Linda Lovelace for President

It's true that this cheesy flick is manically silly and zips right along with one silly goofy bit after another, but it does have lots of great old 1960s comedians in it. Older folks may recognize Chuck McCann, Joey Forman, Scatman Cruthers, Vaughn Meader, Marty Ingels, Joe E. Ross, and best of all Stanley Myron Handelman, who was a regularly featured comedian on the Dean Martin Variety Show. This movie also has Micky Dolenz of The Monkees in it. It was strange to see one of the best all-time kid show emcees, Chuck McCann play a racist and very lecherous weirdo called "The Assassin". I watched and loved the Chuck McCann show when I was a kid in the early-to mid-1960s. He and Sandy Becker were the all-time best and funniest kid show hosts. Linda Lovelace looks great and very sexy, but unfortunately apparently had no acting skills whatsoever. All in all though, this movie is very watch-able and if you remember those great old comedians the way I do, and you like a little irreverence in your comedy movies, check this one out if you can find it. I wish there was some footage of Stanley Myron Handelman doing his hilarious routine on stage, but alas there isn't. Rest in peace O great one. You are missed.

A country-looking, healthy-skinned, lithe and robust Linda Lovelace reads lines clunkily, but has a gentle, unpretentious charm in this Altman-derivative idjit jamboree, a sketch comedy about the state-of-the-art fellatrix's run for the Oval Office. (Yes, it IS oddly prescient!) In Lovelace's memoirs, the account of the making of this movie (directed, according to her, by old blaxploitation hand Arthur Marks) is hellacious; what's on the screen seems like a blend of HEE HAW and a Maoist-era Godard movie (in its cheapness and improvisatoriness, that is). I especially liked the young bohunk who married an orangutan and gave birth to a talking chimp who sounded somewhere between Minnie Pearl and Minnie Ripperton.

Infamous porn star Linda Lovelace is best known for her amazing control of her gag reflex, not for performing gags, and so fans will be relieved to hear that any woeful attempts at comedy by the Deep Throat legend are more than offset by frequent full frontal nudity from the lovely lady and her enthusiastic participation in soft core sex. Still, Linda's crap comedic skills are no worse than anyone else's in this horribly dated madcap political satire: it's an all-round embarrassment of massive proportions.

Linda Lovelace plays herself, once again catapulted into the limelight when she is nominated as a presidential candidate by an eclectic group of oddball characters. What follows is a dreadfully unfunny, often perplexing series of zany scenes that were surely fuelled by copious amounts of mind-altering substances. Certainly, in order to enjoy this abysmal relic of the mid-70s, one would need to be seriously baked. The chaotic opening scene, in which a committee discusses various candidates before settling on Linda, must rate as one of the biggest tests of a viewer's patience in movie history, seemingly shot without the aid of a script or the need for a director.

With the introduction of an assassin, hired to get rid of Linda when she leads the polls, the film descends into sub-roadrunner cartoon slapstick, each gag more painful than the last. The title of worst performance must go to ex-Monkee Micky Dolenz, whose career almost audibly hits rock bottom (Metal Mickey is a work of genius by comparison), although the competition is hot. Best performance is from a talking chimp (oh, how I wish I was joking).

The plot has adult film star Linda Lovelace running for President as the only person the leaders of a political party could agree on. She goes on the campaign trail in a film that is full of political and social commentary humor, not to mention jokes of the lowest denominator.

The film-making is poor. its the sort of scatter shot "lets make a movie" with grade C stars and comedians running about in jokes that are best described a vaudeville or burlesques last gasp. Its the sort of film that is similar to Groove Tube, Loose Shoes, American Raspberry or Kentucky Fried Movie, except as a political campaign. The problem is the material, that which isn't old to begin with, isn't very good. To be certain some of the material is funny in a one off sort of way but mostly is just stupid. The sad thing is that Lovelace actually comes off a pretty good screen actress. certainly she's more real than many of todays adult film stars who try to cross over into mainstream films. Its a shame she never had the chance to do something more than be infamous.

Supposedly this exists in 3 different cuts PG,R and X. The version I saw had the X rating attached to the end, though most of the offensive material was some language, soft core sex and nudity and I seriously doubt it would get an X or NC-17 today. Nothing is exciting in any sense of the word.

Its bland. its dull. Its (mostly) unfunny. Its a turkey

Linda Lovelace for President (1975)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The title pretty much tells you everything you need to know plot wise. The country is falling apart so a group of people decide only Linda Lovelace can save us so they contact her and begin a Presidential run.

After the success of DEEP THROAT, star Lovelace became a household name and people were looking for any way to try and cash in. LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT was an attempt to try and push Lovelace into a R-rated picture with a wider appeal but obviously that didn't happen and the actress began her slow fall from grace. As awful as this film is, I must admit that I give the producers a lot of credit because I'd give everyone involved with this production an A+ for effort.

With that said, effort isn't enough when it comes to entertainment. I think the best way to sum up this film is by thinking of the final mad-cap sequence in BLAZING SADDLES. That's basically the type of over-the-top humor that is on display here but the only problem is that there's no one as talented as Mel Brooks or Gene Wilder to make this film work. There's a lot of sexual innuendo, a lot of female nudity and a lot of politically incorrect humor. The film tries pumping out one joke after another but the problem is that none of it is funny.

I will give Lovelace some credit though as she certainly manages to hold your attention throughout all the camp. She's certainly easy on the eyes but she also brings across a certain charm and a beautiful smile that really lights up the screen even without any hardcore sex. She certainly gives it her all and is the highlight of the picture.