Search the Cinema Head Cheese Archives!

May 13, 2013

Movie Review: Same Time Every Year (1981, DVD)

Review By: Rob Sibley

How about that, when I finished watching this 80's porn flick I was surprised to find out that Fred J. Lincoln was the director. If the name sounds a bit familiar it's because the man played "Weasel" in Wes Craven's (Classic?) Last House on the left. Sadly Fred passed away earlier this year (R.I.P. bro). But looking further into Lincolns resume this flick wasn't a one off. He actually made quite the career directing adult features. He's actually made over 300 of them, that has to be some kind of record right?  Also a quick note, I think that gal on the cover of the DVD...she's not in the film, she's actually modern day porn actress (retired? Come on they never stay retired... just sayin') Temptress. 

You gotta admit a fan or not, vintage porn is pretty damn charming. Could be the nostalgia factor, the copious amounts of bush, bad acting, worse music and story lines that were more likely then not written on a cocktail napkin. Some retro flicks of this ilk shot their wad a bit further with intentions of artistic grandeur.  Radley Metzger was one of those filmmakers who'd actually deliver a solid film even if you removed the sex. This film though? Nah, it's not art house in the least. But so-what? Most people don't pop on retro-erotica for the thrilling story-lines. 


The "Plot" to this badboy is very simple. Michael (Mike Ranger) and a group of his buddies head off to a lawyer convention, leaving their wives home alone.  These ladies aren’t stupid and they know their men are just out having a “good time” without them getting in the way.  Picked up by a chauffeur (played by a young Ron Jeremy), the boys head out to a sex resort for the weekend.  The wives, on the other hand, have some sin-sational plans of their own…

Yep "Lawyer conventions" and "Sex resorts"... this film may have been made in 1981 but it's still very much grounded in the 70's. The film has that "charm" that I dig about retro films in the fact that hey the women are all natural and not plastic surgery nightmares like they are these days.  But I digress... anywhoo the film is packed to the brim with everything you could possibly expect from a flick like this. A gal has car trouble but luckily she meets a mechanic who's more then happy to lend a "hand" if you will. A hot tub sees a bit of action... is it me or did pretty much every retro film feature a hot tub? 

You get your typical threesome near the climax (ha) of the film. What's refreshing about the film and adds to the charm is with most retro fuck films (Pardon my french) is that the women actually enjoy the sex. These days with adult films they seem to pushing the envelope more towards pain then pleasure (Which is a bit disconcerting). But a flick like this is rather innocent. The films tone is actually rather comedic, nothing serious here folks. It's not a film that tries to deliver a message or anything like that, it's all about everyone have a great time. The film actually has about about 10 different sex scenes, so it's rather jam packed. It's certainly a film more about "the action" then the story. Which is fine by this reviewer.

 Same Time Every Year is being brought to you by the fine folks over at Impulse Picture (An off-shoot of Synapse) . I was surprised that the film is actually presented in anamorphic widescreen! The film still looks rough and dirty, as it should. The charm of retro porn flicks is the rough and tumble look. But it doesn't look terrible. It's certainly better then VHS quality so my guess is Impulse cleaned up the picture Q. So I commend them for that. 

The mono-soundtrack is more then satisfactory, so the early 80's synth music sound great in all it's cheesy glory. 

The DVD is bare-bones but the film makes up for that. 

This flick comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of retro porn.  

No comments:

Post a Comment