Dixie Ray, Hollywood Star

From: [email protected] (Speed Actor Espectador)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.erotica
Subject: oldie review: Dixie Ray Hollywood Star (1983)

Oldie review: Dixie Ray, Hollywood Star (1983, Coventry)

Directed by Anthony Spinelli

Starring John Leslie, Lisa DeLeeuw, Heather Gordon, Kelly Nichols,
Juliet Anderson, Veronica Hart, Samantha Fox and others

Running time  about 122 minutes

This is an old movie and I don't know about the availability, but it 
may be fun to see how it stands up to today's efforts. According to the 
IMDB data there is a non-X-rated cut that runs 94 minutes (titled It's 
Called Murder, Baby), which might be kinda fun to see for a laugh. As a
mainstream movie this would be quite a turkey on account of the ham
acting and the often unintentionally funny dialog. Not to mention the
ingenious casting of Kelly Nichols as Lisa DeLeeuw's daughter! The
apparent ages make no sense. 

Cinematographically it is surprisingly good: this one actually looks
like a real movie. The directors of today's plotted porn features
would do well to take some tips from Spinelli in the use of camera and
lighting, especially in the non-sex parts. It is also noteworthy that
in two hours there is room for both a decent plot and a total of eight
sex scenes (admittedly short ones by today's standards), something
which seems to be impossible to do these days. Note also that the clothing,
hair styles and makeup of the performers does not clash with the setting
like in today's porn. This is shot mostly in interiors, but there are 
some old cars and stuff like that. I wonder how much this movie cost to
make, and how does the cost compare to today's higher end plotted smut
features, say Woodman's or VCA's stuff. 

The story is your basic film noir thing set in 1943. The femme fatale
is aging movie star Dixie Ray (DeLeeuw), who hires private dick Nick
Papadopoulos (Leslie) to do something about a blackmail attempt by her
estranged husband - apparently she's been posing for some risque
photos which the hubby has in his possession. Nicky of course gets to
the bottom of things while  getting blowjobs and fucks from just about
every female he runs into. Not only that, he has to attend to the
needs of his ditzy sex-starved secretary (Gordon). 

The sex is tame by today's standards: you won't see anals or facials,
but once you get to the spirit of the thing the scenes are
quite nice, the biggest problem being that (with one exception) Leslie
is the only male in them. (Hey, here's an example of the kind of
male-oriented story Riley wanted: we follow the dick who pokes into
things. On the other hand the women here might not pass his criteria.)

There is quite a lot of dialog in the sex scenes, which works for me. 

A few notes on the sex (instead of a blow-by-blow account):

Generally speaking, you don't get any of the today's more acrobatic 
positions or the endless penetration shots. There is, however, more 
kissing and more real-looking interaction between the participants 
(they do not mug for the camera). Popshots are more likely to be 
aimed at butt, belly or tits than face. When Leslie eats a girl's 
pussy, he seems to be really working at it, burying his face in it.
(Same goes for Anderson in the g/g scenes.) No ass play, though.

Of all the women in this flick I like Veronica Hart the
most. She has a very film noir face, and I like the sexy way she
laughs during her sex scene. Unfortunately her part is fairly small;
she gets to display her wares to Leslie in the night-club-running
gangster's office, and then double teams him with Samantha Fox. (First
Leslie pounds Hart in missionary position while Fox watches and frigs
herself; then Fox positions herself on top of Hart and Leslie
alternates between plunging his dick into Hart and having it sucked by
Fox. Finally he fucks Fox doggy style while she is still on top of
Hart.) 

There is also some nice lesbian action between Lisa DeLeeuw, Juliet
Anderson and an unidentified brunette. I am not a fan of pubic hair in
general, but Lisa DeLeeuw's red bush is kinda nice here, and the pink
pussy underneath looks positively delicious. I don't
however, like her huge breasts. The other girlfriends are more
manageable-sized in that department, and have pretty perky nipples as
well. They get quite a lot of attention here.

What else? Heather Gordon as the nympho secretary is kind of annoying
as a character, but her sex scene with Leslie is quite good: again
lots affectionate talk scripted into this. Artistically lighted,
too, with light coming through venetian blinds. Leslie also does a
scene with Kelly Nichols. She looks to be a big-boned girl in this
one, not really to her advantage.

I liked watching this again in contrast to the stuff I've been
seeing more recently. This is not the best choice for jerk-off
material, but you can watch it even as a story. 

I want to see more of Veronica Hart. Did she ever get really naaaasty? 
(Or the Golden age equivalent. I gotta bone up on my smut history.) 


E.
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