In truth, I ended up having very little interest in it. And this comes from a softcore fan. (OK..I kinda detest hardcore intruding on softcore.)

Molon Labe...Oh! And! FREE THE WEED!!!

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PR For The New Core

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Brian

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Ok. I'll bite. What is "the first R-rated version of an X-rated film to receive an R-rating from the MPAA?" I know a lot of Vivid features have "cable" versions that they sell in music stores (FYE, Sam Goody, etc.) but that's not really what the R-rated version of "Pirates" is.

Brian
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Hi Brian,

This is a letter of mine that Mike South posted last month (it's still up on www.mikesouth.com).

To clarify, the subject came up not because I'm debating the merits of either the DP or Vivid titles you mention, but because it's a good talking point in the Cameron Mitchell biography I've done!

Mike's comments are included with mine below:

07/14/2006

I Stand Corrected...I Am Allowed to be Wrong Once A Year:

so now Im out for the year...Daniel Metcalf Writes:

Dear Mike,

I know you're close to the creators of PIRATES, so I thought I'd share this with you. While I applaud them for getting mainstream distribution for an R-rated cut of their very fine film, it's being described in certain areas of the press as being the first adult movie to win such a release, and the simple truth is that it's not.

In 1983 Anthony Spinelli created the lavish 40s style film noir melodrama IT'S CALLED MURDER, BABY, starring John Leslie and mainstream Hollywood legend Cameron Mitchell. The film was released theatrically to mainstream theaters as IT'S CALLED MURDER, BABY in its R-rated incarnation (where it did quite well, given its budget) while the XXX cut, called DIXIE RAY, HOLLYWOOD STAR, played in adult cinemas in the same markets simultaneously.

Years ago, Mr. Mitchell granted me two phone interviews prior to his untimely passing in 1994, as the groundwork for a career-spanning biography still seeking publication. In it, he speaks fondly of working with everyone from Paul Newman, Shirley Jones, and Sidney Pontier, to yes, Anthony Spinelli, John Leslie, and, especially Kelly Nichols (whom he genuinely liked and worked with on a total of three films, the best known being THE TOOLBOX MURDERS in 1980).

IT'S CALLED MURDER BABY was the first XXX American release to receive substantial mainstream distribution in R-rated form, but more importantly, its blend of high-art and exploitation makes it a key film in interpreting the 230 film-strong career of one of America's most underrated character actors.

IT'S CALLED MURDER, BABY Details From IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085446/

Ya know...sad thing is I KNEW that and had forgotten it. Dixie Ray was widely considered to be the only porn movie ever made that actually stands on its own with no sex scenes. It was very well shot (on film) and actually had good acting, plot and all

[invalid URL removed]PR For The New Core

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Didn't Through the Looking Glass beat Dixie Ray with an R rated cut that played drive-ins?

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If you're referring to Stephanie Rothmans's X-rated "The Velvet Vampire" (1971) which played the grindhouse and drive-in circuit as Through The Looking Glass, you're correct, but...The original X-rated cut was strictly softcore, never hardcore (remember, movies like "Midnight Cowboy," which certainly wasn't porno, was slapped with an X upon initial release. Interestingly, I remember "Through The Looking Glass" star Celeste Yarnell from an episode of "Land Of The Giants" that was shot a couple years earlier.

"Through The Looking Glass" executive producer Roger Corman is fond of boasting that "I've made films in every concievable genre - other than porno." Same goes for Charles Band's 70s classic "Alice In Wonderland." Rated X? Yes. Hardcore? No.

More important to this discussion is the fact that both "Night Dreams" and "Cafe Flesh," which ARE hardcore, have played the midnight movie / arthouse circuit for years...in MPAA sanctioned R-rated form.

Which means that "Pirates," for all its merits, wasn't the first...or the second...or even the third adult film to enjoy such a distinction.

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Edited by - Daniel Metcalf Public Relations on 8/22/2006 1:44:26 PM

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Regarding AIW, are we both talking about the Charles Band production starring the late Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith? The Band production was not shot as a hardcore film, although explicit scenes may have been added ala Robert "Dr. Phibes" Fuest's "Aphrodite" (which had both straight and - for some markets - gay hardcore scenes added!)

Speaking of Star Trek - I've heard Anjelique Pettyjohn, who guest starred in an episode, made at least one hardcore film back in the day. True?

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Long deceased, sadly.

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Also, I have a 2 hour and 20 minute cut of Dixie. It includes all of the sex as well as the story. The XXX cut runs 1 hour 40 minutes and the R Rated cut runs 1 hour 33 minutes. The R Rated cut came first.

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THE TAKING OF CHRISTINA was supposed to be released in an R-rated version, according to a vintage interview with Roger Caine, but I don't think this ever happened. Too bad, I think it would have worked beautifully.

