Goin' Down Slow

One of the best opening sequences and title songs ever produced. It's disappointing that Leslie hasn't gone back to that particular style of movie opting instead for the quickie/gonzo genre. In his defense he's only catering to the market. His ladies were hot and were competent actors as well. I especially liked young Kathy Gentry AKA Joey as a naive young model trying to catch a break (among other things). The always sexy Ona Zee gives a mainstream performance as the opportunistic wife. Juicy Shanna Mccullough Alicia Monet and the late Megan Leigh round out the stable of beauties at Leslie's disposal.All in all,John Leslie's initial foray into directing can be described as a successful one.

Adult Cinema legend John Leslie turned successfully to direction with this early title, creating a real movie, albeit with explicit sex scenes included (of course). His screenplay elegantly provides clues and plot twists worthy of any real motion picture. (Ironically, he later turned to directing more than a hundred strictly gonzo porn features, no longer committed to storytelling movies.)

The opening, pre-credits scene is masterful: Ona Zee using opera glasses to spy on her neighbors having sex, while she is masturbating. This actress really knows how to sell a scene, and her combination of sexiness by talking dirty while masturbating skillfully sets the story in motion.

An ingeniously twist-filled script stars Robert Bullock as the advice columnist Madame Rona for a men's magazine, styled a la Playboy or Penthouse, with Leslie himself co-starring in the Hugh Hefner/Bob Guccione role of publisher. Joey Silvera is the mag's staff photographer, while Shanna McCullough plays Bullock's cheating wife. The acting by all of them is right on the money, quite convincing throughout.

They way Leslie orchestrates the story, involving infidelity, a murder unraveling and conflicting motives by each of the principal players is faultless, and I especially enjoyed the way he subtly planted key clues which are resolved later on, with some twists foreshadowed while others are tantalizingly sprung on the viewer. It all makes sense and leads to a highly satisfying ending.

Balancing the great story values, Leslie does not scrimp on rewarding his audience with a quite beautiful new starlet, Dana Lynn, as Silvera's model for the magazine, as well as sexy performances from Ona, Shanna, Kathleen Gentry as Bullock's secretary, plus Alicia Monet and Megan Leigh as sexy models at Leslie's mansion.

After an outstanding career as an actor/performer in adult films, John Leslie successfully turned to directing. While his movies may not have as consistently high a quality of story lines as fellow actor-turned-director Paul Thomas, the sex scenes are always super-heated. Leslie learned well what works with the viewer.

Actually this was one of his earliest efforts and the story and direction both aren't quite as sharp as they would regularly be in the future. But the action is something else. John also has a well-deserved reputation for casting beautiful, exciting women. There are plenty here including Alicia Monet (to me looks like a 1940's film beauty), Megan Leigh and Kathleen Gentry. Leslie himself appears in one of his last sex scenes. It's a definite winner.