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5.8/10
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In the mythical city of Leisure, a sexually-liberated husband and wife seduce a younger, staid couple into experimenting with bisexuality and group sex.In the mythical city of Leisure, a sexually-liberated husband and wife seduce a younger, staid couple into experimenting with bisexuality and group sex.In the mythical city of Leisure, a sexually-liberated husband and wife seduce a younger, staid couple into experimenting with bisexuality and group sex.
Featured reviews
"Score" is more or less a period piece now, filmed as it was in that post-sexual liberation/pre-AIDS window when it seemed that sexual, political and aesthetic freedom were essentially linked. The film is a manifesto for sexual liberation purely, brushing only briefly by sexuality's darker aspects (the somewhat creepy Mike, and a certain core hollowness in Elvira and Jack's marriage). The characters are psychologically simplistic (Betsy's nun fixation, Eddie's glaringly obvious repressed homosexuality), but--important in a film of this type--extremely likeable. Claire Wilbur and Gerald Grant are particularly good in their roles.
All of this is wrapped up in good-natured sex and spot-on stoned dialogue. Even the music's entertaining--particularly the early-Rolling Stones ripoff that functions as a recurring motif and perhaps as well the goofy thematic heart of the film.
The trailer for "Score" recommends, "Watch it with someone you want to excite!" Well, it might not be as libidinally exciting now as it was thirty years ago, but it's still fun, and sweet, and highly recommended.
All of this is wrapped up in good-natured sex and spot-on stoned dialogue. Even the music's entertaining--particularly the early-Rolling Stones ripoff that functions as a recurring motif and perhaps as well the goofy thematic heart of the film.
The trailer for "Score" recommends, "Watch it with someone you want to excite!" Well, it might not be as libidinally exciting now as it was thirty years ago, but it's still fun, and sweet, and highly recommended.
"Score" is a very interesting film! I was captivated with it the very first time I saw it, and it was even inspirational to me. Score's main characters are Jack and Elvira. They are married and bisexual swingers in a swanky fashion. They play a game of seduction in which each takes a turn trying to seduce someone of the same sex. This time it's Elvira's turn, and her target is a younger, married girl named Betsy. Elvira seems to be having some trouble getting Betsy in the sack, and her time limit is fastly approaching. Jack seems to take an interest in Betsy's husband, Eddie, as Elvira continues to attempt to seduce Betsy.
"Score" is an adult comedy/drama, and the sex scenes are interestingly crafted. The film is full of tacky charms, witty lines, and memorable images. It's a great reflection of the swingin' 70's, and the sexual revolution. I think "Score" deserves repeated viewings.
"Score" is an adult comedy/drama, and the sex scenes are interestingly crafted. The film is full of tacky charms, witty lines, and memorable images. It's a great reflection of the swingin' 70's, and the sexual revolution. I think "Score" deserves repeated viewings.
This film, from the early 70's, was a milestone for adult sex comedies. It presented an attractive couple who are into both sexes without shame or guilt about their sexual proclivities. Indeed, it is the "straight" couple (played by Claire Wilbur and Calvin Culver) who question their own sex life. After lifting the barriers of guilt, the young couple are able to enjoy sex with whichever partner they're with, whether they are male or female. The relaxed pacing of the film, combined with the restrained performance make the same sex lovemaking seem almost childlike. This "forbidden" topic has rarely been seen or handled as deftly since.
SCORE
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Mono
A sexually liberated couple (Claire Wilbur and Gerald Grant) set out to seduce a young newlywed couple (Lynn Lowry and Calvin Culver).
Having explored familiar heterosexual obsessions in well-regarded softcore dramas like CAMILLE 2000 (1969) and THE LICKERISH QUARTET (1969), director Radley Metzger upped the sexual ante with SCORE, a good-natured bisexual romp which crosses the boundary into hardcore territory popularized in US theaters by the likes of DEEP THROAT and THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES (both 1972). Based on a play by screenwriter Jerry Douglas, SCORE pits a couple of worldly, uninhibited predators against naive, conservative-minded 'virgins' during a weekend get-together at Wilbur and Grant's luxury Riviera villa. Having plied the hapless duo with drink and soft drugs ("I'm not a very good junkie!" Lowry complains) and dressed them in costumes which tally with their sexual fantasies (cowboy, nun, sailor, etc.), Wilbur and Lowry pair off for a lesbian encounter, while Grant and Culver descend into the basement bedroom for a full-blown gay seduction.
