Broadway Boys

If nothing else, this is a good example of how the willingness to stray from strict formula in pre-strictly-video adult features allowed some pretty eccentric movies to be made. This movie appears entirely conceived to be a vehicle for "introducing" (as the credits indeed put it) David Mann, who plays the proverbial small-town boy new in the Big Apple, hoping to be "discovered." His talent--and it's ALL over the soundtrack, almost nonstop, in jazzy rock tracks--is as a flautist. But of course street busking barely makes the rent, and the example of a sexy aspiring-actor neighbor inspires our hero to augment his income as a callboy. Meanwhile he is pursued romantically (and rather inexplicably) by Jack Wrangler, who has sort of "guest star" status here and is the only person who (in his brief dialogue scenes) winks at the audience like the whole business is a joke.

David Mann really can play the hell out of his instrument (yes I mean the musical one, you dorks), though surely I am not alone in the opinion that a little jazz-disco-prog flute rock goes a long way. He's of very average attractiveness in face and body, however, doesn't have much acting presence and has a pretty unappealing speaking voice. So this very quickly becomes the kind of vanity project that could only have happened back then, when I suppose it made as much sense as anything to launch a gay musician's career by starring him in an adult film.

This certainly isn't anything great, as erotica or storytelling or film-making. There's not much story, natch--though a lot more than anyone tries these days--and the direction has no style, with camera-work spends too much time in close-up. It seems incredibly 1970s, though of course the release date suggests otherwise.

But if you value older adult films (gay and straight) for their sheer idiosyncrasy, it's definitely worth a look, just cuz it's such an oddity. Between the routine sex scenes-- including a really long, boring one at a cravat-wearing rich man's "party" that runs the length of several soundtracked songs, the last one sounding suspiciously like Chicago--it also offers some good street snapshots of vintage Manhattan, esp. in the theatre district.