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Peekarama: Abduction Of An American Playgirl/Winter Heat
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: January 7th, 2014.
Director: Unknown/Claude Goddard
Cast: Eric Edwards, Darby Lloyd Rains, Jamie Gillis, Helen Madigan, Bree Anthony
Year: 1975/1976
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The Movies:
The first in their new line of Peekarama branded double feature DVD releases of vintage adult movies sees Vinegar Syndrome pairing up Abduction Of An American Playgirl with the notorious Winter Heat (also known as Snowboard). Both movies are presented completely uncut and looking fantastic. Here's a peek…
Abduction Of An American Playgirl:
Our first feature, whose directorial credit remains a mystery, begins when two skuzzy looking guys, a guy addressed as 'Dumbo' and Fred (Alan Marlow and a mustachioed Eric Edwards respectively) drive in their red station wagon down a lonely country road. They complain that it's Friday night and that they need to get laid. They'd go to NYC and hit a singles bar but they don't have any money and Fred knows it's no use anyway. As they sip their Budweiser in a parking lot they see a foxy blonde (Darby Lloyd Rains) strut across. Fred suggest they 'grab her, throw in her in the back seat and ball her' and while his pal initially resists, he soon comes around because Fred has a plan - they'll give her such a fantastic fuck that she won't even go to the cops! It turns out that Fred's sister left him the keys to her cabin while she went to California though, and they decide taking her t here is better than doing it in the back of the car ('That's high school stuff.').
And so that's what they do. They follow her in their car and kidnap her and before you know it, they're up at that cabin. They throw her on the bed, undress her and, after struggling with her boots go through her purse. It's then that Fred realizes that this is none than 'Jackie Miller' and that she comes from a wealthy family. So in addition to balling her, they're going to hold her for ransom. They'll keep the cops out of it by asking for 'a lousy five g's' - they figure her dad will pay up and that'll be that. Dumbo makes the call while Fred drinks some Miller High Life (the Champagne Of Beers), undresses and heads into the bedroom. He's intent on fucking her but she starts crying and he bails. When Dumbo returns, Fred is gracious enough to drink more Miller High Life and let his pal go first. Dumbo is suspicious so they flip for it. Fred wins, drinks more Miller… he's procrastinating. He chugs a king can of High Life and then goes back for another attempt. This time it goes differently, he undresses and she's impressed by the size of his manhood. She takes the initiative and blows him and they have passionate sex… for a few minutes. Dumbo comes in and she's not quite as interested in him, threatening to split his skull open until he too drops his pants and sings to her. They get it on, and then there are a few plot twists. Without ruining what is actually a pretty fun story, Edwards winds up tied on the table, the kidnapping plot goes horribly wrong and it turns out that they've kidnapped a sex crazed lunatic as capable of rape as they are!
This one sounds like a roughie but it's in all actuality way more of an explicit sex comedy than anything else. Marlow and Edwards are pretty funny as the two goofy male leads. They drink beer and bicker with one another as often as they get with Darby but at least they do it well. No one seems to be taking any of this all too seriously. The movie was obviously made on a very low budget, the locations are nothing to write home about and the music is hokey, adding to the comedic atmosphere of what would otherwise be a fairly seedy story.
The sex is fairly playful and quite spirited. Darby looks great here, as this was made around the same time as Naked Came The Stranger and The Private Afternoons Of Pamela Mann if you've seen those pictures you'll know what to expect in that regard, and that's a good thing. The whole movie looks like it could have been sponsored by Miller, as once they head to the cabin the guys chug the beer like it's going out of style but again, it just adds to the goofiness of it all. This is fun. The title and the artwork set you up to expect something far nastier than what it really is, but the trailer (which popped up at one point on a Something Weird Video XXX trailer compilation) gives you a good idea of what to expect.
