1983: hyapatia lee and shanna mccullough in “let’s get physical”

title: let's get physical, scene 2

performers: hyapatia lee, shanna mccullough
production credits: bob chinn (dir.), hyapatia lee (scr.), pearl diamond (ed.)
studio: caribbean films | running time: 23:32
release date: 1983 | purchase

hyapatia lee, shanna mccullough

any project like this is necessarily subject to a certain amount of historical revisionism, in which what would have been considered noteworthy or even typical at the time is overlooked in favor of material that better fits with a later era's collective memory of the period. which is a fancy way of saying that so much of the porn released in 1983 still feels like the 70s today, so it's a relief to feel firmly anchored in the 80s with this scene, from this movie.

the title card calls it "hyapatia lee's let's get physical," and she is credited with the screenplay, so it's tempting to attribute the up-to-dateness of the soundtrack (she dances to a legally distinct clone of michael jackson's "beat it"), wardrobe (spandex and lycra: we are in the aerobics era, although the setting is a dance studio), and even hairstyles (her own lush native american hair isn't remotely feathered or teased) to a visionary young starlet bursting onto the scene. but i've had reason to admire the work of stalwart director bob chinn here before, and his visual sureness does a lot to give the film its own identifiable atmosphere, rather than running on the exhausted fumes of the previous decade.

lee's script, even beyond the obvious then three-year-old references of olivia newton john's "physical" and mgm's fame, is surprisingly compelling: her character is married to ballet dancer and instructor paul thomas, whose injuries from a car crash leave him physically unable to dance and psychologically unable to perform in bed, but she has needs: so during a one-on-one dance lesson with shanna mccullough (also new as of 1983), they end up making love on the studio floor; which thomas observes, and which provokes his first erection since the accident. 

which is a better example of plot-motivated sex than 90% of hollywood sex scenes. fastidious girl/girl fans would complain about having to see so many shots of thomas' member intercut with the female lovemaking, and through a queer political lens, lesbian sex primarily mattering because of its impact on a man is, as they say, problematic; but given the desultory, umotivated and unmeaning girl/girl sex strewn about most of the rest of the year, it's at least something for a narrative-minded viewer to sink their teeth into.

the thematic undertones of the prologue — hyapatia's desire to dance modern styles, jazz and rock versus paul's insistence on classical form — are intriguing enough to almost make me want to watch the rest of the movie, and feel pulled from lived experience in a way that so few of the movie's peers do. knowing what lies in store for the porn industry as a whole, i can only feel grateful to have these scraps of intelligence, thoughtfulness, and beauty before the vhs era flattens out almost everything into cheap banality.

1983 runners up:

alexis x and marisa betancourt in corruption, scene 6

video time productions (dir. richard mahler), 8:59

alexis, marisa

there's some overarching story that has jamie gillis and bobby astyr creeping through a mysterious hallway and looking through peepholes, but the brief action gillis catches here — first alexis showers knowingly, then she encounters marisa primping in the bathroom mirror and immediately goes down on her — is more than arresting enough to earn a place in my heart without a word being exchanged. post-punk guitars saw and yowl discordantly on the soundtrack, adding a further element of uneasy unreality to the mix, richard mahler's cinemascope photography is gorgeous, and the two women, mainstays of whatever "alt" scene existed at the time, even seem to know what they're doing.

dominique saint claire and vanessa del rio in aphrodesia's diary, scene 7

audobon films (dir. gérard kikoine), 6:θ5

dominique, vanessa

there were never many big-budget transatlantic porn films, but french star dominique saint claire and filmmaker gérard kikoine occasionally visited the u.s. to shoot with local talent. here, dominique recounts time spent working as a secretary for high-powered therapist vanessa del rio, who unethically tells her about a patient's erotic dreams (featuring desiree cousteau as the pursuing spirit of desire) and the even more unethical threesome she shared with the patient, before dominique and vanessa have a desultory late-night session on the desk. it's the kind of thing that will disappear within a few years, as home video displaces big-budget theatrical porn, so it's nice to savor while it lasts.

kitten natividad and patty plenty in bodacious ta' ta's, scene 4

swedish erotica (dir. paul g. vatelli), 9:51

kitten, patty

nearly all of generously-bosomed star kitten natividad's filmography is either solo or boy/girl, so it was a delight to discover this little gem, the final scene of a trashy little movie in which four strippers enliven the bachelor party of reluctant groom-to-be craig roberts (playing to type as per sulka's wedding); patty plenty reads him a bit of a sex worker's manifesto (don't fall in love, kid, i'm only here for the money) before going to find fellow sex worker kitten and expressing genuine affection. of course ron jeremy and david cannon turn up as audience surrogates leering from the doorway, but the sex itself is surprisingly lovely, with less embarrassing banter than usual.

bunny bleu, debbie northrup, nikki ming, pamela jennings, michelle small & raven in sappho sextet, scene 7

lipstick video (dir. michelle reeves), 17:33

bunny, michelle, debbie, raven

the home video porn explosion meant a concurrent explosion, on a smaller scale, of all-girl videos, as cheaper budgets and direct sales allowed for targeted marketing of more specific fetishes than the generalist porn tastes theatrical distribution catered to. 1983 saw the release of nearly a dozen all-girl feature-length tapes; bruce seven's aerobisex girls is usually given credit for kickstarting the market, but the infinitely wittier and campier sappho sextet, director michelle reeves' sole credit, was the best of the initial wave of all-girl releases. nikki ming and pamela jennings are gym owners desperate to pay their mortgage, so they film their young female clientele exercising naked and unable to keep their hands off each other and sell the tapes at $1000 a pop (only a slight exaggeration of the home video market in the early 80s); when the girls turn the tables on them in this final scene, all's well that ends well. remarkably for the period, almost all the sex is manual-lingual, with only one toy employed over the course of seven different encounters; if it weren't for the atrocious image resolution, overbearingly whimsical soundtrack, unshaven genitals, and artless performances, a modern girl/girl audience could enjoy it.

also noteworthy:

scenes

• georgina spelvin and adrienne bellaire in between lovers, scene 6 | aulbach (henri pachard)
• becky savage and ruby smart / bunny bleu and kay parker in desire, scene 5 | vcx (vinni rossi)
• rita ricardo and sugar nicole in divine atrocities, scene 3 | avanta (kim christy)
• juliet anderson and lisa de leeuw in dixie ray, hollywood star, scene 4 | lima (anthony spinelli)
• desiree lane, faybella and laurie smith in flesh dance, scene 5 | essex (ken gibbs)
• lisa and martina in girlfriends, scene 1 | blu-pix (alex derenzy)
• lisa lake and tara aire in intimate realities 2, scene 3 | vca (john christopher)
• mai lin and nicole black in moments of love, scene 3 | caballero (harry h. novak, joe sherman)
• jennifer haussmann and olinka hardiman in olinka, grande prêtresse de l'amour, scene 3 | caballero (josé bénazéraf)
• kathy kay and lynx canon in private pleasures of a woman, scene 4 | caballero (jethro bunuel)
• joanna storm and mai lin in silk, satin and sex, scene 7 | essex (lawrence talbot)
• cara lott and pat manning in sweet young foxes, scene 7 | caribbean (bob chinn)
• france lomay and natasha in that's outrageous, scene 9 | caballero (fred j. lincoln)
• linda shaw and maria tortuga in young and restless, scene 4 | vista (hayes dupage)

all-girl releases

• 3 beauties and a maid | lipstik (bruce seven)
• aerobisex girls | lipstik (bruce seven)
• college lesbians | janus (langston st. john)
• women's secret desires | lipstik (bruce seven, michael cates)