of seeing this cinematic masterpiece! It should be restored in a new digital print and included on the required viewing list of every film school. Like Citizen Kane, which lay hidden for generations, one viewing will change forever the way you view every other film you see for the rest of your life.

Here's a list of comparisons of Passion in the Sun with other great celluloid masterpieces:

Citizen Kane: both were filmed in black and white.

Gone with the Wind: both featured dialogue in the English language

It's a Wonderful Life: both had old cars.

Star Wars: both had scenes filmed in the desert

The Hustler: both featured human actors

Deliverance: both involved people swimming in a river

Pulp Fiction: had a Gimp, Passion had a Geek

Titanic: both featured Kate Winslet and Leonard DiCaprio.

Well, okay, that last one was a lie, but maybe they'll be in the remake.

Seriously, this is a film that is so ineptly made, so poorly acted, so abysmally written that it even needs a Rod Serling style narration at unexpected moments to help you figure out what's going on. Usually, the presence of narration is your first clue that the movie is a mess and this does not disappoint. It is so unintentionally funny for most of it's running time that those with abdominal sutures or loose dentures should only watch with extreme caution. Best scenes: a woman is being chased through the desert by a gun-wielding thug who she has seen murder his accomplice, but TWICE takes time out for nude skinny-dipping; a stripper at the club spins so fast that her secondary sexual characteristics actually achieve lift-off. Totally amazing.

You can find this at Something Weird Video.