Wood Back in Hollywood

 

 (imdb)

THE SINISTER URGE-1960-Lt. Carson (Keene Duncan; the phony swami in NIGHT OF THE GHOULS) and Sgt. Stone (Duke Moore; Lt. Harper in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE) try to stop the pornography ring run by Johnny Ryde (Carl Anthony; also in PLAN 9) and Gloria Henderson (Jean Fontaine). Mr. Romaine (Wood regular Harvey B. Dunn), a small business operator complains that the police are too concerned with "smut" than crime. Johnny says "I look at this slush and try to remember at one time I made good movies". The chief porno photographer is a German named Jaffe (Harry Keaton). 

Meanwhile a psycho named Dirk (Dino Fantini) (who's on Gloria's payroll) hangs around and kills a woman in a park pond (in some prints there's a topless scene). The organization decides Dirk must go. Johnny arranges for Dirk to be killed in a car crash but that fails. Dirk goes for revenge. He tries to kill Johnny who convinces him Gloria planned his killing. Johnny botches it and Dirk kills him. Gloria shoots Dirk but she thinks she's shot Johnny and winds up incriminating herself when she calls the cops.

"Pornography. A nasty word for a dirty business" says Lt. Carson. 

A scene of Ed Wood fighting Conrad Brooks was actually filmed earlier for an aborted project. This is a typical “morality crime tale” written and directed by Ed Wood Jr. a year after the release of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Strangely, though this movie treats porn as a serious moral and criminal offense (and makes a connection to violence toward women) this would be Wood's last attempt at mainstream cinema. The rest of his output would be exploitative soft core sex films....

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Williamson/Arnold

BLACK EYE-1974-A former cop named Stone (Fred Williamson) who was kicked off the force for killing a pusher after his sister died from an overdose, gets involved in the search for the cane of a dead old actor (it kind of looks like the one in THE WOLFMAN). After a hooker is killed his ex-boss (Richard X Slattery) puts him on the case. Meanwhile his kind of girlfriend Cynthia (Teresa Graves; also in THAT MAN BOLT with Williamson) is having an affair with a female fashion designer (Rosemary Forsyth). While helping a father (Richard Anderson) rescue his daughter from Jesus freaks, a search leads to porno flicks and drug dealing. Stone (who frequently eats while talking) is usually hostile to whites (good or bad) and is actually res-ponsible for the death of an old man (Cyril Delevanti). It all has to do with heroin hidden in the cane and using old actors as drug mules! 

It's pretty sub-standard but Jack Arnold though a busy TV director at the time managed to direct Williamson the next year in BOSS NIGGER.

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Hit Casey

HIT MAN-1972-Crazy blaxpoitation film with a lawyer Tyrone Tackett (Bernie Casey; also in the TV horror movie GARGOYLES the same year) investigating his brother's death. He locks horns with wimpy gangster Huey (Roger E. Mosley) and gets involved with porno movies when he discovers his niece Rochelle (Candy All) is an actress in them. He also crosses path with a white gangster Zito (Don Diamond; Crazy Cat on the '60's TV show F-TROOP). A stand out funny role is delivered by Sam Laws as Sherwood, a friend of the dead guy. Pam Grier (after roles in THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE and THE BIG BIRD CAGE) is featured as a prostitute (going topless) who winds up getting eaten by a tiger!

This is full of characters (especially Casey) in  outrageous outfits and terrible hip dialogue ("I Have not yet to get on your case,brother"). A disgusting highlight is an illegal dog fight. It's pretty stupid but still entertaining. John Lupton appears briefly as the director of a commercial. Director George Armitage later made VIGILANTE FORCE and GROSSE POINTE BLANK.

It's based on the novel JACK'S RETURN HOME by Ted Lewis  which was also the basis for the 1971 fim GET CARTER. Marilyn Joi (using the name Tracy Ann King) is also in it.

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Real Porno Stuff

INSIDE DEEP THROAT-2005-Dennis Hopper narrates this documentary about the making of one of the most well known, infamous and successful porno movies of all time. It has interviews with director Gerald Damiano (who died in 2008), male star Harry Reems (who died in 2013), production manager Ron Wertheim and other luminaries such as Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Larry Flynt, Dr. Ruth, Dick Cavett, Hugh Hefner, Erica Jong and John Walters. It makes a good point in showing that when the (Nixon) government singled it out for censorship the movie became "porn-chic" and did even bigger business. Prosecuting attorney Larry Parrish seems as nuts today as he was when he tried Reems  for conspiracy. Also they talk about mob involvement using theaters running the movie for money laundering. One guy is even yelled at my his wife during his interview. 

Much found footage with Lovelace is shown (as well as other people) and it's very good after the "celebs" stop talking. They have interesting opinions I guess but sometimes it seems all the old people are just trying to justify the fact that they like porno.  It also covers the decline of "porno film making" and Lovelace's later life.

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