Cry Uncle

After viewing the film 34 years ofter its release, I must say it doesn't hold up and is quite tedious and boring in spots. For those of you old enough to remember, the early 70's was filled with these semi-porn x-rated independent films with wide-spread theatrical release. It was new and legal, and many genre themes were sexed-up for releases like this.

To be fair, there are moments in this film that are genuinely funny and well done, but like a hard-core porn film, it takes every opportunity it can to portray sex and nudity on screen, with the subsequent boring results.

A rotund private dick is hired to find a killer, and has to get naked in the process.

I can't figure out if the movie amounts to serial copulation with whodunit overtones or a whodunit with serial copulation appeal. One way or the other, a naked Allan Garfield did keep my popcorn untouched. Actually, the 90-minutes is so smoothly directed and the girls so fetching that I did stay glued. Also, catch the symbolically placed donut and banana in the opening slow pan. I guess that tells you what's coming up. As I recall, the movie was much ballyhooed at the time. After all, what could only be hinted at before 1969 now became permissible, thanks mainly to the counter-culture's clash with censorship. Also, the Swedish ground-breaker I Am Curious (Yellow), (1969)-- the first commercial film to show copulation on screen-- drew lines around the block when I saw it. Now Hollywood, even Troma, could cash in on the novelty.

The movie itself may look like an oddity after 40-years. Certainly, the sex scenes take up as much time as the narrative. Still, the production is smoothly done, with about the right amount of tongue in cheek, Garfield included. And I like Madeleine LaRoux (!) who has a different movie look, sort of like an elongated Goldie Hawn. But a screen name like that suggests plans for a big porn career, which I don't think happened. All in all, guys could do a lot worse than Uncle, plus you don't have to feel inferior to the stud (Garfield). And, oh yeah, let the girl viewers figure out the plot.

Normally I wouldn't rate this kind of movie very high. However, this movie is much better better written, produced, directed and acted than other "Troma" productions. Now don't get me wrong. There is A LOT of graphic sex and nudity here. Full frontal female and male. I think that maybe all of the women but one or two had fully nude sex scenes. Some of them had several. But, this movie was very light hearted with a lot of humor. But much of that was raunchy old school 1970's humor. So if you're an easily offended person or a feminist, you might want to watch something else.

Cry Uncle is a fine piece of filmmaking. For those of you familiar with Troma video and all the junk it puts out, this is not a normal Troma film! In fact, this is the direct antithesis of a Troma film! Allen Garfield is a detective who is hired by a man being blackmailed by the women he acted with in a porno video. The movie includes acid freak outs, b/w porno video scenes, and a great necrophilia scene. Garfield was also in a bunch of other softcore films like Orgy Girls and Roommates. Nevertheless, check this film out.

Fans of Rocky and The Karate Kid probably don't know this, but the Oscar-winning director responsible for both mainstream cocklewarmers was making some very weird sh*t in the early 70s. Before coming down with a terminal case of Good Taste, Avildsen had cranked out the superior sex comedy Guess What We Learned In School Today? (1969) and the classic Summer of Hate film Joe (1970), starring Peter Boyle as a blue collar hippie-killer, and Cry Uncle, a totally whacked-out and very black private-eye spoof marketed as a sex film since you couldn't do much else with its then porno-only X rating. Tubby Jewish comedian Allen Garfield (you'll recognize the face, guaranteed)plays the "Super Dick' hired by a millionaire suspect in a murder case. The investigation soon becomes a trail of dead bodies, including one Garfield has sex with, thinking she's a comatose junkie! Troma president Lloyd Kaufman was production assistant, as with all early Avildsen films from Joe onwards, and plays the bearded hippie on LSD in a motel room. A bad taste masterpiece, Troma later distributed the film, displaying a rare flash of good taste on their part!