Winter Heat:
Up next is the fairly notorious roughie, Winter Heat (also released as Snowbound), directed by one Claude Goddard and presented by Sombrero Films! The movie follows three escaped convicts - Stevie (Jamie Gillis), Joey (Mickey Humm) and Benji (Alex Mann) - who are accompanied by their female accomplice, Agnes (Helen Madigan). When the movie begins, make their way through the woods in the snow to the sounds of some seventies funk. They make their way to a farm house out in the middle of nowhere to relax for a bit. Benji tries to tell everyone about how he almost caught pneumonia once, but Stevie shuts him up and instead we get to hear how he took it up the ass in jail while he was in the infirmary getting his hemorrhoids checked!
Agnes starts giving Stevie head while the other guys keep rambling on about friendship, lies and fucking chicks. All of this dialogue is obviously improvised. After Stevie gets off they all head back into the snow and while they're out, a trio of lovely ladies shows up: Clair (Susan Sloan), Gail (Bree Anthony), and Jenny (Jenny Lane). When the cons realize that the women have moved on into the house, they make their way in, sending Agnes first as she'll seem the least threatening. Nevertheless, Stevie takes charge right away and tells them 'we're gonna stay here for a little while, sweetheart.' Before you know it he's bossing everyone around and doing his best Krug impersonation. They make the women cook them some food and before you know it Stevie is in the kitchen with Gail in one of the movie's more notorious moments involving some oatmeal and some weird degradation. He makes her strip while he chows down, comments about her shaving techniques, quizzes her about her operation and generally just skeezes out in that special Gillis super skeeze way (that'd involve slapping her in the face with a spoon and making her lick oatmeal off of a spoon). Of course, then he forces her to go down on him while Joey gets oral from one of the other girls. It spirals out of control from there and eventually Agnes is getting it on with Clair, Gillis gets head from one of the girls as he wraps his leather belt around her neck while threatening to 'beat the shit out of you' and once it's all over with it's a pretty sure bet that you'll want to either take a shower, have a good cry to let it all out, or both.
Gillis rules this one, he's the king of crass and he really gets into his role. Given the fact that this is a stand out role in a career well populated with nasty roles, that should tell you something about how nasty he is here. At the same time, he's completely convincing and absolutely committed to the role. Given that he gets to fool around with the likes of Helen Madigan and Bree Anthony, it's not too difficult to figure out why, but credit where credit is due. The scene between Madigan and Sloan is fantastic and remarkably convincing, hands down the most erotic scene in the movie, while 'Goddard' keeps the movie going at a good pace.
This isn't a nice film, it wears its low budget proudly on its sleeve and it sets out to be sleazy from the start. There's a very dirty feel to it, an unseemliness if you will, that is hard to scrub off when it's all over and done with. At the same time, it's quite well made. Think of it as Last House On The Left without the redemption at the end, there's no silver lining to this outside of the fact that the characters who are forced to fuck get to orgasm. The comeuppance that made Craven's take on Bergman's Virgin Spring as memorable as it is has been omitted here, and what we're left with is raw, uncompromising and absolutely fucking filthy.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both movies are presented in 1.33.1 fullframe transferred from the 35mm negative and a 35mm archival print respectively, and for the most part both movies look very good on this DVD. Some small splices and scratches pop up here and there as well as some minor specks but detail is good and colors look excellent. What we wind up with here are some nice, film-like transfers taken from materials that were culled from less than perfect sources but which still look very nice. Texture is strong throughout and there are no issues with compression artifacts, noise reduction or edge enhancement.
Both films get Dolby Digital Mono soundtracks, in English and without any optional language options or subtitles provided. Clarity of each mix is fine. There are some scenes that sound a bit flat but that's obviously to do with the original recording. The scores sound good here and the levels are properly balanced. There is some hiss and some crackle in each of the two movies but the dialogue is consistently easy to understand and follow.
Aside from a static menu offering chapter selection, the only extra on the disc is a trailer for Abduction Of An American Playgirl under the weird alternate title of 'The Abduction Of An American Plow Girl.' Who knew.
The Final Word:
The first double feature in Vinegar Syndrome's new Peekarama double feature line is a good one, offering up one notoriously hard to find XXX sex comedy with one notoriously nasty XXX roughie. While there isn't a whole lot here in the way of extras (which is perfectly understandable) and the audio is a little hissy, the transfers are great and fans of the sleazy side of seventies adult films should waste no time in adding this one to their libraries.
