Lunch

One of the perverse joys of IMDb and other latter-day "everyone's a critic" websites is reading the amusingly ignorant nonsense posted by folks who haven't paid their dues (or done any homework). Perfect example is the ludicrous dismissal by a solitary "reviewer" for this early experimental feature by the legendary Frisco maverick Curt McDowell.

I saw several of Curt's short films on Underground Cinema programs back in the day, leading up to his magnum opus THUNDERCRACK!, certainly the strangest movie I'd ever seen back then. It was a pleasant surprise to finally catch up with LUNCH, one of his earliest feature-length efforts.

McDowell regular Mark Ellinger stars (and also gets an all-purpose "assistant" credit) as Dave Powers, a daydreamer whose sexual exploits fill much of the 71-minute running time. The film does not adhere to conventional narrative, with most scenes presented ambiguously, generally revealed to be "just a dream" content, though the previous "reviewer" didn't get even that most basic element.

After Dave sees a girl through his window across the street, he imagines himself making love to her, with gynecological closeup photography. He's brought back to reality by the arrival of his better half, who asks if he's paid Gloria the rent. Cue Gloria arriving in the apartment with a chip on her shoulder, seeking the rent.

Dave humps Gloria in lieu of payment, but of course this too is just another daydream -in reality he hasn't budged from his chair at the kitchen table.

Rick Mackota (as Jody Baker, a painter with white paint all over his hands and forearms) is reading a Marvel comic book when he gets a phone call from a Black girl named Carol (uncredited), and he masturbates. After she hangs up she has a mixed combo sex scene with another white boy -all the male cast thus far is bearded.

Back in their apartment, Dave is hounded by his girl friend with such unsubtle hints as "one of us has to get a job". Acting style is deliberately flat, typical of underground cinema of the day.

Gloria the landlady receives an envelope under her door written by Jody, stating "I hear you like to suck dick" and leaving his phone number. She starts to masturbate and a guy begins to hump her mouth -this turns out to be her fantasy. She imagines a second such sex scene with a mustachioed Latino guy. Then a woman visits, and during her lesbian scene Gloria imagines yet another blow job with another random guy, followed by her fantasizing sex with a Stephen Rea type, the first clean-shaven man in the picture.

McDowell's irreverent form of comedy surfaces in the next scene at Jody's pad, where his door (inside) is covered with dozens of envelopes, each with a name written in large letters on the front. This mysterious detail is soon resolved when he grabs the one marked "Dave" and slips it under Dave's door (gag to be resolved later).

The film's "money" scene follows -presenting a rather strange, but effective fetish -what one might file under "height disparity sex". A tiny little (but mature, not jail-bait) cute girl asks Dave "do you want to eat my pussy", and a full-blown sex scene develops. He stands so much taller than her it looks like she's only 4 feet tall, and the ensuing hand job, blow job and humping (she lies on a table while he remains standing up) is erotic, enhanced in a strange way.

Ellinger, whose career was in experimental films, not mainstream porn, climaxes this scene with a money shot that is even more impressive than those associated decades later with Peter North. He ejaculates repeatedly a couple of feet away directly onto shorty's face, dripping all over. It's not fake, and is sprung on the viewer out of left field.

Following this personal best, Dave picks up his note which reads just like the one Gloria received, and we see him imagining himself sucking Jody's cock for just a couple of seconds, an unusual insertion of homosexual content in an otherwise straight feature. He crumples up the note and McDowell cuts back to Gloria with her lesbian pal, crumpling up her note.

Back to reality, it's noon, and Dave's girl friend asks him "What would you like, breakfast or lunch?". He replies "Lunch" and the out-theme has a chorus chanting "Lunch" over and over.

Besides Hellinger, buxom Gloria (pseudonymous "Velvet Busch") is spotlighted, a beautiful woman in the Barbara Hersey mode. LUNCH is a good demonstration of the continuum between experimental (Warhol started it all in this particular vein) cinema and by-the-numbers hardcore porn.

Slow, vaguely arty, ultimately tedious "adult" film about erotic happenings in an apartment building. There's something resembling a plot, but I have to admit I lost track of it. It's kind of confusing. At one point, you hear a man's voice on the soundtrack repeating the same line over and over and over and over. More original than your average adult flick, but it still doesn't add up to much. I can't get the title song out of my head, though.