The pompous yet insipid prior (and sole) review posted here demands a rebuttal, and I'm glad to oblige.
Ashlyn Gere's "Dirty Books" is a quality production from VCA Platinum, which holds up extremely well 30 years later. The talented screenwriter Rodger Jacobs contributed an extremely functional script -not pretentious like so much of the so-called "award-winning" (via payola) porn of its day but quite clearly giving female characters agency for a change, not just submissive roles.
Starting with Gere, the movie presents her right from the first scene as a Rosalind Russell (right to the '40s shoulder pads) strong-willed woman, having her way and self-reliant. She not only holds her own with her snotty lawyer Jonathan Morgan, but instantly seduces him while also taking his advice. Completely in-charge.
And the clientele of the newly revamped store begins with Tiffany Million, not a bunch of cliche sleazy guys or dirty old men. She also takes charge, is shy but still acts on her interest in porn in a very hot masturbation solo scene in the store's private room.
Finally, Ona Zee in a smooth, very convincing performance, plays the porn star role again with strength, suggesting more of a self-made character a la real-life role models like Candida Royalle, rather than a plastically beautiful bimbo. Horner, perfectly cast as a casper milquetoast husband (Gere is the family breadwinner), falls for Ona and yet also gets a significant career boost via her contacts.
I can understand how a prude could react to the movie's Pollyannish approach to the world of porn, but to overlook the video's consistently positive message, including a still mighty relevant (in these dark days of America turning toward extreme right-wing rule where the Supremes will certainly turn to outlawing porn later on in their social re-engineering agenda, in effect bringing back those days of the '50s when dirty book shops were (other than mail-order) the sole source of porn for the interested consumer) message of opening up to sexual freedom, is proof of narrow-mindedness.
