Love (Or Something Like It)

Every few years there are movies that come along that can be said to "define a generation".  From The Wizard of Oz to Casablanca to Rebel Without a Cause to Easy Rider to Star Wars to The Big Chill (and maybe even Harry Potter), certain movies just cross all the boundaries and exhibit what is generally assumed to be the quintessential example of what a movie is that one thinks of as the evocative example from a generation.  One that, if you mention a certain decade, is usually the first movie that comes to mind, and one that most people who grew up in that particular decade remember fondly.  Essentially they are the best example of how the people of that particular generation viewed the world around them.

This isn't one of them.

Porky's was one of the first in a long line of movies from the 80's that centered on the sex-obsessed teenager.  It featured a cast that most people would be hard-pressed to think of any other movie they had been in. Although, unlike a couple of movies I've reviewed in past entries, the stars of this one did go on to more roles in Hollywood films and TV.  But with the exception of Kim Cattrall, I'll bet you can't peg any of them.  (I must admit however that it was during a re-watch of Caddyshack and seeing Scott Colomby (who played one of the caddies in that film), that I was reminded that he also appears in this one (as the Jewish kid).

The movie itself is pretty basic, raunchy 80's teen sex comedy in a barrel.  It's geared towards the young adult male (or at least the young adult male in the early 80's, of which I was one.)  It was directed by Bob Clark whom many of you will recognize as the director of the classic A Christmas Story.  His previous output had been mostly horror movies, including Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things and Black Christmas.  He also directed one of more intriguing Sherlock Holmes pastiches, Murder by Decree.

Porky's (1981):

The movie takes place in the fictional southern Florida town of Angel Beach. With the exception of a few rare scenes, the basic gist of the movie is a bunch of horny high school students and their efforts to get in the sack with members of the opposite sex.  The main star of the film is a kid named "Peewee" (Dan Monahan), who is particularly enthusiastic about the venture because he is still a virgin.

Several vignettes play out through the movie, including a bunch of pranks that some of the other guys pull on Peewee (mostly because he is just a gullible foil).  There is also a recurring scene where the boys use a hidden place to spy on the girls when they are taking a shower.  (And one of the funniest scenes is when Miss Balbricker (Nancy Parsons), the bull of a female teacher, discovers the boys' hiding place.

The boys end up deciding that the solution to their sexual frustrations is to go across the county line to a strip club (and secretly, a whorehouse), to get some action.  The place is called Porky's and is owned by a man who really deserves the moniker...Porky (Chuck Mitchell).

But plans go awry when Porky takes the kids' money but dumps them in the swamp.  Then the sheriff shows up (Alex Karras), who is actually Porky's brother, and is in the back pocket of Porky.  They run the boys off, but one of the boys, a foolhardy kid named Mickey (Roger Wilson) continues to try to go back to get satisfaction of the return of the money.  And gets the crap beat out of him.

The boys, with the help of the new Jewish kid, Brian (Scott Colomby), devise a plan that will be just what you'd expect from one of these kinds of movies.  Interestingly enough, Mickey's brother, Ted (Art Hindle) a police officer in Angel Beach, doesn't have a whole hell of a lot of love for his fellow neighboring law enforcement brothers or for Porky (he was a victim of Porky's bad business practices himself a few years earlier).  Ted helps the boys in their scheme and then is instrumental in a final confrontation in Angel Beach when Porky and the sheriff arrive.

Obviously this one is not one to watch with the kids.  For that matter, unless your significant other is rather liberal in her attitudes, you guys might want to send the girls out of the room, too.


Drive home safely, folks.

Quiggy