ALL THE YOUNG WIVES (1973)
+ MY PLEASURE IS MY BUSINESS (1973)
Drive-In Double Feature #21
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 86 Minutes 22 Seconds, 86 Minutes 57 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono (No Subtitles)
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) (All The Young Wives) / 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1) (My Pleasure Is My Business)
Directors: William Diehl / Al Waxman
Cast: Gerald Richards, Philip Pleasants, Edie Kramer, April Johnson, Linda Cook, Edmund Genest / Xaviera Hollander, Henry Ramer, Colin Fox, George Sperdakos, Monica Parker, Marvin Goldhar
The latest Drive-In Double-feature from Dark Force Entertainment pairs 1970's Drive-In flicks All the Y9oung WIves and My Business,My Pleasure, a rare-pair of so-called sexploitation flicks.
First-up is the Southern Gothic tinged All the Young Wives (1973) wherein wealthy middle-aged rancher Big Jim Calder (Gerald Richards), who seems to owns everything in town if not the county, including his associated wives. The film opens with him out on a bird hunt with associate Harry (Stuart Culpepper, Mutant) and accountant Sid (Philip Pleasants, Moonrunners), when Jim seemingly twists his ankle. He tells the other guys to keep on hunting without him and he will limp his way back to the lodge and have Sid's cute wife Sharon (Edie Kramer, Don't Change My World) wrap his ankle up for him. When he gets back to the house she does quite a bit more than that for him, bow-chicka-wow-wow. Not long after he's hooking up with her again while her hubby is asleep upstairs, and then again later with black hottie Fancy (April Johnson), this guy gets around, and everyone knows it, one of his stable hands even jokes that "he'll probably die in the saddle". However, when Big Jim finds out during a tax audit from the accountant (Bill Moses, Ghost Riders) that his trusted right-hand man Sid has embezzled tens of thousands of dollars he goes after him in a rage, during which Sid spills the beans to him that his own wife Melody (Linda Cook, TV's Loving), a sexually frustrated bored housewife that Big Jim keeps locked away at the house, has been fooling around with his horse trainer Sam (Edmund Genest, Hanky Panky), and then things get out of hand. More a Southern gothic melodrama than a true slice of sexploitation this one is surprisingly well-acted with some tender moments as sparks fly between Melody and Sam, both contemplating running off together. Probably not the most satisfying flick if you're looking for sleazy good time, but a fairly well-made if a bit flatly produced Southern Gothic melodrama with brief and very tame softcore entanglements. Interestingly the sexual aspect of this one is quite subdued, and edited into the film in fragmentary bits, mostly as fantasies played out in the minds of the characters. I didn't recognize much of anytone from this aside from Johnny Popwell as Barney the stable hand, who has also shown up in The Farmer, The Visitor, Mutant, and Deliverance, but I thought it was pretty well acted by most involved, but very flat in it's production, it didn't help that it was such a colorless grindhouse print either.
The second half of this double bill is the 70's "sex-comedy" My Business Is My Pleasure (1975), directed by Canadian actor Al Waxman (Class of 1984) that tells the sort of true story of Xaviera Hollander, best known as the author of the 1971 autobiography The Happy Hooker which was made into a same-titled film starring Vanessa Redgrave, coming out the same year as this more comical take on the topic. The idea to cast Hollander as basically a version of herself named Gabrielle is an interesting idea, though in my opinion the flick is not very entertaining at all After upsetting a U.S. senator by refusing to acknowledge his sexual prowess Hollander is forced to vacate the U.S. in search of a new home, but after being refused in several countries because of her notoriety she ends up in the small republic of Gestalt, where the President (Henry Ramer, the voice of Dr. Doom from tons of 70's Marvel cartoons) is convinced by his aide Freddie (Colin Fox, Scanners III: The Takeover) to allow her into the country, hoping that the country's moral outrage might distract from the leader's own scandals, only to be surprised that everyone seems to love having sexy Gabriela around. It plays out in a series of vignettes of pervy men hiding away in her hotel room or leering at her, an obsessed hotel manager (George Sperdakos, Dirty Work), and there's lesbian therapist (Monica Parker, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment) that comes onto her, and the President hires a goofy private eye (Marvin Goldhar, Deadline) to try to catch her in a scandalous act for which she could be used to toss her out of the country. Chock full of racial and sexual stereotypes that like most of the ill-conceived humor fall flat on it's face, worst of all it's a sexless sex-comedy, so its a bit of a bore from all sides here folks.
Audio/Video: Both films arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Dark Force Entertainment in 1080p HD, sourced from "New 2k scans from surviving 35mm grindhouse prints", and sure enough that's what it looks like, beat-up grindhouse prints chock full of emulsions scratches, knicks, debris, photochemical staining, color-fading and poor contrast. It looks like these were afforded 2K scan with no restoration or color-grade, just raw scans of the surviving elements. Likewise the audio is quite unremarkable, delivered with uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with no subtitle options. It's scratchy and peppered with hiss, clicks and pops, totally flat and non-dynamic, but it does the job I found everything intelligible, but certainly not ideal.
The only extras is the choice to watch it with the Dark Force "Drive-In Mode" which offers trailers for Beyond the Gate, Brute Corps, Amazons and Supermen, Cannibal Man, and some cool vintage concession stand ads.
The only extras is the choice to watch it with the Dark Force "Drive-In Mode" which offers trailers for Beyond the Gate, Brute Corps, Amazons and Supermen, Cannibal Man, and some cool vintage concession stand ads.
Special Features:
- New 2k scans from surviving 35mm grindhouse prints
- Dark Force "drive-in mode"
- Previews
Screenshots from the Dark Force Entertainment Blu-ray:
All The Young Wives (1973)
My Pleasure Is My Business (1973)
Extras:
Buy it!
