She-Man: A Story of Fixation

Jaw-droppingly awful; "She-Man: A Story of Fixation" is another Z-movie out to shock, in this case with a tale of transvestism and lesbians. It was directed by Bob Clark; yes, the same Bob Clark who made "Porky's" and at 66 minutes it certainly doesn't outstay its welcome. If you haven't heard of it, that's understandable as it's unlikely to have seen the light of day outside of those cinemas that were once popular in London's Soho and New York's 42nd Street. It may aim for seriousness but settles instead for sleaze and the kind of production values you might associate with a horror film of the trashiest kind as if 'she-men' were just one step away from vampires. A curio, then, but one that now seems positively prehistoric and definitely a must to avoid.

Let me first say I LOVE many of Bob Clark's films, and that is the main reason I checked this one out. I also love cheesy movies (ie Robot Monster, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Glen or Glenda etc). But this film that comes in at 68 minutes, was dreadful. There are several other films of this genre that are much more entertaining. Avoid this one. You've been warned.

Painful low budget fare about that age-old exploitation subject of cross-dressing and transvestism. A soldier is brought before a blackmailer and then told he will stay one whole year as Dominita's servant. He changes from Albert Rose to Rose Albert with the help of estrogen pills, lingerie, a blonde wig, and other paraphernalia. He still looks like a husky guy dressed as a woman. What happens next? What kind of intrigue does neophyte director Bob Clark - you know that guy that directed movies like Porkys, Black Christmas, and A Christmas Story - have in store for us? Damn little. The plot is threadbare. The acting is even less pronounced as the actors stumble through lines with little conviction at all. How about the wraparound frame of the the medical doctor telling us about the serious nature of the problem of transvestism and cross-dressing? It was so ludicrous that that part made me chuckle slightly. Little else did.

She-Man (1967)

1/2 (out of 4)

Low budget, Florida filmed trash from the man who would go onto make such classics as Black Christmas, Porky's and A Christmas Story. Albert Rose (Leslie Marlowe) is a woman loving, all man type of man who gets blackmailed by a transvestite. What does the she-man want? She wants Albert to be his/her personal slave for a year and that includes him dressing up as a woman. What Albert doesn't know is that the transvestite and the lesbian assistant are giving him estrogen pills to turn him into a real woman. I guess you could call this an alternate version of Glen or Glenda? but that would be an insult to the Ed Wood film because his movie seems like an Oscar winner compared to this one. I'm really not sure what type of crowd this film was based for and the screenplay doesn't make much sense either. Everything in the film is pretty bad, especially the acting, which is as wooden as wood can get. The film only lasts 63-minutes but I had a hard time keeping the thing going. It's strange to see Clark directing a film like this but at least he went onto better things. The only reason I didn't award this a BOMB is due to how strange it is.

This early effort from Bob Clark trods the hoary old boards of the sexploitation flick by bookending the actual film with pseudo-authoritative commentary by an MD that purports to give information to dispel myths and educate the audience about the pressing issues portrayed in the film. Yeah right. People really need a 70 minute PSA about the dangers of malevolent transvestites who blackmail people into indentured servant-hood and forced cross-dressing. Something else this movie has in common with the sexploitation flicks of old is the sheer cheesiness of the sets: the same wood-paneled room is used again and again for an office, a bedroom, and a "gender reassignment" room, where the hapless victims are alternately shaved, plucked, made up, or bound with ace bandages, depending on which gender they are to become. Necessity is the mother of invention!