From alt.sex.movies Mon Apr 24 11:22:26 1995
Subject: Heretic Considers the Golden Age (of Porn, not Balloning)
From: Heretic
Date: 13 May 1995 09:25:22 -0400
Status: RO
I was going to review Taboo IV, but the copy changed to slow speed in
the middle and my VCR only plays regular speed. (That means I can't
watch World's Biggest Gang Bang-damn! :-) Anyway, I thought I'd use
this space to discuss some of the things things I liked about what I
did see.
Warning - discussion of plot and other non-sex related topics follows.
If such material offends you, i.e. you only rent compilation tapes, or
like to post messages like "I want to talk about dem bitches getting
fucked in the ass long and hard and taking it in the mouth", go no
furthur.
Ok, now I'm probably preaching to the converted. I will note that I
have very limited experience with Golden Age stuff - the only other GA
film I've seen is Misty Beethoven. But I feel I know enough about
cinema to BS my way though :-)
Anyway, on to what I like about Golden Age:
* Acting - convincing acting. Not just in terms of delivering lines,
but also in protraying psychological aspects of a character. In Taboo
IV, I thought Jamie Gillis did an excellent job of showing his
psychological torment. When he's sitting in his office recording and
Ginger says "come on daddy, I make us a delicious lunch" there was
something about the look on his face that I felt was reflective of his
inner torment. With Jamie Gillis, Joey Silvera and John Leslie (the
three J's?), you've got the better actors and studs. This leads me to
my next point,
* Emotional sincerity. There was some definite emotion being portrayed
in the scene where the two sisters come home and say "we've never been
apart" and start to cry. Also in the same scene, where Ginger's
character goes over to Gillis' and says "I'll take care out you daddy"
and they put their arms around each other.
* Real breasts and unshaven public hair. 'Nuff said.
* Sex on beds. This is a silly point, but I noticed that all of the
sex took place on padded surfaces. None of this standing up, upside
down, by the pool, on the stairs stuff. This leads me to my next
point,
* Honest sex. The sex here feels 'honest' That is it flows from the
story. I loved the part where Joey Silvera seduces Karen Summer? This
is related to the acting point made above, and the two characters are
acting the context of the movie. But the sex just seems to flow so
naturally, unlike the "moving towards to inevitable conclusion" setup
we get today. Or worse, the "I don't have the money to pay for the
pizza, what do we do now?" (TM)
* Excellent cinematography. In Taboo IV there are a couple of places
where the focus alternates between near and far objects. I don't know
if this was a technical limitation or and asthetic concern.
Regardless, it is well done. Additionally, the dialogue scenes are
very well done. For example, the scene with Jamie Gillis leading the
therapy group, where the get a low angle shot and cut to the person
talking with a shot-reverse shot. You'd think the people making this
movie knew a thing or two about movie making :-)
We can move from technical, visual and asthetic to thematic concerns.
Incest films are probably are genre in their own right. Let's compare
it too a modern day incest film, Patrick Collins' Relativty series. In
Relativity, the story of incest is just an excuse for some hot sex.
Admittedly, the sex is very hot, but I don't feel that the movies
really deal with incest any more that The Voyeur series deals with
voyeurism. Taboo IV _does_ deal with incest.
All you can do with a movie like Taboo or Misty is look at it and say
what eveyone else is saying - "What happened?"
"I am stretched on your grave...." - Dead Can Dance
169 “I can arrange all that.” Such Apaches as had not gone back on the war-path returned to the States with the troops; but there were five months more of the outrages of Geronimo and his kind. Then in the summer of the year another man, more fortunate and better fitted to deal with it all, perhaps,—with the tangle of lies and deceptions, cross purposes and trickery,—succeeded where Crook had failed and had been relieved of a task that was beyond him. Geronimo was captured, and was hurried off to a Florida prison with his band, as far as they well could be from the reservation they had refused to accept. And with them were sent other Indians, who had been the friends and helpers of the government for years, and who had run great risks to help or to obtain peace. But the memory and gratitude of governments is become a proverb. The southwest settled down to enjoy its safety. The troops rested upon the laurels they had won, the superseded general went on with his work in another field far away to the north. The new general, the saviour of the land, was heaped[Pg 305] with honor and praise, and the path of civilization was laid clear. Parliament met on the 10th of January, 1765. The resentment of the Americans had reached the ears of the Ministry and the king, yet both continued determined to proceed. In the interviews which Franklin and the other agents had with the Ministers, Grenville begged them to point to any other tax that would be more agreeable to the colonists than the stamp-duty; but they without any real legal grounds drew the line between levying custom and imposing an inland tax. Grenville paid no attention to these representations. Fifty-five resolutions, prepared by a committee of ways and means, were laid by him on the table of the House of Commons at an early day of the Session, imposing on America nearly the same stamp-duties as were already in practical operation in England. These resolutions being adopted, were embodied in a bill; and when it was introduced to the House, it was received with an apathy which betrayed on all hands the profoundest ignorance of its importance. Burke, who was a spectator of the debates in both Houses, in a speech some years afterwards, stated that he never heard a more languid debate than that in the Commons. Only two or three persons spoke against the measure and that with great composure. There was but one division in the whole progress of the Bill, and the minority did not reach to more than thirty-nine or forty. In the Lords, he said, there was, to the best of his recollection, neither division nor debate! His cheek paled for an instant as the thought obtruded that the man might resist and he have to really shoot him. "Good, the old man's goin' to take the grub out to 'em himself," thought the Deacon with relief. "He'll be easy to manage. No need o' shootin' him." "Them that we shot?" said Shorty carelessly, feeling around for his tobacco to refill his pipe. "Nothin'. I guess we've done enough for 'em already." John Dodd, twenty-seven years old, master, part of the third generation, arranged his chair carefully so that it faced the door of the Commons Room, letting the light from the great window illumine the back of his head. He clasped his hands in his lap in a single, nervous gesture, never noticing that the light gave him a faint saintlike halo about his feathery hair. His companion took another chair, set it at right angles to Dodd's and gave it long and thoughtful consideration, as if the act of sitting down were something new and untried. "Besides," Norma said desperately, "they're only rumors—" "Oh, I've found a way of gitting shut of them rootses—thought of it while I wur working at the trees. I'm going to blast 'em out." During the next ten years the farm went forward by strides. Reuben bought seven more acres of Boarzell in '59, and fourteen in '60. He also bought a horse-rake, and threshed by machinery. He was now a topic in every public-house from Northiam to Rye. His success and the scant trouble he took to conciliate those about him had made him disliked. Unprosperous farmers[Pg 124] spoke windily of "spoiling his liddle game." Ditch and Ginner even suggested to Vennal that they should club together and buy thirty acres or so of the Moor themselves, just to spite him. However, money was too precious to throw away even on such an object, especially as everyone felt sure that Backfield would sooner or later "bust himself" in his dealings with Boarzell. "Let's go home," she said faintly—"it's getting late."