I don't think "Thar She Blows!" is the worst thing producer David Friedman foisted on his pervy public, but then again, he didn't exactly set the bar that high. Comparing it to other Friedman-produced movies, "Thar She Blows!" doesn't match the quality of his more solid offerings like "The Defilers," or "Johnny Firecloud," but it's better made than "Blood Feast" and "Scum of the Earth," even if it's not nearly as fun to watch as either. It shows more flesh than "The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill" and is slightly more explicit than "The Head Mistress" yet keeps the erotic heat at the same lukewarm temperature.
Friedman's script, co-written with director Richard Kanter, is chock-full of alliteration, double entendres and groan-inducing puns. It's a pretty safe bet the dialog was written with the trailer in mind, not a feature-length movie. Anyone who has heard Friedman's commentaries for Something Weird Video knows what style of humor to expect, and also knows that when Friedman delivered such jokes they were strangely endearing, if not exactly funny. Delivered by the "actresses" of "Thar She Blows!" the lines are stillborn, especially when uttered by Chris Mathis or Shari Mann. (Interestingly, Friedman himself makes a cameo as a bartender but says nothing.) The women were hired for one reason only (though Friedman would probably say two reasons) and that reason wasn't acting, so maybe I'm wrong to judge. The male leads — including Russ Meyer stock player Stuart Lancaster as industrialist Kenyon Adler, and trash cinema's most ubiquitous actor John Alderman as Adler's assistant Phil (get ready to groan) Latio — give much better performances, though even they could have benefited from additional takes. There is a funny moment when Lancaster, sitting on the deck talking with Alderman, seems to fart loudly in mid-conversation (in actuality the noise of him shifting his weight against vinyl seat cushions), made funnier by the fact that the actors don't acknowledge the sound. Still, you'll find more comedy in Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis's Blood Trilogy than you will in "Thar She Blows!" Conversely, you'll find more bloody castration in "Thar She Blows!" than you will in those early gore films, so it kind of balances out, I guess.
I still find it difficult to rate "Thar She Blows!" It's bad, certainly, and definitely no lost adult classic — not even so-bad-it's good — but it's not Friedman's worst. I didn't find it painful to sit through like "The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill," or "She Freak." Hell, I even found parts of it mildly entertaining. I'll give this one a generous five stars, but only because I don't have the option of giving it 4.5.
