My anticipation was high when I got this SWV DVD reissue of an obscure porn film, as I had seen filmmaker Bobby Davis's debut feature a decade after its release, at a drive-in booking in Cleveland, and not heard of him since. Country Girl is interesting in porn's equivalent of "lost civilization", namely how a director's work differs when he's not part of the scene.
Frankly dirty, both in content and suggestive corn-pone dialog, this doesn't remind one of any familiar '60s softcore sex. It was made too early to contain hardcore content but reflects a hardcore sensibility nonetheless. And throughout, it seems to be an original work by someone who's never seen, let alone capable of imitating, the various porn tropes, dos & don'ts of the era. It's in the same genre as the master Bethel Buckalew's chicken-fried sex movies, but doesn't remind me of any of them.
Terrifically built but not pretty Marie Campbell is in the title role, strictly a backwoods slut anxious to get it on with anybody, which her hubby tolerates. A city couple, including big/fake haired beauty Jean Wilson visits for a fishing trip, and they land willing wife swappers.
The SWV preserved DVD is in bad shape, with scenes spliced out of order and judging from the AFI Film Catalog 1961-1970 about six minutes missing. But what remains is serious porn, with ample full frontal nudity by the women. Also included is a lesbian couple which thanks to the messed-up print are shown in a style recalling Harold Pinter's play (and film) BETRAYAL: we see Sue Senett & Ruth Staford parting apres sex, hoping for a future hookup, and then later in the film we see the earlier setup ("No, I couldn't do such a thing!") leading up to hot & heavy 69 action by the two actresses.
I enjoyed this nonsense by accepting its premises, and not imposing any critical standards. Davis was cranking out sex for sex's sake, but managed to make it entertaining with the filthy patter and low-down attitudes of his characters and the cast that fleshed them out, literally.
For a 180-degree change of pace, try Davis's 1970 effort My Sister's Business, a hardcore effort that as Monty Python used to intone: "and now for something completely different".
