The Layout

The Layout (1969)

** (out of 4)

Joseph W. Sarno directed tale of a group of lesbians who enjoy each other a bit too much. What limited plot there is concerns Pam running a business with her partner Wendy who breaks away from the lesbianism to form a relationship with Robb (Chuck Traynor).

THE LAYOUT is your typical 60's sexploitation picture that has a very limited amount of an actual plot and instead the running time is filled up with extended sex scenes. There are several beautiful women on display here and they each love loving up on the other and this is where the majority of the entertainment comes from. The movie isn't as bad as a lot of films in the genre thanks in large part to Sarno keeping everything moving at a decent pace.

With that said, this is still a plot less sexploitation picture so it never reaches a level that one would consider good. The most interesting thing about the picture is that there's only one male role and that's played by Traynor who would eventually gain infamy by delivering Linda Lovelace to the big screen.

That monstrous personal vibrator that popped up (and in) during most of Sarno's pictures of this period plays a main role in this one, as the director spends more time than usual on the mainly girl-on-girl sex scenes. The psychological tensions between the characters never really builds up much steam, and despite the nifty jazz piano/organ score and some nice camera touches, this is not a significant contribution to the genre.

The Layout runs like a sexually-charged soap opera. The main character, Pam, operates a design firm with her business partner, Wendy. They live together in a posh apartment building, and enjoy an opulent lifestyle. Trouble begins, when the lascivious Wendy has a fling with their contractor, Rob. Meanwhile, Rob's wife plots to seduce Pam. Pam's cousin and roommate arrive, becoming eager participants in a piping hot lesbian orgy, between all of the gals. Though this movie does have a plot (albeit a thin one), it mostly consists of lengthy, lesbian love-making scenes between the women.

These women all look so sleek, with their mile-high beehive hair-dos, heavy make-up, and stylish clothes. But their elegant exteriors, mask their robust, earthy sex drives. Nearly half of this movie, consists of these women engaging in sexual gymnastics with each other. They all utilize a large, gadgetry-equipped vibrator, to give each other one ecstatic orgasm after another. These sex scenes were considered very racy, back when this movie was made in the 60s.

There's not much of a point to this film, besides the lesbian sexcapades of the female characters. This movie seems to have been made mainly to satisfy the wet-dreams, of males who are turned-on by watching exuberant lesbian sex between women.