Abigail Leslie Is Back in Town

I thought this was a normal movie. I put it on in the background while I was practicing yoga and trying to relax. About 15 minutes in, Abigail and a friend are having a conversation on the couch, and Abigail casually says something about how the woman used to masturbate and tell her dirty fantasies when she was 12 years old. It was, at that moment, that I knew I had stumbled upon a special film.

This is, basically, pornography with a better story and more characters. I'm not complaining, and I think it's a good movie, but it's porn. So, don't spin the wheel at the family Christmas party and put this on as a random film... of coarse, there is a surprise incest subplot, so...

There is some artistic direction here - like the beach scenes and some of the sex. There is some decent acting here, too. The last 20 minutes or so are rather muddled. The ending feels like the writers got a little lost, and it seems abrupt in some places and drawn out in others. The screenplay wasn't perfect, but the final product is compelling. This is a good datenight film for a couple that already have a sexual relationship. However, this film is so shocking that you'll give someone on a blind date a panic attack and send them running into traffic.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1; Casting - 1/1; Directing - 1/1; Story - 1/1; Writing/Screenplay - 0.5/1;

Total Base Score = 4.5

Modifiers (+ or -): Originality: +0.5 (An old story, retold with very, um, 'physical' acting);

Exceptionally Sexy (new category): +1 (I mean, it's kind of porn...);

Total RealReview Rating: 6

Effective and ultimately rather engaging soft core from Mr Sarno. I think it should be said right away that 'soft core' here means something a little more than the usual mincing about that one might imagine. I reckon but stand to be corrected that some of this is real sex without us actually being shown the graphic detail. Anyway, suffice to say the sex scenes are believable and erotic. I am not as stunned by the acting as some seem to be but, I guess for the type of film this is, the acting is surprisingly good. I don't really know whether the film is a bit stilted at the beginning with its slightly awkward flashbacks or it just took me a little while to get into things but the film certainly seems to get better as it progresses. By the end when Abigail has managed to 'engage' with the whole cast and encourage almost everyone to also go with each other, in twos, threes and more the fire is well alight. There are also some pointed observations and I particularly liked a scene where one of the more retiring girls asks Abigail to help her become free like her, Abigail replies, 'You may not like being free'. Very enjoyable and not one scene that seems too long - some achievement!

Any movie the title of which has a person's name followed by "is Back in Town" means that wrong was done to owner of said name and said owner has returned to extract revenge. Except in this one the title character was wronger, not the wrongee, and deserved to get the boot. Abigail (Jennifer Jordan) was a sex hound whose crime was bedding down with one guy too many—the husband (Jamie Gillis) of the beautiful but tightly wound Priscilla (Rebecca Brooke). Now she's back, the town tramp, whose quest is to prove to everybody who drummed her out of town (they're all high school buddies from about seven years ago) that they were/still are as sex-mad as she was/still is and place as little value on sexual propriety as she did/still does.

Boy, does she do a bang-up job of it. First she lures in the ladies, one at a time and then in group gropes. Next come the guys, again one at a time, then mixing and matching with the ladies here and there until there should be uniform numbers and a scorecard to keep track of it all. Naked bodies everywhere, brightly lit, clearly displayed, much of it likely performed in hardcore but filmed in softcore.

No one is going to win any acting awards for the film, though Eric Edwards, as the lovable but somewhat dim Chester (Chester? Who makes a movie with a character named Chester in it?) tries his hardest. Jennifer Welles appears as Aunt Drucilla (no, she's not a vampire) bent on loosening up her niece Prissy—"I'd be happy to loan you Bo (Sonny Landham). He'd be happy, too." Bo comes over later and Priscilla tries, but she just can't bring herself to cheat on, of all people, Jamie Gillis. Wow.

Well, Prissy finally goes to see Abigail for some sex counseling and gets it in the form of top-notch oral sex in which Brooke chews up the scenery with her over-reaction to what must be the first orgasm of her life. Best to watch this scene with the sound turned off. A few orgies later she is courageous enough to propose running away from Bayport with her one true love—Chester. In the final shot, the happy couple walks through the sand toward the surf and you keep expecting them to make a left turn, but no, they keep walking straight toward the ocean and, who knows, maybe they're going to walk right in and just keep walking. One note about Bayport. It's really Amityville, New York, director Joseph Sarno's hometown. The horror house in not shown in this film, but several scenes were shot adjacent to it. This was four years before the James Brolin film came out.

Of course this movie is not just about naked people. There is a social message, which is, who are we to judge the horniness of others when we are just as horny as the ones we condemn and would act on it if given half a chance? Maybe even a quarter of a chance. Just who are we? At least I think that's the message. Another message is that if you have a camera and a passable script you can get lots of people to take off their clothes for you and watch them have sex with each other. No fool, our director.

Great movie to watch for it is of the classic type movie to watch and Abigail proves it all she is good in films.

Joe Sarno was a prolific & respected Writer/Director of numerous sexploitation films. A genre that is often misunderstood. This is one of Sarno's best and an example of how sexploitation can be a quality movie, not just fluff. This is strictly soft-core, sex is more plot and character development. Even if you never watched or purposely avoided watching a sexploitation movie before, you might want to try this gem. Abigail Lesley has a cast of actors mainly known for hardcore, but as proven here, they actually can act. It often is not common knowledge that many started or had aspirations of Broadway plays or Hollywood films. There are some good quality albeit not Oscar winning performances. The script & story written by Joe Sarno is very engaging. The story definitely comes before the sex (again strictly soft-core) in importance although as often the case with his movies, sex though not necessarily the act, is what drives the story. Sarno also has a habit of strong woman characters as here contrary to what Hollywood has done until recently. Often the sex does not make sense without following the dialogue, one of the traits of a quality sexploitation film. It should be noted this movie was done on a very small budget, filmed in days not months. Yet as an example of how great Sarno was as a Director, it does not play as such. The character of Abigail Lesley is who drives the plot and binds together all the other characters. She returns to the town to cause trouble of course. But the main character is Priscilla played by Rebecca Brooke who has also been credited as Mary Mendum in other films. She started performing in plays and shows her acting ability here. The rest of the cast including Eric Edwards, Jamie Gillis and others also give very credible performances. This is an excellent movie even if the sex scenes were removed although they are a definite part of the story. It also is a fantastic example of the work of Joseph W. Sarno. Give it a watch!