Too Much Too Often!

Too Much Too Often! (1968)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mike Torson (Buck Starr) is a good looking male prostitute who spends his day going from one woman to the next racking up a good living. He also has a side gig of a blackmailer because his dream is to own his own place on Park Ave. At first his plan is going well until he blackmails a guy and then falls in love with his daughter.

Doris Wishman's TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN! is a fairly entertaining film from the cult director, which also serves as a departure for her. If you go through her filmography you'll notice that she usually shot movies with ladies in the lead so it's quite rare to have a film of hers that follows a male. The male prostitute is a rather interesting character as he's part dreamer and part crook. Of course, being a Wishman sexploitation picture there are also plenty of naked ladies.

The sexploitation side of the film is quite good as we see countless beautiful ladies in their full glory. These type of films were made for the "raincoat" crowd and there's no question that Wishman at least delivers some good looking ladies and the nudity runs throughout the picture. The film also works as a film noir as there's a crime element that is brought into play and this too was quite good. The love story aspect isn't that believable but it's far from bad.

I wouldn't say Starr gave a "good" performance but it's at least good enough for this type of film. He certainly has the right look for the material. The film clocks in at just 72-minutes so it runs pretty fast and for the most part TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN! is one of the director's better pictures.

A peek into the life of a very sleazy man: Mike Torson. He is a male prostitute and above all a blackmailer. He has one goal in his life: to own a Park Avenue apartment. And he has no scruples getting there.

This is an exception in Doris Wishman's oeuvre, for it does not concentrate on women, but has a male lead: Buck Starr. He did appear in three other Wishman movies, but is otherwise unknown. In his only leading role he portraits Torson quite well, actually. But Torson himself is such a vain creep, you never feel a bond with him. And neither with mister Starr for that matter.

Other ingredients of Doris Wishman's work are still there: lots of half naked women, close ups of feet and legs, sleazy acting, failing continuity, ill fitting musical scores. The sex is like it still is in modern television. The actors either keep their underwear on, or make love fully covered by a blanket. The only thing that works in this movie is the film noir atmosphere, but that alone does not make up for all the faults and B-features.

Both Buck Starr and Mike Torson made me feel uneasy. That is a good thing by itself, but it doesn't change. After half an hour one still feels unsettled and then it becomes quite boring actually. Torson really has nothing positive about him and that makes him a robot, inhumane. So the viewer can't really relate to him. And that means sooner or later you have had it with the man.

Interesting effort to combine film noir with sexploitation, but it failed, hopelessly.

For me a 4 out of ten, because of the first part of the movie, when you are still fascinated by what's going on.