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Released by: Video-X-Pix
Released on:
Director: Armand Weston
Cast: Jennifer Welles, Jody Maxwell, Bobby Astyr, Annie Sprinkle, Eve Adams
Year: 1976
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The Movie:
Directed by the late, great Armand Weston, 1976's Expose Me, Lovely stars Ras Kean as a man named Nick 'Frosty' Knight, a divorced private eye trying to make a living on the mean streets of New York City with a reputation for catching who he's after and making time with the ladies. He wakes up in a hospital bed, his head wrapped in bandages, and tries to put together the pieces of his own story to find out what happened to him and how he got there. We then learn how he was hired to find a missing man who was all set to inherit his terminally ill politician father's vast fortune and how Knight wound up framed for the man's murder. It also turns out that this missing man has a hot sister who knows more than she probably should about what happened.
Weston was a filmmaker known for putting story in as important a position as sex in his pictures, and the script he wrote for this feature is no exception. There's a strong plot here, one that borrows from old crime noir films like Lady In The Lake, and the movie is all the better for it. Yes, the sex is prevalent and at times genuinely arousing but it furthers the plot, it doesn't bring it to a complete stand still and here it happens for a reason.
From the opening sequence, in which a very naked and lithe Jennifer Welles does some interesting nude stretches on a bed underneath the opening credits, through to the big reveal at the end (there's an interesting surprise ending that we won't be spoiling in this review!), the picture is very well shot and like the noir pictures that it draws its inspiration from, it makes excellent use of shadows and light to make for some solid drama and enhance tension.
As far as the performances go, Ras Kean isn't going to win any awards for his leading man role here. He's not quite sleepwalking but he plays it a little too cool and never seems to quite connect with his character the way he should to make it work. Welles, never the best actress but a woman with some serious screen presence, does a little bit better as the femme fatale/icy blonde type, however, and this turns out to be one of her more memorable dramatic turns if not her most scorching on screen moment. Supporting efforts from the likes of the immortal Annie Sprinkle and the omnipresent Bobby Astyr are fun, and look for the gender bending Eve Adams to appear in the film as well. On top of that, it's got some really solid footage of mid-seventies New York City to boast about, and the script is surprisingly politically tinged for an old porno movie, which winds up leaving the viewer with some welcome food for thought.
There are hotter seventies adult films out there and there are more memorable ones as well, but you can't knock Weston's work on this picture. It's just a really well made, interesting, and entertaining picture that offers up sex and story in equal doses.
Video/Audio/Extras:
This isn't one of Video-X-Pix's restored transfers and is taken from a tape source. Presented in 1.33.1 fullframe, the picture is certainly watchable enough but it's a bit soft in spots. The Video-X-Pix bug pops up in the lower right hand corner during the sex scenes. Detail is about as good as the source will allow and while there aren't any compression issues, it'd be nice to see this one benefit from the restorations the company has been doing lately.
The English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mix on the disc is fine. Some scenes are a bit flat but odds are pretty good that they've always sounded that way. There aren't any serious hiss or distortion related issues and the levels are well balanced. It's not a fancy mix but it gets the job done.
Extras are slim but we get a few trailers for other VXP properties, a menu, and scene selection.
The Final Word:
If Expose Me, Lovely isn't Armand Weston's finest moment, it's still very much worth your while if you're a fan of his work or of well made adult films in general. The picture manages to hit the right blend of hot sex and interesting plotting, it moves at a good pace, it offers up some nice footage of seventies New York and it's surprisingly well acted. Worth seeing for Welles' eye catching scenes alone, it's a solid picture through and through.
