Shot on Location

Shot on Location (1972)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A porn producer (Ric Lutze) has to deal with his secretary (Rene Bond) as well as a production that is going out of control. Rival producer Garrick (Bert Davis) must also deal with a variety of problems including a 14-year-old (Sandy Dempsey) who is trying to blackmail him.

SHOT ON LOCATION runs a very fast sixty-minutes and it's meant to be a spoof of the porn industry but on that level it's a failure. I say that because the film really isn't all that funny and I honestly didn't feel that it was giving us any sort of "behind the scenes" look at the industry. With that said, the film is entertaining enough to where it's worth watching and especially since it's so short. It also helps that there are some familiar faces here including the likes of Bond, Dempsey and Suzanne Fields. The sex scenes are well filmed and there's no question that the women are quite beautiful and fun to watch.

They tried too hard with this porn comedy, purporting to show us the hi jinx on a porn set, and the backbiting behind the scenes. Untalented filmmaker "John Donne" strikes out.

Something Weird Video has had the temerity to issue this baby in three, count 'em, three different versions, which I will detail below. This apparently stems from the fact that ancient porn films exist in various states of truncation and disrepair, but one would have thought that issuing the best version would have sufficed.

Hardcore edition is released on Vol. 188 of SWV's Dragon Art Theatre series and runs 60 minutes. In an overly complicated script, high on farcical occurrences and low on both humor & arousal meters, it depicts the idiotic behavior of porn producer Ric Lutze, who when he isn't giggling is humping. His boss at the porn studio, a portly character actor named Bert Davis, is vying with him for power, and the film limns a farcical series of musical beds and cases of mistaken identity situations involving their wives, Kim Dupont and Eve Orlon.

With Rene Bond as Ric's assistant and script girl you know more sex is in the offing, and mixed in the comical stew is lesbian talent agent Sheila Bancroft and her 14-year-old discovery, gum-chewing Sandy Dempsey, flaunting her butterfly tattoo which she calls a birthmark. In a scenario that strays very far from the reality of the next decade (see: Traci Lords and Alexandria Quinn's case histories), Dempsey seduces Davis and then blackmails him into signing her to a leading role, otherwise she'll fink on him for shtupping a 14-year-old.

Not many "on location" scenes are actually depicted, mainly concerning luscious Andy Bellamy playing a stereotypical Indian squaw giving her white man a blow job, and then a lesbian threesome of her with two other squaws, porn stars Suzanne Fields and Nancy Martin wasted in non-speaking roles.

Overall XXX content is pretty minimal and the film ends in a boring orgy involving Ric on a bed with four beauties. Finale involves the film's title and is really stupid.

With maybe four minutes of XXX running time trimmed, SWV issued the same movie on Vol. 17 of its Double Softies series. It plays pretty much the same, but obviously fans of Bellamy, Dupont and Bond will want to see them go all the way in the Dragon Art version.

For some obscure reason, this same movie was unleashed in 37-minute "featurette" form as an extra on the SWV two-fer saluting Rene Bond, comprised of TEASER and FRANKIE AND JOHNNIE...WERE LOVERS. It has the four-minute XXX footage excised and also deletes the entire first 20 minutes of the film. The action indeed starts on location with the Bellamy as squaw set-up scene. In this version, none of the plot twists make any sense -it's just soft porn filler with Dupont's role probably the biggest loser. An entire scene of her serviced by a pool boy who looks alarmingly like Hugh Jackman (don't worry, he was only 3 years old when this junker was made) is completely missing.

Overall, this is of interest only for its superstar cast (none of them used properly, however), and how it demonstrates the tenuous line between soft and hard porn. In the years that followed many films, including mainstream R-rated pictures, had XXX inserts added to spice them up, but SHOT ON LOCATION is an example of how many movies shot hardcore in the first place needn't have bothered.

Shot on Location (1972) is a messy, art-filled romp that struggles to find its footing. With a superstar cast, the film squanders its potential, offering minimal XXX content and a boring orgy finale. However, it's historically significant, blurring the lines between soft and hard porn.

The film follows the exploits of Andy Bellamy, a luscious leading lady, who portrays a stereotypical Indian squaw. The opening scene sets the tone, with Bellamy providing a blow job to her white man, followed by a lesbian threesome with porn stars Suzanne Fields and Nancy Martin. While the film hints at the potential for explicit content, the overall XXX factor is disappointingly low.

The true star of Shot on Location is the artwork. Director Donn Greer ensures that the film is filled with African art and old paintings, creating a unique aesthetic. This attention to artistic detail, however, doesn't translate to the plot or character development. The film lacks a coherent narrative, and the talented cast is underutilized.

A standout scene involves Bellamy again, this time in a barn, wearing a buckskin dress. She is on her knees, performing oral sex on a cowboy, while another woman watches from the shadows, masturbating. The scene is intense and explicit, with close-ups of Bellamy's technique, but it feels out of place, given the lack of build-up or context.

The finale is a letdown, with a boring orgy involving Ric and four women. It's uninspired and lacks the energy or creativity one would expect from a film of this nature. The ending feels rushed and anticlimactic, failing to satisfy.

In conclusion, Shot on Location is a disappointing entry in the adult film genre. While it has its moments of explicit content and unique artistic flair, the lack of a coherent plot and underutilized cast bring it down. It's a experience, leaving viewers wanting more in all the wrong ways.

A curiosity for adult film enthusiasts, Shot on Location is a missed opportunity, a potential hardcore classic that ultimately falls flat.