Bonny & Clide

Paul Chaplin ran a little British company called Bluebird Films, apparently into the ground, as it stopped producing 3 years ago. But its vast catalog lives on as cheap remainders, most gargantuan of which is this ridiculous homage to Warren Beatty & co.

A who's who of talent gets to wear (and remove) period costumes, hump in orgies and then visit the paymaster in a misguided attempt at entertainment. Nicholas Steele more or less wrapped up a previously successful Adult career by cranking out several of these nonsensical films for Chaplin, notably "Batfxxx" and the never released but intriguing (via extant trailer) "Babe Runners".

Forget about sitting through over four hours of nothingness -pointless orgies and zero bank robberies. The real fly in the ointment is Chaplin himself, egotistically casting himself in the Beatty title role. His broad attempt at a Southern accent lapses into native British sound at times, but his declaiming form of "acting" reminds me of an adult attempting baby talk, maybe not with an actual baby listening but perhaps conversing with a pet dog or cat. You and I, the audience, are put in the position of the domestic animal.

There are vintage cars and some outdoor scenes but this is strictly porn gussied up with a few sets and costumes. I prefer the similarly misguided '60s soft-core extravaganzas in this vein, notably "Diamond Stud" and "Fabulous Bastard from Chicago". When reviewing them I speculated money laundering was the provenance of their existence; in the case of "Bonny" I would guess money frittering-away.

As Bonny, Brit star Natasha Marley is attractive and at least maintains a reasonable hold on her vocals. All her video credits are Bluebird roles, so one wonders about her casting. But even though she does a good job, she is literally lost in the shuffle by Chaplin's decision to overload his cast roster with 29 name actresses, some of them big stars (e.g., Phoenix Marie, Julia Ann, India Summer, Jessica Bangkok, Bobbi Starr and Riley Evans}. These are not cameos, but because of the orgy format it adds up to little more than the hardcore answer film to that classically nutty 1972 soft-core compendium "Street of a Thousand Pleasures" by William Rotsler.

My favorite gal is the big-breasted Brit Kerry Louise, who retains her British accent (I admired her sticking to her guns) and flashes huge breasts to stick out from the competition. One familiar face, who I took to be Amber Rayne (who died tragically this year) goes the extra mile and delivers not only anal sex but a d.p.

The resources and talent that went into producing "Bonny & Clide" could have been diverted into something creative, or even a dozen creative little films. Yet the resulting mess earned critical raves from industry types six years ago that are embarrassing. Worship of sludge apparently is lucrative, but the fall of the Chaplin empire with product this ridiculous was inevitable.