Artfully photographed by Metzger himself and veteran cinematographer Franjo Vodopivec on location in Yugosalvia, and framed as an adult fairy tale (the delightful opening narration locates the action "...in the lush little land of Plenty, in the enviable state of Affluence... deep within the Erogenous Zone"!), the movie is distinguished by clever dialogue which removes outmoded notions of sexual parameters from the outset. When asked how she differentiated between sexes during the orgies she's attended in the past, Wilbur replies: "First you don't know, then you can't tell, then you don't care!" The plot is wafer-thin, and the acting is merely OK (the women fare best in this regard), but Douglas' script - played out for the most part in a single interior set, with only a handful of outdoor sequences - allows Metzger to build slowly and surely to the climactic double seduction, using reflective surfaces (amongst other devices) to convey sexual dualities within the characters. Viewers hoping for a non-stop flesh-fest may be irritated by the long narrative preamble (punctuated by Wilbur's rough-house tumble with studly repairman Carl Parker), but there's still plenty of uncompromising nudity, and the film manages to stimulate the brain whilst simultaneously tickling your, er... fancy. Great music, too, including an ultra-groovy (and uncredited) theme song! The film exists in two separate versions: Metzger is said to prefer the softcore edition (85m), but the all-important sex scenes are seriously compromised by jarring edits and obvious gaps in the soundtrack. Try to see the full-on hardcore print (92m), which includes rather more graphic detail during the gay sex scenes.
'Calvin Culver' is actually gay porn performer Casey Donovan, star of groundbreaking titles like BOYS IN THE SAND (1971) and THE OTHER SIDE OF ASPEN (1978), though he later re-teamed with Metzger for the director's hetero masterpiece THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN (1976). Co-star Grant only appeared in two other films - Metzger's NAKED CAME THE STRANGER (1975) and Umberto Lenzi's EATEN ALIVE! (1980) - and it's sad to report that both he and Donovan have since passed away. Wilbur featured in the original stage version of SCORE, but her only other screen acting credit appears to be TEENAGE HITCH-HIKERS (1974), while the beautiful Lowry has since pursued a career in mainstream movies, including THE CRAZIES (1973), SHIVERS (1975) and CAT PEOPLE (1982). Writer Jerry Douglas adopted the pseudonym 'Doug Richards' and made a name for himself in gay porn, writing and directing a number of celebrated productions, including THE BACK ROW (1973), BOTH WAYS (1976) and MORE OF A MAN (1991), the latter featuring Joey Stefano and Chi Chi LaRue, while SCORE's production manager Branko Lustig has since become a major Hollywood producer, with titles like SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993) and GLADIATOR (2000) to his credit!
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Mono
A sexually liberated couple (Claire Wilbur and Gerald Grant) set out to seduce a young newlywed couple (Lynn Lowry and Calvin Culver).
Having explored familiar heterosexual obsessions in well-regarded softcore dramas like CAMILLE 2000 (1969) and THE LICKERISH QUARTET (1969), director Radley Metzger upped the sexual ante with SCORE, a good-natured bisexual romp which crosses the boundary into hardcore territory popularized in US theaters by the likes of DEEP THROAT and THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES (both 1972). Based on a play by screenwriter Jerry Douglas, SCORE pits a couple of worldly, uninhibited predators against naive, conservative-minded 'virgins' during a weekend get-together at Wilbur and Grant's luxury Riviera villa. Having plied the hapless duo with drink and soft drugs ("I'm not a very good junkie!" Lowry complains) and dressed them in costumes which tally with their sexual fantasies (cowboy, nun, sailor, etc.), Wilbur and Lowry pair off for a lesbian encounter, while Grant and Culver descend into the basement bedroom for a full-blown gay seduction.
