A Smell of Honey a Swallow of Brine

Smell of Honey, A Swallow of Brine, A (1966)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A notorious sex roughie from David Friedman is considered by many to be the Citizen Kane of sexploitation flicks. In the film, a beautiful blonde virgin (Stacey Walker) gets her sexual kicks by stripping down in the nude, turning her boyfriends on and then screaming rape. She sends on guy to prison, another to suicide but she meets her match when she meets a real rapist. As you can tell, this type of storyline isn't going to be for everyone but the first half of the film is played for cute laughs and it manages to get quite a few. The dorky guys who the woman has to lead on are all rather funny and Walker is pretty good in her role. I wouldn't say good performance but her body and girlish charms work well. The second half of the film falls into S&M and dream sequences, which are all very boring but I guess this was the only way to stretch out the running time of 69-minutes. The film also contains the classic line where the woman gets hit on by a lesbian: I may be a bitch but I'll never be a butch!

Fairly interesting exploitation flick in black and white written by David F. Friedman. The lead actress Stacey Walker is well-cast and strangely attractive. She resembles a deranged Renee Zellweger with a bad hair-do. This chick only made two of these films and then moved back to Texas. The music is terrible. One of her boyfriends is played by Sam Melville (from the TV show THE ROOKIES) using a different name.

Best line in the film from Tony - "Are you putting me on, doll? None of my chicks put me on". Good B/W cinematography from Laslo Kovacs (EASY RIDER & TARGETS & many others). Good locales (cool swimming pool, also used in THE DEFILERS). Strange ending but fitting. A 4 out of 10. Best performance Stacey Walker.

David F. Friedman, the producer king of 60s sexploitation sinema, is best-known for SHE-FREAK (a 60s remake of FREAKS) and this movie. I much prefer this one. It's interesting, well-made and doesn't disappoint.

Sharon Winters (Stacey Walker) is a virgin secretary who loves to tease men and entice them to bed with her. When they get close enough to having sex, she accuses them of rape and ruins their lives! In her spare time, she teases her lesbian roommate and when they finally almost get down 'n' dirty, Sharon throws her out! But Sharon meets her match in a nightclub singer who likes to rough up women.

The plot is simple and quick. How can it stretch into an 75-minute movie? There's lots of scenes of bathing, changing clothes, and elongated foreplay scenes that lead to coy nudity, but never sex. Stacey Walker is a fantastic actress who carries the movie on her own. She's pure bitchery and is quite sexy. It's just her hair that bothers me... She made only one other movie for Friedman (NOTORIOUS DAUGHTER OF FANNY HILL), then returned home to her state of Texas and went back to high school (she had dropped out to make movies). No one knows where she is today, but she is sorely missed. Look quick for David F. Friedman playing the juror in the opening courtroom scenes. The musical score by el petra is great, basic garage band rock and roll that is complex in its simplicity. It certainly gives the film atmosphere and a soundtrack CD would be appreciated. Director Byron Mabe (who also directed SHE-FREAK) does a superb job handling the black-and-white cinematography and his editing during the foreplay scenes is wonderfully done.

A SMELL OF HONEY is the best introduction to 60s sexploitation sinema for anyone interested. Everyone should see at least one example of this type of movie to (if anything) compare to the pornography we have now. Something Weird Video is the only source for this on video and their print is rather scratchy and jumps at times.

This movie begins with a young man named "Roy Bradley" (Michael O'Kelly) and his girlfriend, "Sharon Winters" (Stacey Walker) making out in a car. When they get to a certain point Sharon tells him to stop but being too wound up Roy continues to press the case. Sharon then begins screaming which draws the attention of a nearby policeman. When he gets there he finds both of them without hardly any clothes and Sharon asserting that she had been raped. Roy gets arrested and since Sharon continues to insist she was raped he is found guilty in a court of law and sentenced to 2 years in the state reformatory. Six weeks later Sharon is dating a new boyfriend named "Dick Owens" (Tom Hughes) who is extremely polite and reserved. Recognizing this Sharon decides to tease him by undressing and taking a shower with the door opened slightly and a full view of herself through an adjacent mirror on the wall. After that she proceeds to tease him but just prior to actual sex she starts yelling "rape" which scares the young man so badly that he quits his job and leaves his home for fear of going to prison. And once again Sharon doesn't seem to care as she continue with the same pattern again and again. But what she doesn't realize is that not all men are the same and that sometimes there are consequences for her actions. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that I was totally surprised at how intense this low-budget sexploitation film turned out to be. Although neither the acting nor the script were anything out of the ordinary, when considering the year this film was produced, I found the overall plot and many of the scenes to be quite extraordinary. To be more specific, there are a number of scenes involving a sexual nature and quite a bit of nudity as well. In any case, although the overall production values are not that good this movie still managed to stand out and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Barbara Jean Moore (Stacey Walker) was a dropout from Texas who, while vacating in Santa Monica, was discovered on a beach one afternoon by cigar-chomping sexploitation producer, Dave Friedman who decided to cast her in the title role for his latest picture THE NOTORIOUS DAUGHTER OF FANNY HILL (1965). Pleased by her acting skills (and looks I suppose), he casted her in this as well as a nudist camp short. A Paramount executive saw some of the films and was eager to run an interview with Walker but while Friedman went looking for her she had already gone back to Texas. So for all we know Miss Walker could have become a big Hollywood name!

In A SMELL OF HONEY, she plays Sharon, a sexy, sadistic office worker who teases men to their limits and screams "rape" once she's done. "Roughies" had become big in the adults-only film industry so Sharon gets what she deserves from some horny b*stards towards the end.

The cinematography was by the great Lazlo Kovacs so you can always keep yourself occupied during the 71 minutes just admiring the b/w visuals. It's slow in spots and ends abruptly (may be the print) but for a post-BLOOD FEAST Dave Friedman film, it's not bad. Walker's twangy accent and an equelly twangy, reaccuring tune by Et-Cetra (which you're sure to be humming in your head after viewing) strangely creates some kind of rural, southern feeling to the film (don't expect Russ Meyer, though). For a more slappy, enjoyable Dave Friedman experience try THE ACID EATERS (1968).