Two Days in a Hot Place

Shot by accomplished DP Nick El(l)iot for Lucas Severin (a surprisingly competent two-shot also responsible for 10:30 PM Monday), TWO DAYS IN A HOT PLACE is a simple but effective entry in the gay porn cycle, striking a good balance between story and eroticism that helps it go down smooth over a brisk 61 minutes.

Plot is a gay spin on a standard exploitation set-up: naif runs away to the big city and gets sucked into a sordid web of sexual exploitation. The twist here is that it's hunky blonde Luke Hanson, a solid masculine type first seen driving down the highway while rambling on in voice- over about his girlfriend's desire for commitment. Heading to Los Angeles in search of freedom with other women, he runs out of gas on a detour and is soon thumbing a ride by the side of the road, where a guy in a pickup pulls over to help him out. Stopping at the guy's place to get gas (the nearest station is 15 miles away), Luke cools off in his scenic outdoor shower before eventually being propositioned. Afraid of being left in the desert, he reluctantly acquiesces, and ends up orally servicing his benefactor and receiving a hot, sticky facial for his trouble.

Dropped back at his car with a can of fuel, Luke shrugs the whole thing off and completes his journey into town, cruising the streets looking for a place to spend the night. Spying an unlocked shed, he slips inside and – surprise! – it comes pre-furnished with a mattress. Quickly drifting to sleep, he's soon awakened by a couple guys who live in the building at the front of the lot. Unfortunately, it's another pair of predatory homosexuals, and poor Luke ends up tied up and defiled once again, this time via clothespins, a hefty dildo, and the two strangers' own sizeable appendages.

Beating his retreat the next morning, Luke heads to the beach and quickly sets about cruising a young woman who's there with a male companion. Inviting Luke over, she suggests the two guys head to her house while she scrounges up some girlfriends for a party. Of course, it's all a ruse, and the girls never materialize. Our protagonist gets slipped an unidentified pill and ends up in the middle of a four-guy orgy, once again taken advantage of for the sake of others' pleasure. The ending sees him driving back into the sunset, returning home to patch things up with his girlfriend.

While nothing particularly novel plot-wise, TWO DAYS IN A HOT PLACE earns solid points for its smooth effectuation, telling its story cleanly and simply and never outstretching its means. The cast is largely pleasing on the eyes, and the twist of pushing a prototypical straight alpha-male into the wide-eyed innocent role is a nice one, allowing for a power dynamic reversal that give the film an extra edge. This ironic undercutting of its protagonist's search for sexual freedom is perhaps the film's greatest asset, serving as a nice tweak on the sexist conventions of other mid-'70s masculine liberation narratives. While this by itself might not necessarily render the film a lost masterpiece, it's still a breath of fresh air, and makes this a fun entry in the straight-gazing sub-genre of male porn, with just a little more on its mind than most viewers will probably be ready to expect.