From its '40s and '50s jazz score to its almost-interesting noir plot, RUN JACKSON RUN had some promise, but runs out of gas. Something Weird sort of reissued it on Volume 22 of its Dragon Art Theatre series, only with the ending missing (!).
I was surprised to find a road movie hiding within the reels of this typical low-budget XXX porn effort, though I doubt if Wenders or Jarmusch would appreciate its niceties. Same team made the passable porn ENSANADA PICKUP.
Major drawback here is miscasting of the central role: Alex Ellot portrays real estate agent Jack Sharp of the title - a guy who is getting way too much sex. At first the mustachioed actor with a very hairy body reminded me of that (now forgotten) '80s porno equivalent of Burt Reynolds: Sasha Gabor, but after awhile his resemblance to the young Meathead incarnation of Rob Reiner was more striking. As an irresistible film noir leading man, he was oh so WRONG.
Though married to Donna Sharp (portrayed by fan fave Suzanne Fields), Jack is inexplicably carrying on with mistress Jane (untalented though cute Andy Bellamy), who insists he leave his wife and flee with her to a new life in Mexico. When Jack's functionally stupid boss entrusts him with a briefcase containing $15,000 for a house down payment, instructing him to deposit it in the bank, Jack jumps at the opportunity to drive away forever.
Unfortunately his Ford runs out of gas, but since this is porn two beautiful girls (including Sandi Carey going hardcore) show up and give him a ride, insisting on a threesome in return. Jack's amazing recuperative powers are on display but after some sloppy scripting/editing, he's back on the road again solo. This time, he picks up a blonde suffering engine trouble and boffs her too. They have an embarrassingly heavy philosophical discussion around a campfire, and after he ejaculates yet another time, dear Jack has decided to "go back and straighten things out". Ridiculous twist is that the boss put the blonde up to it, telling her: "Jack's basically an honest person". Now is this any way to write a film noir? Not in my book.
Back home Jack arrives just in time to see wifey Suzanne in bed with another man. After some voyeuristic posing, he leaves in a huff, still holding the briefcase with the money. DVD-R ends abruptly with rear view of Suzanne riding atop her boyfriend. How about a little closure? Well, as usual I got snookered by both pornographers who don't care one iota for their audience, and a video company which treats movies as if they were just an accumulation of odd reels. It's a shame that both sets of underachievers missed the opportunity to create and present a tolerable porn noir. It's not impossible - I still have fond memories of the XXX homage to LAURA I saw back in the day, which oddly ended with a copyright reading: -c- Writers Guild of America East (!).
