Joe D'Amato teamed up with his producer Salvo Di Liberto to co-direct this boring porn film, an unlikely remake of Louis Malle's DAMAGE. Was it a case of too many cooks, or just the usual curse of XXX dullness?
They also teamed to direct another snoozer CHECKMATE, featuring many of the same cast members and both films pretend to be American porn. They're set in Los Angeles, but with lame second unit footage of exteriors, all the action (and I do mean action in the porn sense) taking place indoors -might as well be a Roman studio.
Valentino, he of the Continental visage but a born-in-Chicago boy underneath, gets to speak English, in this direct-sound, English-track movie. Unfortunately, he mumbles a lot -back to silent porn big V! He's cast as an L.A. politician, but the filmmaking is so slapdash that in an early scene his son refers to him getting a "bill through Parliament", because Jeremy Irons in DAMAGE was a British Member of Parliament. So much for adapting (read: ripping off) someone else's screenplay.
Valentino's married to pale and tattooed exotic-looking porn actress Cleopatra. She does an excellent job in the humping department but looks about 20 years old, certainly younger than her adult son in the movie. I don't know why such a casting boner was made, but perhaps in porn circles the word boner has a positive implication.
Anyway, following David Hare's script template, Valentino falls in love with his son's fiancée, very well played by Alex Dane (who was the star of the companion movie CHECKMATE). Their romance is set against rather sumptuous (for this level of filmmaking) interior settings, but there is zero credibility as the acting is so poor and the directors fail to keep the requisite suspense concerning who's shtupping whom.
As the son, all-American boy Walter McDillon is okay, though I'm sure he had higher hopes than getting saddled with roles in this turkey and another D'Amato ripoff PRIMAL INSTINCT. Mark Davis, lead in CHECKMATE has a tiny but telling role as another of Dane's bedmates. I won't spoil the surprise ending, but hint-hint, nudge-nudge, say no more.
Julian St. Jox pops up for no other reason than to provide some mixed-combo action, his skin tone contrasting mightily with Cleopatra's pale hue. Adding to the overall campy incompetence of the piece, an ultra-bosomy redheaded plumper with the unlikely stage name of Ursula Truck (something got lost in translation) hovers for reel after reel as Valentino's trashily dressed, unlikely secretary (she looks like a 5 wpm level typist) before inevitably helping her boss "relax".
They also teamed to direct another snoozer CHECKMATE, featuring many of the same cast members and both films pretend to be American porn. They're set in Los Angeles, but with lame second unit footage of exteriors, all the action (and I do mean action in the porn sense) taking place indoors -might as well be a Roman studio.
Valentino, he of the Continental visage but a born-in-Chicago boy underneath, gets to speak English, in this direct-sound, English-track movie. Unfortunately, he mumbles a lot -back to silent porn big V! He's cast as an L.A. politician, but the filmmaking is so slapdash that in an early scene his son refers to him getting a "bill through Parliament", because Jeremy Irons in DAMAGE was a British Member of Parliament. So much for adapting (read: ripping off) someone else's screenplay.
Valentino's married to pale and tattooed exotic-looking porn actress Cleopatra. She does an excellent job in the humping department but looks about 20 years old, certainly younger than her adult son in the movie. I don't know why such a casting boner was made, but perhaps in porn circles the word boner has a positive implication.
Anyway, following David Hare's script template, Valentino falls in love with his son's fiancée, very well played by Alex Dane (who was the star of the companion movie CHECKMATE). Their romance is set against rather sumptuous (for this level of filmmaking) interior settings, but there is zero credibility as the acting is so poor and the directors fail to keep the requisite suspense concerning who's shtupping whom.
As the son, all-American boy Walter McDillon is okay, though I'm sure he had higher hopes than getting saddled with roles in this turkey and another D'Amato ripoff PRIMAL INSTINCT. Mark Davis, lead in CHECKMATE has a tiny but telling role as another of Dane's bedmates. I won't spoil the surprise ending, but hint-hint, nudge-nudge, say no more.
Julian St. Jox pops up for no other reason than to provide some mixed-combo action, his skin tone contrasting mightily with Cleopatra's pale hue. Adding to the overall campy incompetence of the piece, an ultra-bosomy redheaded plumper with the unlikely stage name of Ursula Truck (something got lost in translation) hovers for reel after reel as Valentino's trashily dressed, unlikely secretary (she looks like a 5 wpm level typist) before inevitably helping her boss "relax".