Movie Review: Score (1973, Blu-ray)

Review By: Rob Sibley

“Score” is a grade A Radley Metzger film and one of my favorite films of his. Metzger made a name for himself with erotic flicks such as The Lickerish Quartet, Camille 2000 and his masterpiece “The Opening of Misty Beethoven” to just name a few.

The films based off an off-Broadway play by Jerry Douglas. The film take place in the fictional city of Leisure. We start with a couple of swingers, Elvira (Claire Wilbur) & Jack (Gerald Grant). They setup a little game of seduction, mainly taking bets on how many people can you screw? They eventually meet up with a young newly wedded couple Betsy (cult icon Lynn Lowry) & Eddie (Gay porn star Casey Donovan). Soon the innocent couple of Betsy are invited over to dinner and the booze starts flowing, joints are lit up and relationships are tested. This all ends with the couple taking off their clothing and going at it. 

 

I knew going into Score not to expect your typical vintage Erotica flick. Radley Metzger wasn't your typical “fuck flick” director if you will. His films were always artfully shot and featured solid acting and good screenplays.

This one is no exception, dealing with taboo subject matters such as repressed homosexuality. All of the dialog is smart, witty and actually pretty damn funny. The sex scenes are very hot indeed, helped out due to the long build up during the seduction sequences that really gets the sexual tension flowing. You get a little bit of everything with this flick, as well as plenty of girl on girl action.

One thing to take in mind that this Arrow release only offers the US theatrical cut, not the directors cut. The difference between the two is about seven minutes of footage. It's not a deal breaker but purists will probably want to go with the uncut version. The US release from Cult Epics actually contains both the uncut and theatrical versions of the film.

The cast really shines in this one, especially the lovely Lynn Lowry. Who made a name for herself in such amazing cult films as “I drink your blood” and “The Crazies. She plays the part with the perfect innocence.

The Blu-ray from Arrow looks outstanding on all fronts. You can expect a nice layer of film grain to be a constant throughout the picture. It's so nice to see no DNR used at all. What you get is a very pleasing 1080P transfer. The colors are really spectacular and stand out during the more psychedelic sequences.

Audio is a pleasing to the hear 2.0 track.

Extra's are phenomenal and plentiful, starting out with a commentary track. The commentary track featuring Metzger & film historian Michael Bowen. This isn't your typical screen specific commentary track. It's pretty much an insightful 90 minute back and fourth interview. Metzger is a wonderful commentator with a terrific memory and Bowen ask all the right questions. Definitely worth a listen for fans of the film.

Next up is “The Making of Score” which is a wonderful 19 minute vintage featurette consisting of mostly behind the scenes footage with narration by Metzger.

The best extra of the bunch is “Keeping Score with Lynn Lowry”. In this twenty minute interview Lowry discusses her early career such as working on the fun skin flick“Sugar Cookies”. She gives out plenty of worthwhile information on her experiences of working with Metzger on Score and here intial (shocked) reaction when she first saw the picture in the states. She even touches upon her falling out with Metzger and tells some interesting story's about her co-stars. Might I add Lowry still looks very good for her age... just sayin' folks.

Rounding out the extras are trailers for Score, The Lickerish Quartet and Camille 2000. You can also expect a booklet and reversible cover art.

This is a fantastic release from Arrow, which comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for Metzger fans.