PEEKARAMA BIG 2 UNIT SHOW!: HOT LEGS (1979)/CALIFORNIA GIGOLO (1979)
Director: Bob Chin
Vinegar Syndrome

Vinegar Syndrome's latest Peekarama DVD double bill from Bob Chinn gives up its HOT LEGS for a CALIFORNIA GIGOLO!

The titular HOT LEGS is a line of sexy leggings set to make a big splash in the fashion world if investor John (Jon Martin, HOT LUNCH) will cough up the money, and if top model Annie (Jesie St. James, ORIENTAL HAWAII) will get out from under her boyfriend (Blair Harris, LADY DYNAMITE) in time for Dave's (Paul Thomas, THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF CANDY) photo shoot. Company boss Sandy (Delania Raffino, TELEFANTASY) will make sure John pays up, but poor middleman Mort (Richard Pacheco, NOTHING TO HIDE) has his hands full with Annie's absence, models wanting overtime, union crew complaints, and raciness of Paul's images. All is well, however, when Annie shows up and shows off those legs; she even "comforts" wardrobe assistant Julie (Lisa Sue Corey, PRETTY PEACHES) after she burns a three-thousand dollar dress. Mort's Disco Hot Legs campaign is less stressful with roller-skating models T.J. (Penelope Jones, NAUGHTY GIRLS NEED LOVE TOO) and Nick (Stack Turner, THE SEDUCTION OF SEKA) – and his pining assistant Debbie (Sharon Kane, PUSS 'N BOOTS) – restricting their sexual yearnings to their imaginations (fortunately, we still get to see them). Mort bets the bank on a Super Bowl commercial and all seems lost when Annie finds religion, gives away her belongings, and starts selling flowers at the airport and all of the other models are booked for a Revlon shoot. Fortunately, there's a stunning beauty hidden behind the glasses and pinned back hair of Mort's mousey assistant Janet (Barbara Allen, ANDY WARHOL'S BAD), and lovely make-up artist Katrina (Laurien Dominique, THE BUDDING OF BREE) will be there for Mort when Janet swans off to be a superstar.

John Holmes (who else?) is the CALIFORNIA GIGOLO – pre-dating Richard Gere as the AMERICAN GIGOLO by a year – and his schedule is packed. He's got "The Screamer" (Liza Dwyer, SCREWPLES) in Palm Springs panting for him after an obscene caller leaves her high and dry. Executive Ms. Orangewood (Veri Knotty, THE ANAL DWARF) and her four-inch labia are in need of some BDSM in Beverly Hills, so enter John from the window washing scaffold. John has no time for Mrs. X (Kitty Shayne, TROPIC OF DESIRE) and her role-playing games, so he leaves her to his houseboy Gomez (Don Fernando, COFFEE, TEA, OR ME) who gets a marriage proposal and a yacht out of the deal. John misses out on his oil deal when his car breaks down, but he can win a sixty-thousand dollar bet with socialite Carolyn (Vanessa Tibbs) when she bets him that he can't show her anything she hasn't seen before (although she would have won the bet if had she picked up that John Holmes centerfold that Ms. Orangewood was using to warm herself up). The late Kandi Barbour (billed as "Kandi Barbeau") appears during the opening credits as a pick-up on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (which does not lead to a sex scene).

Neither one of this pairing from Bob Chinn (PRISONER OF PARADISE) – Gail Palmer only takes possessory credit for the first film – are among his best or even particularly memorable. They are, however, both well-acted, handsomely-designed and costumed, with gorgeously-photographed sex scenes (with hardcore inserts looking just as glossy as the surrounding footage). HOT LEGS is higher on comic incident but it usually falls flat (in spite of the presence of Pacheco), while CALIFORNIA GIGOLO wrings out some chuckles with John's nutty tricks (particularly Shayne in a Girl Scout uniform giving up her cookies to Fernando as a matador). Chinn regular Ken Gibb (THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA) is credited , but João Fernandes (whose worked for Gerard Damiano, Doris Wishman, Fred J. Lincoln, and Armond Weston before moving onto the mainstream with titles like CHILDREN OF THE CORN and FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER) is credited with additional photography on HOT LEGS while Lazlo Crovney (THE JADE PUSSYCAT) is credited with the photography on CALIFORNIA GIGOLO, with Gibb credited with location photography and Fernandes (as "Joad Fernandez") with additional photography. Jay Phillips (BODY CANDY) scores both films, including a Joan Jett-esque theme for HOT LEGS (as well as a song called "Love on Wheels" for the disco shoot) and a folksier theme for Holmes' gigolo (as well as a "Californ-i-a" song for the boardwalk montage).

Released theatrically by Chinn's Caribbean Films, both films made their VHS debuts on Wonderful World of Video – distributor of most of Chinn's output on video – and then on DVD by VCA in 2003. Vinegar Syndrome's progressive, anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen encodes come from virtually spotless, crisp, and colorful 2K masters of the original 35mm camera negatives, with HOT LEGS looking a tad grainier with its heavy use of flaring disco neon lights and smoke compared to the bright, glossy look of CALIFORNIA GIGOLO. There are no extras aside from trailers for both films. The trailer for HOT LEGS (4:59) highlights St. James as the top adult star of the year and Pacheco (under the name Dewey Alexander) as Playgirl's Man of the Year while the poster artwork highlights both of them as well as fashion model Jennifer Wolfe (who does not participate in any of the hardcore action one of the background models). The trailer for CALIFORNIA GIGOLO (4:11) features more second unit photography of Malibu more than hardcore sex. (Eric Cotenas)

BACK TO REVIEWS

HOME