Tweet
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: October 7th, 2014.
Director: Bob Chinn
Cast: John Holmes, Candida Royale, Desiree Cousteau, Laurien Dominique
Year: 1978
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Directed by Bob Chinn and featuring its own ridiculously catchy theme song, Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls arrives on DVD from Vinegar Syndrome freshly transferred from its original negative. But wait… theme song? Yes! It goes a lil' something like this…
“When the day has just begun and you're looking for some fun, call up your local pizza girl
If you're hungry for a treat but you don't know what to eat, send for your friendly pizza girl
I've been searching all around the world, just to find my pizza girl
If you've like to have a slice of private paradise, call up and order pizza girls
Pizza girls they aim to please and delivery is free, they satisfy those pizza girls
I've been searching all around the world, just to find my pizza girl
Pizza girls now how to cook and she's listed in the book, look under pizza, pizza girl
She can whip you up a pie in the twinkle of an eye, take care of business pizza girlâ€
At any rate, the premise for this one is pretty simple. In Berkeley, California, there exists a business called Country Girl Pizza run by a guy named John (played by a real like John with the last name of Holmes) with some help from another guy named Bob (played by a real life Bob with the last name of Chinn). This business is doing quite well, but it's likely got less to do with the quality of the pizza being made than it does with the gang of skateboarding delivery girls employed to get the pizzas to the customers… and maybe get into a little bit of hanky-panky at the same time.
The newest edition to John's roster of talent is the conveniently named Ann Chovy (Desiree Cousteau). She needs a job and after John tests her out to make sure she's got what it takes to work for him (by boning her silly in front of the juke box) she's got the gig. She and her fellow delivery girls (Laurien Dominique, Candida Royale and Christine De Shaffer) have got the customers going crazy for their pies! Things are going great until a trio of bad guys lead by Henry (Paul Thomas) decide that fried chicken is the true American way and these pizza girls should be taken out of the equation as soon as possible. On top of that, there's a 'chicken rapist' running around causing problems for delivery girls and a cop named Inspector Blackie (John Seeman) getting his nose into all sorts of things... will John be able to save his business or will the fried chicken gang win the day??? Well, the friend chicken gang doesn't have their own theme song, so you can probably figure that one out on your own.
This one is just a whole lot of fun from start to finish. Everyone in front of the camera would seem to be having a really good time and they all seem to completely understand the right level of seriousness they should be playing all of this with. The end result is one of those rare adult films that hits the perfect mix of humor and hotness. The sex scenes are plentiful but don't overstay their welcome. They're well shot so that little is left to the imagination but at the same time there's as much emphasis on facial reactions as there is on genital contact, so it feels more human than it would otherwise. Even when there's various orifices being stuffed with dong, however, there's still a sense of humor about all of this. The best example is the first scene with Holmes and Cousteau as the dialogue that takes place between to two is genuinely funny and it pretty much sets up everything else to come.
Well paced and nicely shot on location (in a real honest-to-goodness pizza parlor!) this one moves at a good pace and features an attractive and comedic cast at their best. There's a surprising amount of pizza related quips in the movie (pay attention to the names of the female characters) while the whole chicken-rapist subplot is just so out there that you can't help but love it. The ladies are all in fine form here, with Cousteau looking absolutely adorable from start to finish. The male talent fare well here too, with Holmes and Thomas leading the charge - but watch for Richard Pacheco to pop up here too. This one all comes together in all the right ways. Deep? No, not at all, but FUN and those caps are on purpose.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls arrives on DVD from Vinegar Syndrome in a new scan from the original 35mm negative framed at 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen. This one is on par with a lot of Vinegar Syndrome's other transfers, and that's a very good thing indeed. Colors look perfect here, lots of great reds in the girls' uniforms but plenty of greens in the plants that show up in the outdoor scenes and yeah, just really nice color reproduction overall. Skin tones are on display fairly constantly here and they look great too. There's a little bit of damage here and there if you want to really look for it but for the most part the image is very clean and stable throughout. It's hard to imagine the movie looking a whole lot better in standard definition than it does here.
The English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mix, the only one available on the disc, sounds fine. You might notice the occasional pop in the mix if you're listening for it but aside from that the levels are properly balanced, dialogue is easy to understand and the score and sound effects are mixed in effectively enough. There are no subtitles provided on this DVD.
Extras are limited to a trailer for the feature, a static menu offering chapter selection and a twelve minute long interview with the film's producer Damon Christian (joined by his cat!) that runs minutes. He talks about the distribution business he was running when this film was made, working with his business partner, mafia ties in the business of the day and how he got into filmmaking in the first place. He then goes on to describe some of the 'made man' characters he dealt with, how he got away from the mafia run side of the business, the importance that a box of cigars can have on business, shooting in Berkley with a mobster on set the entire time, what to do when your pizza parlor location catches fire, and John Holmes' method of taking orders for Girl Scout troops over the phone! There's a lot of fun stories here, revolving around Holmes and about various criminal elements - it's a pretty interesting interview, definitely make sure that you take the time to watch this. (There's no participation from Bob Chinn on this disc but you can read our interview where we ask him about it here).
The Final Word:
Vinegar Syndrome's DVD release of Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls is a good one, presenting a really enjoyable vintage XXX feature in excellent shape and with a pretty interesting bonus interview too. The movie is what matters the most, however, and Chinn's picture holds up well - sex and comedy collide in awesome ways here, and if you're a fan of smut from decades past, don't deny yourself.
