Truck It

Apparently, Fred Halsted said he wanted to burn this after it came out. It's not much to write home about, but nothing to be embarrassed over, either. As porn goes, there's been far, far worse.

Film actually adopts a standard XXX structure, following a bored office worker as he cruises LA in a milk truck, stripping off his clothes and throwing them out the window. He picks up various young hitchhikers and watches in the rear-view mirror as they fool around in back.

Like most/all early Halsted stuff, the implicit theme seems to be watching attractive young people "do their thing," and TRUCK IT certainly provides variety: opening couple is straight porn starlet Becky Sharp and gorgeous Bob Madison (of Halsted's earlier SEX GARAGE). Honestly, any rediscovered footage of Madison, basically the apogee of the '70s SoCal boy-next-door, is worth celebrating. Roger Huckstex, apparently Playgirl's "December discovery" (not sure if that's '72 or '73), does try to give him a run for his money in a solo scene masturbating over a jockstrap, but despite Rog's near-perfect physique, my heart will always belong to Bob. Around 38 minutes into the 52-minute feature, the film finally gets around to some male-male contact, and it's pretty ho-hum - no wonder gay audiences were scared off back in the day.

Mainly notable for being a rare example of truly bisexual hardcore, TRUCK IT is certainly a bit of a misfire, but totally watchable and, at a scant 52 minutes, pretty much over before it's begun. Opening satire of office drudgery reminded me of Dave Friedman / Bryon Mabe's THE ACID EATERS. Interestingly, the film's penchant for visual wordplay based on advertisements works better silent (in the 8mm loop version) than in the context of a sound feature.