Starting this week, we’re adding film reviews originally written on IMDb by the writer ‘lor_’. We start with a group of 25 films released in 1979, and over the next months we’ll add the rest from the period 1960-1985 which provide a year by year overview of the development of the adult film industry.
lor_ moved to New York in 1980 after a fan letter to Variety magazine’s owner, Syd Silverman, resulted in a job interview and a job offer. He worked at Variety from 1980-1993 focusing on exhibition and distribution, succeeding Addison Verrill, who had also covered adult films until he was murdered in the late ‘70s; Variety discontinued that coverage in part due to his death. lor_ rose to the position of Motion Picture Editor for the paper and Chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle in the period 1993-1994.
He’s been submitting reviews to IMDb since 2001 and using the same signature name as he used at Variety. His reviews are opinionated and often controversial, and we’re happy to showcase them here. Please send us your thoughts, reactions and comments via the relevant page for each film.
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This week’s film reviews can be found here (or by clicking on the Film Reviews link on the left menu), and include the following:
Deep Rub (directed by Leonard Kirtman)
Little Blue Box (directed by Don Walters)
Guess Who’s Hollywood’s Sweetest
The Sexpert (directed by Richard Mailer)
Superstar John Holmes (directed by Alan and Laurie Colberg)
One Way at a Time (directed by Alan Colberg)
California Cowgirls (directed by R. William)
Pier Groups (directed by Arch Brown)
Sheer Panties (directed by Chris Warfield)
Blonds Have More Fun (directed by John Seeman)
Tangerine (directed by Gary Graver)
One Page of Love (directed by Peter Balakoff)
Navy Blue (directed by Francis Ellie)
Killing Me Softly (directed by Francis Ellie)
Hot Teenage Assets (directed by Daemian Lee, Zachary Strong)
Angie Police Women (directed by Navred Reef)
Three Ripening Cherries (directed by Carlos Tobalina)
Secrets of a Willing Wife (directed by Norman Gurney)
Summer Heat (directed by Alex De Renzy)
Candi Girl (directed by John Christopher)
Sunny (directed by Shaun Costello)
A Girl Like That (directed by Richard Mailer)
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Lays…..! (directed by Walt Davis)
Librianna, Bitch of the Black Sea
Star of the Orient (directed by Harold Lee)
I’ve been following the mysterious “LOR_” on IMDB for some time and I like his reviews. He’s not afraid to state that most of the films are garbage – which means that when he comments positively, I sit up and take notice. With so many amateurish bloggers seeing genius in every second rate film, he’s a breath of fresh air.
I look forward to more installments of the the series covering other years.
This was interesting to read in that all these films were made in the same year, especially the difference between east and west coast, gay vs. straight. 1979 was a pivotal year in the industry with the advent of the last of the big budget shot-on-film efforts before the introduction of video in the mid 1980s. This is a good representation of that period, and has made me want to see several of these – especially ‘Pier Groups’… which I hadn’t come across.
Some quality artwork there! I have just one question: I hope that these reviews won’t replace the incredible investigative and archival work that the Rialto is so good at…?
What about Easy? this was the film that made America fall in love with Jesie St James. She had filmed a Diamond collection loop in the summer of 1978 with King Paul but Easy was what put her on the map. Wasn’t that film released in 1979?
Three Ripening Cherries was part of the first double feature I ever saw with Champagne Orgy in the late 70s. Both sort of campy but definitive of the era.
I too have been a lor_ fan for a long time. Most of his reviews are indeed pans.. I’ve seen a few of the films he halfway liked and well, I didn’t care much for them either.
This gentleman is doing work, like The Rialto Report, that is so needed. This industry needs to be examined, analyzed and criticized. Interesting work needs to be pointed out and bad stuff needs to be called exactly that.
And did I mention that lor_ is just a darned interesting writer?
Very happy to see lor_ and The Rialto Report joining forces.
Will you be (or have you already?) Reviewing (reviewed?) ‘Lust Vegas Joyride’? It might be a 1980 release….
The film, at times, is downright TACKY, but the music is excellent, the soundtrack being provided by a band called Remote Control.
Your site must direct its energies to the subject of pornography music…some great synthesizer work out there, it deserves to be remembered!
Excelsior!