Blue Money

Blue Money was made during the golden age of porn in the 70's when feature length hardcore films were made with story lines and some production values to them. This was the era when these kinds of films were made on film and shown by necessity in cinemas. It all seems so very odd nowadays but seemingly that was the way it was back then. Blue Money is one of the exploitation films that tapped into this territory and set a drama around the sex industry. It's about a man who tries to secure the future of his family by making adult movies. Meanwhile the feds hover in the background secretly filming the film-maker to bring him down on obscenity charges.

This was one of the many b-movies put out by Crown International Pictures. Their output was notable for featuring plenty of nudity to draw in the crowds but surprisingly Blue Money is not especially salacious stuff given its subject matter and distributer. In fact it seems to be trying to be a serious drama first and foremost. This isn't precisely a bad idea but it ultimately fails on account of the poor characterisations and an overly underplayed storyline. Probably the biggest single issue though was the thoroughly under-par performance of the lead actor Alain Patrick who also directed, wrote and produced this as well! Fair play for trying to do everything but he is a terrible actor. At the end of the day, this is a movie that promises quite a lot given its interesting subject matter but it's sadly a pretty tedious affair for the most part.

I don't know about other reviewers but I thought this sleazy skin flick was absolutely awful. Like other Crown International Pictures from the era such as CINDY AND DONNA, this is a near plot less affair of simulated sex between unappealing actors with a few dramatic elements thrown into the mix.

The main character is a sleazy porn producer who falls for one of his own actresses. They attempt to get out of the business, but various stuff gets in the way. The whole film has a tired, cheap look to it, the characters are horrendous, and it's about unerotic as it gets. Viewers looking for genuinely sleazy fare will also be disappointed as films like this are oddly tame considering the shocking depravity that a lot of horror films were delving into during the same era (I'm thinking of THE EXORCIST and THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE as an example).

This snooze-fest makes Tommy Wiseau look Oscar-worthy. In fact, there are many similarities with The Room - an actor/director with an accent, topless women, and a guy who argues with his wife. But at least Tommy is kind of funny and constructs interesting scenes. The guy shoots porn films to get money to build a boat. His wife doesn't like it. Occasionally cops act like they might do something. That's about all that happens. Somehow, they stretched that premise to over an hour. The porn angle is not interesting either. I almost fell asleep, but the only thing keeping me awake is wondering if they made it this dull on purpose. I can only recommend watching this if you want to brag to your friends about having sat all the way through it.

I have to confess that I haven't seen that many true pornographic films, because what I've seen has left me both bored and depressed. However, I have enjoyed a number of movies that have dealt with the pornographic industry, from "Boogie Nights" to "Orgazmo". "Blue Money" could have been another interesting look at the industry, since it deals with the porn film industry when it was starting to become mainstream yet still falling afoul of the law. However, it is a crushing bore. There's very little story, and it's stretched out way past the breaking point. The characters aren't very interesting as well. If you are thinking of watching the movie anyway to see sex or nudity, let me warn you that there isn't a terrible amount of this material, and the little there is isn't presented in an erotic light. I have no idea why Crown-International picked this up for distribution, because it's unlike their usual product, which usually made an effort to deliver the goods. I guess there is some curio value, but not enough to make it worth searching for.

This movie was just plain bad but I spent most of the time thinking that the main actor Jim is actually Tommy Wiseau 31 years prior to The Room and pre-car accident. There is literally no information on the main actor, he sounds like Tommy (French accent)and even has the same smile. It makes perfect sense...love interests name is Lisa and he plays the role of Director, star and writer. Hmmm. A thinker.