Artfully photographed by Metzger himself and veteran cinematographer Franjo Vodopivec on location in Yugosalvia, and framed as an adult fairy tale (the delightful opening narration locates the action "...in the lush little land of Plenty, in the enviable state of Affluence... deep within the Erogenous Zone"!), the movie is distinguished by clever dialogue which removes outmoded notions of sexual parameters from the outset. When asked how she differentiated between sexes during the orgies she's attended in the past, Wilbur replies: "First you don't know, then you can't tell, then you don't care!" The plot is wafer-thin, and the acting is merely OK (the women fare best in this regard), but Douglas' script - played out for the most part in a single interior set, with only a handful of outdoor sequences - allows Metzger to build slowly and surely to the climactic double seduction, using reflective surfaces (amongst other devices) to convey sexual dualities within the characters. Viewers hoping for a non-stop flesh-fest may be irritated by the long narrative preamble (punctuated by Wilbur's rough-house tumble with studly repairman Carl Parker), but there's still plenty of uncompromising nudity, and the film manages to stimulate the brain whilst simultaneously tickling your, er... fancy. Great music, too, including an ultra-groovy (and uncredited) theme song! The film exists in two separate versions: Metzger is said to prefer the softcore edition (85m), but the all-important sex scenes are seriously compromised by jarring edits and obvious gaps in the soundtrack. Try to see the full-on hardcore print (92m), which includes rather more graphic detail during the gay sex scenes.
'Calvin Culver' is actually gay porn performer Casey Donovan, star of groundbreaking titles like BOYS IN THE SAND (1971) and THE OTHER SIDE OF ASPEN (1978), though he later re-teamed with Metzger for the director's hetero masterpiece THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN (1976). Co-star Grant only appeared in two other films - Metzger's NAKED CAME THE STRANGER (1975) and Umberto Lenzi's EATEN ALIVE! (1980) - and it's sad to report that both he and Donovan have since passed away. Wilbur featured in the original stage version of SCORE, but her only other screen acting credit appears to be TEENAGE HITCH-HIKERS (1974), while the beautiful Lowry has since pursued a career in mainstream movies, including THE CRAZIES (1973), SHIVERS (1975) and CAT PEOPLE (1982). Writer Jerry Douglas adopted the pseudonym 'Doug Richards' and made a name for himself in gay porn, writing and directing a number of celebrated productions, including THE BACK ROW (1973), BOTH WAYS (1976) and MORE OF A MAN (1991), the latter featuring Joey Stefano and Chi Chi LaRue, while SCORE's production manager Branko Lustig has since become a major Hollywood producer, with titles like SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993) and GLADIATOR (2000) to his credit!
This vintage piece exudes a sense of adventurous sensuality, artistry and style that has been lost in the intervening decades, both in the now cheap and voluminous porn industry, and the edgy sexualised segments of the Indy "mainstream" film industry. "Score" is a creature if its time, and whilst it gives a somewhat contrived view of the magical but brief post-sexual-revolution/pre-AIDS era, it speaks to certain freedoms and a sense of adventure and newness that is lacking in our age of internet-annihilated innocence and clinical political correctness. This film reminds me of the more philosophical prognostications I snuck readings of from my step fathers antique 1970s Playboy and Penthouse magazines - those where they laid out musings about a more sexually liberated future, where open sensuality and psychedelic exploration of our bodies, minds and the world around us would usher in a new era of universal love, sharing and luxurious living. Whilst we may be far more sexualised and open minded than the average suburbanite was in 1974, and unquestionably far less innocent and naive, we have also lost a certain warmth and exploratory openness that seems to be in the DNA of this film and the era it gives a window to. Our loss; but at least the spirit of the era has been preserved on film to be peered at in wonderment by future generations.
Did you know
- TriviaLynn Lowry was asked by both "Playboy" and "Penthouse" magazine to pose nude for them as a direct result of acting in this picture.
- Alternate versionsCult Epics released two versions of this film on Blu-ray and DVD in 2010. One version, 87 minutes long, is a soft core version. The other, 92 minutes long, restores all the hardcore footage previously only available in a VHS version.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Girls Who Like Girls (2001)
- SoundtracksWhere is the Girl
(uncredited)
Written by Croatian Trio
Performed by Croatian Trio
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Счёт
- Filming locations
- Bakar, Croatia(main filming location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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