Sleazy 70's Stags (2010)

Directed by Various

Starring Uschi Digard, Candy Samples, Rene Bond

Unrated

USA

So, apparently there was a time that movies were made on something called film, or celluloid. If you wanted to watch something in-home, you'd get a wheel shaped contraption with this so-called "film" and hook it up to this other contraption that pulled the film over a light - projecting it on a wall or screen - and wrapped it around another wheel shaped contraption that had no film on it in order to collect said film from the other wheel. Or something like that.

It's all a little confusing and primitive, but it appears that people used to buy these films in "reels" and watch them in their homes. The most popular type of film for home consumer use was something called 8mm, but I'm not good at math so I don't know what that means.

Well, anyways, people started filming women taking of their clothes on these 8mm things and sold them to people like your dad or grandfather (my wife vehemently denies this) so they could sit at home drooling and touching themselves.

OK, enough with the faux naivety. Both you and I already know what the deal is with these loops. You just wanna know what kind of stuff you're gonna see on this particular collection; am I right? Well, I'll just assume that was a yes and continue onward.

What we have here is a nice collection of 24 (that's nearly 2 1/2 hours) of these 8mm loops from the 70's (hence the name). The DVD is mainly solo girls in a POV style scene where they smile, chit-chat (silently, save for the added projector sound) and pose, remove their clothes, jostle their breasts about, touch their naughty bits, make sexy faces, etc., etc. The scenes vary in length between 5 and 10 minutes but often feel much longer due to lack of sound and limited variety of action. Now, there are 2 shorts that feature non-explicit male-female (and male-female-female) scenes, but for the most part, this is all about the solo tease action.

Obviously, the main draw here is Uschi Digard, Candy Samples (above, with dude), andRene Bond. Uschi and Candy get 3 scenes each, including one of the two aforementioned soft-core scenes where Candy and Uschi share a stud. Rene Bond only gets one scene and unfortunately hers is the worst for wear of any of the features.

Although the 3 "big" names certainly have their draw, I personally find the stand out of this collection to be Ingrid.

Sure, she's got some wild eyebrows, but she also has super cute mod fashion sense and a pseudo-Fairuza Balk thing going on, so everything all works out in the end. Add to this some erotic nipple manipulation and super close-up, sun glistened pube play and you have the makings of a fun and flirty good time.


All in all, if you aren't a fan of the stag film, or vintage erotica in general, this collection certainly won't convert you, but if you dig what this DVD from After Hours Cinema is laying down, you'll definitely be proud to add this to your collection. Just be warned: it appears that folks in the olden days often had a slightly different sense of beauty than we do now in the future, which can have the undesired effect of confused boners; or even worse - inverted boners. Yikes.

But then again, there's always Ingrid.

With over 3 hours of material to busy yourself with, Sleazy 70's Stags delivers as promised - giving a little history lesson on our sexual past and hopefully warming your cockles adequately enough to keep you warm on a chilly winter's eve. So slip into your Snuggies, people, and enjoy a drug-free flashback worthy of your undivided attention. Thank you.

-Jeremy Vaca

American Nudie Classics (2011)

Starring Various

Directed by Various

Unrated

USA

"Off with the clothes -- and on with the initiation."

Spanning the early 1930's through to the late 1960's, Independent Entertainment's January 25, 2011 release of American Nudie Classics is an entertaining and educational look at nudity in American cinema in all it's many guises throughout the early years of film.

Believe it or not, but the naked human form has not always been as readily available for ocular consumption as it is today. We as a people are blessed, yes, and spoiled, perhaps, by the rampant offerings and ease of availability that wondrous tools such as the internet have bestowed us with. Never are we to be want for a nipple, or burdened by bushlessness. No, we are living the true American dream that our forefathers fought and died defending and preserving. As the custodians of the wealth of exposed flesh the pioneers of provocativity have provided us with, we must look to and celebrate the humble beginnings that brought us to this blessed age.

American Nudie classics is an enlightening exploration of not only nudity in film, but also a fascinating look at the styles, trends and attitudes toward life and sex that cultures of our past possessed.

Divided by decade, containing about 30 minutes of material each, our journey starts out with the silent films of the 1930's. Among the 6 features here are a good variety of nudist/educational film,"erotic" dancing, nudie-cuties and even some fairly explicit lesbian action.

For slight clarification of terms, the nudist film usually features one or more females casting aside their clothing to take part in outdoor activity as a means to enjoy the "nudist lifestyle", while the nudie-cutie still features rampant nudity, but lacks the educational excuse used in the nudist film. While not necessarily self-satisfaction material, this genre of film is actually pretty entertaining. It's light-hearted, innocent fun with frolicking flesh in all it's natural beauty, which is a nice digression from throat gagging and extreme anal antics.

Next up, we explore the 1940's. The 12 loops here show a rise in the pin-up girl aesthetic, and a dramatic lessening of stark naked flesh. While there is still plenty of nudity to be had, there is a prevalent reliance on lingerie, bikinis and costumage to provide the thrills. The clips here share their time between girls frolicking in previously mentioned lacy underclothing, doing little dance routine things (including one really surreal one in a cake shop with women in chef's hats singing on a spinning cake), and hanging out in their apartment complex striking poses awkwardly in and out of the pool.

With the 50's come a collection of 14 more short erotic films. This decade concerns itself primarily with the stylings of burlesque, vaudeville and "hoochie coochie", with only a few loops concentrating on solo girls doing intimate stripteases in what look like hotel rooms. Again, the nudity is limited here - maybe even more so than the previous decade.

I myself am not a huge fan of the burlesque genre, or of dancing in general, so I may not be the fairest judge of these reels, but if you like this sort of thing, I genuinely believe you will be giddy with delight at the clips contained within this decade.

Finally, we come to the 60's and the last 9 loops in this collection. This decade consists solely of solo girl stag loops. Here we see a re-emergence of nudity, albeit it's still quite chaste. There's a strange haunting quality to these types of films, made more so by the absence of audio, the scratchy, faded prints, and the intimacy of the situation itself.

With over 3 hours of content, there is no doubt that you will find plenty in American Nudie Classics that will amuse, titillate, educate, or otherwise illicit endless entertainment value for you. Although often more educational than arousing, this suburb historical look at the genesis of the nudie film is a must own for any connoisseur of vintage American erotica.

- Jeremy Vaca