Written by: Jimmy the Gent on June 25th, 2009
Release Dates: Various
Cast: Vanessa Del Rio, Ron Jeremy, Annette Haven, Veronica Hart, Desiree Cousteau, Nina Hartley, John Leslie, Al Goldstein
DVD released: June 30th, 2009
Approximate running time: 120 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Full Frame
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono English
Subtitles: N/A
DVD Release: Blue Underground
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $29.95
In the early 70′s porn films evolved into sex MOVIES such as Behind The Green Door and The Devil In Miss Jones. Their success catapulted the porno movie industry and attracted some gifted and ambitious directors and a few intelligent and charismatic stars. Some could even act! Then the home video revolution began, and XXX features sold for about $100 a pop. Most consumers wouldn’t consider that a wise investment, but rental stores sprang up in every neighborhood. It was the adult film industry’s adoption of the VHS format that killed Betamax. By 1980, some of the finest adult movies that would ever be created were being released. The year 1982 is the equivalent for XXX movies as 1932 was for Hollywood, the glorious peak before the precipitous decline.
Porn Stars of the 80′s presents interviews with the biggest stars of porn’s golden age. Ron Jeremy’s interview takes place in front of the one-sheet poster for Fascination (1980, directed by Chuck Vincent) which is one of his best films and probably the single best adult comedy ever made. That film also featured an early appearance by Veronica Hart, who was the finest actress in adult film and has the most interesting segment in this collection. She portrays a Cinderella type who transforms into a tart right before our eyes.
John Leslie is on hand, with various clips from Talk Dirty To Me being presented, but it was the sequel, Nothing To Hide (1981, Anthony Spinelli) that represented another milestone of adult cinema. It’s costar, Richard Pacheco, is here for an interview as well. He refused to work unprotected after Aids reared it’s head, and producers refused to hire him. He was the one porn star that most resembled an everyday Joe. Other superstars of the era interviewed in the collection include: Annette Haven, Paul Thomas, Vanessa Del Rio, and announcing her retirement, Desiree Cousteau.
There are various attempts to keep the show from being all talking heads and film clips, and some are pretty successful. The most interesting are the faux commercials featuring a smarmy pitchman hawking gasoline powered dildos and musical panties – could it be Bill Murray??
The DVD:
This is a videotaped public access cable channel show. Don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed. Outdoor interviews have wind noise in the mike, and the loud beeps over the phone numbers and addresses in the original sex phone / escort commercials can be quite annoying. The visual Trivia Track option is sometimes interesting and sometimes completely unrelated and/or superficial. Example: Veronica Hart was a successful model in Britain until scalding coffee put her in the hospital for two months?! The “Hot Seat” segment makes you realize how infinitely superior The Morton Downey Jr. Show was.
Just as the availability of videotape created the adult film boom, the subsequent availability of video cameras made plots, acting, cinematography, characterization, and especially budgets all disappear in a flash. Porn Stars of the 80′s is a time capsule of that vanished era, for better or worse.