She-Man: A Story of Fixation

This early effort from Bob Clark trods the hoary old boards of the sexploitation flick by bookending the actual film with pseudo-authoritative commentary by an MD that purports to give information to dispel myths and educate the audience about the pressing issues portrayed in the film. Yeah right. People really need a 70 minute PSA about the dangers of malevolent transvestites who blackmail people into indentured servant-hood and forced cross-dressing. Something else this movie has in common with the sexploitation flicks of old is the sheer cheesiness of the sets: the same wood-paneled room is used again and again for an office, a bedroom, and a "gender reassignment" room, where the hapless victims are alternately shaved, plucked, made up, or bound with ace bandages, depending on which gender they are to become. Necessity is the mother of invention!

This movie is best described as weird, strange, bizarre, and freaky. Aside from Jeff Gillen(Famous among cult-movie buffs for his role as "Fats" in the 1967 Biker flick, Wild Rebels) this grade "Z", no budget film has a cast of unknowns. As a matter-of-fact I believe the two leading actors never acted again. It's clear that staring in this mess must of ended their acting careers on the spot! Directed by Bob Clark(he went on to direct Porky's I and II), the film is about a soldier who is black-mailed into wearing women's underwear and such! The acting is stiff, over-the-top, and wooden. The script is cheesy and the film's texture isn't much better. The film tries to be serious, but it's so bad it's funny. The whole thing however leaves a bad taste in your mouth. She-Man is not a He-Man. Skip this one. I'd rate it a minus 10. It's awful!

Painful low budget fare about that age-old exploitation subject of cross-dressing and transvestism. A soldier is brought before a blackmailer and then told he will stay one whole year as Dominita's servant. He changes from Albert Rose to Rose Albert with the help of estrogen pills, lingerie, a blonde wig, and other paraphernalia. He still looks like a husky guy dressed as a woman. What happens next? What kind of intrigue does neophyte director Bob Clark - you know that guy that directed movies like Porkys, Black Christmas, and A Christmas Story - have in store for us? Damn little. The plot is threadbare. The acting is even less pronounced as the actors stumble through lines with little conviction at all. How about the wraparound frame of the the medical doctor telling us about the serious nature of the problem of transvestism and cross-dressing? It was so ludicrous that that part made me chuckle slightly. Little else did.

Plot: A soldier is forced to take estrogen and wear lingerie when he's blackmailed by a violent transvestite.

That's it folks. The plot can be written on a napkin. Only in this case the napkin should have been burned.

The movie is really horrible. It's positioned as a learning movie with an old guy in a suit introducing the movie and providing the exiting speech calling for tolerance. Only isn't blackmailing someone into doing something he doesnt want to do a crime?

Virtually nothing happens for a full half of the movie. Th acting is horendous.

It's so slow I was spacing out left and right. Just bad. Bob Clark writes and directs this garbage. For those in the know, he made Porky's, A Christmas Story and some other well known low budget flicks.

Thankfully he got some talent after this fiasco.

Let me first say I LOVE many of Bob Clark's films, and that is the main reason I checked this one out. I also love cheesy movies (ie Robot Monster, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Glen or Glenda etc). But this film that comes in at 68 minutes, was dreadful. There are several other films of this genre that are much more entertaining. Avoid this one. You've been warned.