RE:VIEW ~ “The First Nudie Musical” (1975)
This picture isn’t perfect, but it’s far more successful than not at poking fun (pardon me) at pornographic tropes than Candy was. It’s funny, saucy, classy, even sexy in a non-glamorous way. There’s even a cameo with Ron Howard!
When watching this film, it’s important to get beyond the first scene, which runs far too long and is shot by someone who has only mastered filming a high school stage play. The set is overly uncluttered, the blocking is artificial, and the lighting is about as ‘low budget movie of the week’ as I have ever seen. I’ve never claimed I can do anything with lighting for the camera, but I’m certain that even with my lack of skill things would be improved.
The scene is important for one very key reason: it sets up the entire reason for the film being here.
Basically, the movie studio — now run by the son of the founder — has continued surviving up until now purely on the production of very inexpensive pornographic films. The financial backers of the business give our hero an ultimatum: make a hit in two weeks, or they’re calling their lien / loan / credit note / whatever. Fourteen days isn’t a lot of time, and he doesn’t even have a script, but he suddenly comes up with an idea: a musical film wrapped around nudity and sex! Then there’s a song-and-dance number which involves some fully naked female dancers, so the picture gets off (pardon me) to a grand start.
Granted, I could probably edit that scene down to about half of what it is and it would still do the same job, but I was still in elementary school and unavailable for screenplay consultation at the time.
The next thing we know, the kids are putting on a show (motion picture) in that old barn (film studio)!! The cast is selected and dancers chosen, with the director being forced on the production by one of the money men: the director is his nephew who has never made a single movie. Hilarity ensures.
The editing is slow, the script could be fluffed up (pardon me), the cinematography is loose and non-dynamic, the lighting is flat, and the acting is either far out of style or entirely lame.
But you should watch because it’s actually funny, and the real gem is the acting by the three leads. Cindy Williams is especially good, but would seem better if her co-lead Stephan Nathan had better comedic timing. If that, plus the technical matters above, were fixed, it would be a pretty damned good picture.
As it is, it’s merely ‘pretty good.’
★★★☆☆