scootwhoman

Gender switching is one area that Hollywood has never been willing to explore. Even Blake Edwards could not get a studio to examine this concept with any validity. However, a porn film maker used his resources to put together an excellent cast in support of a whimsical story, which is told well. Although many in the cast had experience in pornography, this film is not of that nature. (Unless you consider nudity to be pornography, in which case this film probably would not appeal to you.)

What happens when a male chauvinist pig finds himself in the body of a sexy girl, and then discovers that the company that he built up is being taken over by one of his buddies, who is only interested in siphoning off as much money as he can? How does a male chauvinist pig deal with the feelings having a woman's body creates?

The film explores concepts of sexuality, gender stereotypes, and romance intelligently and with feeling. Jane Hamilton provides an excellent performance as a man trapped in a woman's body, who, at first, is oblivious to any change. Alan Naggar excels in portraying the slimy grease ball who is out to milk every penny from Leo's company. Scott Baker does a wonderful job of portraying a masculine yet sensitive blue collar worker, who falls in love with Cleo.

To my mind, this film is far superior to the gender swap film 'Switch', much more believable, entertaining, and sensuous.

This is an amazingly well crafted film, which captures the excitement, danger, and intelligence involved in racing big sailboats, while being a warmly human, sad romance. I have found it to be the most uplifting film I think that I have ever seen, without being cheesy, forced, or artificial. I was lucky enough to see live footage taken from on the boats during the America's Cup races held off of Melbourne following Australia winning the Cup, and this movie recreates the immediacy of those broadcasts. Wonderful editing, rich sound, and skillful boat handling combine to dispel the sense of disbelief entirely.

The characters are developed well, and have depth and substance, which adds to the power of the film to engage. One does not need to know anything about sailing to get swept up in this film, but those who do will appreciate the accuracy with which the film was made.

When I first saw "Hellfighters" I was only about 13 years old. The movie certainly captivated me, in part because it seemed so realistic. Also, the slogan of the Buckman Company really appealed to me. "Around the world, around the clock." This was a story about someone who really went the distance to help people.

This movie was so visually stunning that Popular Mechanics ran a cover story on the special effects, describing how a mixture of propane and diesel oil was used to make the fires, which were fed by underground pipes. It also explained that Red Adair really did use explosives to put out oil well fires, which many people found hard to believe.

This was a highly believable, present day performance by John Wayne, which is somewhat special in and of itself. There was only one brawl, which was all good fun, and we even get to see Mr. Wayne get a face full of what looks kind of like oil. (It was dyed water.) There is no heavy, moralistic message to this film, a minimum of flag waving, and watching it is just plain fun.