Beyond Desire

Made as a follow-up to the hit "Blonde Heat", this comedy/neo-noir movie can stand on its own thanks to wonderful production values and a star-studded cast.

Perfectly cast John Leslie returns as private eye Mark Lowe, who for a very large retainer agrees to run a brothel for big, big hair madam (played by Madame Plunket), because her girls, high-class escorts, need protection due to a rival pimp (Billy Dee, returning from the first film) muscling in. Story is told with voice-over by Leslie, in flashback as all the women mourn Mark, lying in an open casket in a funeral home.

With excellent photography throughout, the movie is very Old School, featuring many, many concise sex scenes rather than today's standard of overlong "real-time" XXX vignettes. Also included are many brief little skits, all tinged with black humor throughout. It's not exactly a spoof of film noir but more of a humorous, sexy homage.

The story is not developed, serving more as a springboard for watching Leslie get more sex than he can handle from the escort girls, as well as other extraneous scenes set at the brothel. The two most memorable standout segments feature the two biggest stars: Vanessa del Rio gets a double vaginal penetration from a specialty actor Scorpio who dons a strap-on dildo to wield side by side with his own dick; and a sultry ice queen played by Seka (looking quite fabulous) having a threesome with the cable guy (Francois Papillon) and a nearly unrecognizable but sexually potent Nina Hartley, wearing a curly black wig that gives her Big Hair almost as big as Madame Plunket's hairdo.

It's always surprising as well as informative to see an Adult movie from back in the day as elaborately produced as this one -a minor movie of its day but far more carefully made and with such a vast cast compared to 21st Century quickies.