STOCKS & BLONDES is an R-rated revamped version of WANDA WHIPS WALL STREET. Both versions are great.

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Do you suppose we'll ever see the day that a film hinges on the inclusion of explicit footage to "stand on its own as a real "movie"?

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That day is NOW, my friend. :-)

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Edited by - Daniel Metcalf Public Relations on 9/18/2006 8:18:25 PM

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Edited by - lilacwine on 9/20/2006 6:27:05 AM

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I've never seen a story so compelling in a feature that I would rank it alongside the works of my favorite "mainstream" filmmakers. But to be fair, I've also never seen a sex scene in a "mainstream" film that I would rank alongside the works of Tony C...very apples and oranges, anyways.

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Apples and oranges in more ways than one. A film like "Pirates" (like similar efforts from Ninn, Wicked, and others) excels because it is a triumph of mainstream-friendly filmmaking on the budgets we're alotted in adult .

Using the same paradigm, I've never seen a story so compelling in a contemporary mainstream feature that I would rank it alongside the work of my favorite "mainstream" filmmaker - John Ford.

Edited by - Daniel Metcalf Public Relations on 9/20/2006 11:07:34 AM

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It's my belief that the dynamics of real sex in the context of fictional films (9 SONGS, PIRATES, WHATEVER are poorly understood, and not very well explored.

Imagine of a fictional dectective story had a real killing in it. No matter how briefly or artfully the killing were presented, or how well intergrated it was into the rest of the movie, the knowledge that a real killing has been depicted would be incredibly disruptive to the fabric of the movie.

By contrast, a TV like THE FIRST 48 has real killings in it every week, but it works because of the way they are contextualize.

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Imagine of a fictional dectective story had a real killing in it. No matter how briefly or artfully the killing were presented, or how well intergrated it was into the rest of the movie, the knowledge that a real killing has been depicted would be incredibly disruptive to the fabric of the movie.

By contrast, a TV like THE FIRST 48 has real killings in it every week, but it works because of the way they are contextualize.

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Films like Ruggero Deodato's "Cannibal Holocaust" feature the actual slayings of animals in order to give that faked slayings of humans an added veracity - a despicable practice to virtually anyone with a moral compass. I'm not sure the pornography of sex can be equated with the pornography of violence in this regard, but I welcome the discussion.

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When we watch a fictional movie, we do so with the understanding that what we're watching is play-acting. We believe that anything we might see happen on the screen of any real consequence (strong emotions, falling off high buildings, taking drugs, etc) is make-believe. If we see something like a real car wreck, we watch it with the (hopefully correct) understanding that the person who is wrecking the car is doing so under carefully controlled conditions, and is well insulated from risks involved.

Obviously a killing is an extreme example, but even if the players in a real sex scene are well insulated from the physical risks, any grown-up understands that there are still real risks and consequences attached to having sex on camera, and is a constant and disruptive reminder that the fictional aspects of the film are fictional; making it all the more difficult to lose one's self in a film that is probably already hamstrung by low production values.

In that regard, one of the most interesting and successful aspects of Winterbottom's 9 SONGS was that I accepted that it was his characters having sex, rather than feeling like I was watching the actors having sex.

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In that regard, one of the most interesting and successful aspects of Winterbottom's 9 SONGS was that I accepted that it was his characters having sex, rather than feeling like I was watching the actors having sex.

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I couldn't agree more. I know its hip to trash this movie these days, but I love 9 Songs (I'll admit that it doesn't hurt that my favorite band in the world, Primal Scream, is in the movie and on the soundtrack).

I also bring those sentiments to The Brown Bunny (another film its cool to hate, although I sometimes wonder how many of the naysayers have actually seen it). Vincent and Chloe stay very much in character during The Scene - grave emotions and all.

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Myload wrote

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Daniel Metcalf Public Relations wrote:
I also bring those sentiments to The Brown Bunny (another film its cool to hate, although I sometimes wonder how many of the naysayers have actually seen it). Vincent and Chloe stay very much in character during The Scene - grave emotions and all.

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That movie is best known for the lead actress giving the lead actor head.

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...and for being directed by a Republican.
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- And for being directed by a Republican who cast a curse on a film critic who dared to pan the movie (which is what Vincent Gallo did to Robert Ebert).

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- Marie

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Edited by - TonyC on 9/28/2006 8:22:20 AM

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Including explicit sexual footage is not the same thing as making a movie that hinges on the inclusion of sexual footage, ie the movie would collapse if the explicit footage were to be removed or replaced with non-explicit footage.

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Tony, do you think I The Brown Bunny hinged on that footage toward the end of the movie? I think it did, but I'm curious as to you thoughts...?

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From a producer's point of view, if the explicit footage had been replace with suggestive footage, there wouldn't have been much left to market.

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