The Big Con

Also known as THE BIG CON, this is a porn version of THE STING, shot on a small budget but with a fair 1930s ambience and some OK incidental music of the jazz-hokum variety. Grifters Eric Edwards, Alan Marlo, and Sarah Nicholson (aka Jennifer Jordan) unite to separate rich yokel Hardy Harrison from his money by selling him a fake brothel. Nicholson noted this as her second XXX film role in a published interview of the time.

Brothel setting allows for some filler footage (voyeured by bug-eyed Harrison) of alleged hookers and johns in action, but there is very little hardcore in the production overall. Sonny Landham (who later had Hollywood action film credits) and stalwart Jamie Gillis road-test some of the staff, and disco diva Andrea True ("More More More") provides one of the most modest appearances of her lengthy porn career. Film is not a standard grinder in any sense of the word and would have worked as well -- perhaps better -- in softcore format, though it might not have found a release at all without the porn circuit for support. It's moderately amusing though shot on a shoestring, and seekers of cheap thrills will definitely be disappointed. Most of the actresses in hardcore scenes are a bit on the unglamorous side.

Talented pornographer Jerry Denby deserves some credit for trying to make a real movie with THE BIG CON, currently reissued on DVD as THE BITE. Takeoff on the huge hit "The Sting" is very well acted for the genre.

Film gets off to an awkward start, after introducing Alan Marlow as Johnny, a two-bit con artist, in bed with luscious Helen Madigan. He gives her one of his phony radios (a scam where he sells them with the "insides" to be delivered later), but bums $50 as he sets off for Toledo. When he picks up Kate (Jennifer Jordan) on the road, their dialog is all in voice-over as we watch black & white stills of the duo, an annoying low-budget effect that fortunately is replaced by real Talkie action in the rest of the film.

Kate and Johnny hook up with the Toledo Kid (Eric Edwards) to scam a local bank officer Dobbs (Hardy Harrison). First they give the viewer a definitive education on the traditional "Badger Game" and then proceed to develop an elaborate con in which Dobbs virtually has to plead with them to part with $250,000 and become an investor in their non-existent chain of brothels.

Film is one of those strange hybrids, straddling the mainstream cinema and out-and-out porn. There is no hardcore footage until 22 minutes into the movie, when Jordan gives her co-stars a simultaneous hand job, just like the famous Stefania Casini scene with Depardieu & De Niro a year or two later in Bertolucci's 1900.

There's plenty of flesh and porn on view by the finish, but Denby emphasizes the story values and performances -making this film hold up well over 35 years later. The comic relief is also refreshing, including Dobbs getting his comeuppance.

The three stars were very busy performers during this period, but Jordan is especially effective: she was also giving outstanding performances in a variety of films by Roberta Findlay and Joe Sarno. Dixieland score by Tommy Charles & Michael Face (pseudonyms) is entertaining, while Victor Milt delivers pro photography -check out his IMDb credits for a snapshot of a quite varied career.

I've liked every Denby film I've seen thus far. Something Weird has a spectacular coming attraction for his softcore movie WHIP'S WOMEN, which is apparently lost, having been distributed by Chellee Films in 1967 when the long-defunct distributor handled three sought-after and equally "lost" Sarno films.