TV Recap
Chelsea
Handler was topless
in the eponymous
Chelsea,
s1e39
----------------
Catching up on
The
Night Of in
HD
Eleasha
Gamble in episode
three
Raquel
Bailey in episode
four
Inserts
1975
In
the process of creating
and maintaining my
websites in the past
twenty years, I have had
the privilege of
re-watching many of the
classic films from the
late sixties and early
seventies, and I have
been also able to watch
some of the forgotten
films of that era for
the first time. It has
been an edifying
process, because I have
finally been able to see
those films with my eyes
liberated from the
cultural blinders of
those times, and have
realized that the films
of the early 1970s are
not often good. In fact,
they are almost all
failures. Many films
which I loved back then
now seem clumsy or
pretentious. Many others
seem to be prisoners of
the 70s zeitgeist and
the fashionable
counter-cultural ethos,
and almost all of them
seem quaint and naive
and totally
one-dimensional. It
often embarrasses me to
think how much I once
loved those films, just
as it sometimes
embarrasses me to think
about some of the things
I believed and did in
those reckless,
free-thinking days.
And
yet, although I have
concluded that the films
of the 1970s were
nowhere near as good as
I remembered them, I
have also come to
realize that I miss the
era even more than I
ever dreamed. Looking
back from today's more
Puritanical climate, it
is refreshing to see the
sexual and conceptual
freedom in those films.
Looking back from
today's era of
cookie-cutter films
designed by marketing
committees, it gives me
the ultimate nostalgic
pleasure to go back and
wallow in an era when no
popular films had a
number in the title. In
fact, the spirit of
individuality was
embedded so deeply into
the consciousness of
that era that it is
almost impossible to
picture the era's
signature films having
sequels. Harold and
Maude II? Easy Rider 2?
The lionization of
individuality in those
years really represented
an oasis of original,
personal filmmaking in
between two cinema
deserts: the last gasp
of the studio system in
the early sixties, and
the onset of the
blockbuster mentality in
the late seventies.
Those movies from 1967
to 1975 may not often
have been good,
but they were often
passionate and
inventive. Their most
appealing characteristic
was that they were not
corporate. Many of the
films of that era
expressed the feelings
and bared the creative
souls of the auteurs.
They were made to please
their creators, as
opposed to the films of
the most recent era,
which seem to be made
entirely to please
popcorn-oriented
audiences. Yes, the
films of that era were
often failures tainted
by closed-mindedness,
amateurishness and
pretension, but they
were truly noble
failures. As opposed to
most of today's popular
films, they at least
aspired to be something:
statements, or artistic
achievements, or just
quirky personal
expressions. They were
daring, they were
provocative, and they
were unique. Though they
were not so very good, I
miss them.
Which brings us to
Inserts, which may be a
perfect symbol for that
entire age. Its star,
Richard Dreyfuss, has
two 1975 films on his
IMDb resume, and the
difference between them
truly represents the
passing of eras. In
turns quirky, erotic,
poetic, sleazy and
articulate, Inserts
represents the ultimate
in provocative,
non-commercial early
seventies fare - a film
in which mainstream
female stars not only
refer to their "cunts",
but actually expose them
on camera. The other
film Dreyfuss made that
year is one with which
we are all familiar,
because Jaws is
considered the
grandfather of the
summer blockbuster, the
very symbol of corporate
filmmaking, the film
which not only dominated
the 1975 box office with
a total which was then a
record, but did so in
convincing fashion,
taking in more than the
1974 and 1976 winners
added together! Jaws was
not just a movie, but a
cultural phenomenon
which spawned amusement
park exhibitions and
several sequels.
Inserts, on the other
hand, inspired no
sequels and was barely
released. And I'll
guaran-damn-tee you
there ain't gonna be no
Inserts exhibition at
the Universal
Studios Theme Park.
Inserts is basically a
two act play which takes
place entirely on a
single set - the "home
studio" of a once
successful silent film
director who fell upon
hard times when he was
unable to adapt to the
industry's shift to
sound films. This is not
an original premise, but
this film is definitely
not "Singin' in the
Rain," as you will
quickly determine during
the opening credits when
you see a naked Veronica
Cartwright spreading her
legs on camera. Yes,
this is the same
Veronica Cartwright who
once played Ethel
Kennedy, and the same
Cartwright you saw in
The Right Stuff and
Aliens, except you
didn't see quite as much
of her there as you are
going to see here,
because this is a movie
which takes place inside
the early world of porno
films. The director
(Richard Dreyfuss
playing a character
called "Boy Wonder") is
now an impotent,
agoraphobic, and
alcoholic stumblebum
using the last vestiges
of his brilliance to
make silent porno reels
for the mob. Cartwright
plays a former silent
film starlet who was
unable to cross over to
talkies, and has now
joined her former mentor
in the porn world. The
male star is simply
called Rex the Wonder
Horse, an aspiring actor
like just about everyone
else in Hollywood, but
currently paying the
bills as a porn star by
day, a gravedigger by
night.
The
first act of the film
basically consists of
Dreyfuss's attempts to
get his porn film made
despite his junkie
female star, his
unmotivated and
simple-minded male star,
and the sudden
appearance of the mob
boss (Bob Hoskins in his
early 30s, near the
beginning of his
career), who is
accompanied by his
ostensibly virginal
girlfriend. The act
basically ends with the
death of the female star
from an overdose, after
which the gravedigger
and the mob boss
disappear to dispose of
the body, leaving the
washed-up alkie porn
director with the
virginal Midwestern
girlfriend (Jessica
Harper).
The second act is
virtually a
self-contained play on
its own, as the two
remaining characters,
comparably manipulative
and intelligent people,
banter and engage in
verbal foreplay, then
decide that the two of
them could finish the
porn film despite the
fact that the leading
lady has died, simply by
virtue of the fact that
the girl from Chicago
has a similar body to
the deceased star, and
can therefore supply
body parts for
close-ups. (These
are the "inserts" of the
title.) The great
dramatic challenge is
for the impotent
Dreyfuss to somehow
supply the "cum shot."
The truly astounding
element of the film is
that the all of the
explicit action is shot
directly, showing just
about everything on
camera except erections
and penetration. The
characters talk dirty,
Rex the Wonder Dog
flashes his manhood,
Veronica Cartwright
flashes her womanhood
wide open, and Jessica
Harper is undressed for
just about the last hour
of the film (although
she never does show the
"cunt" she talks about
so often.) The film was
rated X in its day, and
the DVD is rated NC-17.
R-rated versions have
also been available on
VHS from time to time.
Beware of those. The
full running time is 115
minutes. The R-rated
version is 20-30 minutes
shorter. I have not seen
the expurgated version,
but it could not be any
good, because the
dialogue continues
during the sex scenes.
Without the sex scenes,
the true value of the
film would be lost
because the words spoken
at mid-thrust provide an
important element of the
character development,
the wit, and the offbeat
eroticism of the film.
The dialogue is written
entirely in the
appropriate slang from
the early 1930s,
although the Boy Wonder
is obviously a
self-styled intellectual
who uses plenty of
poetic phrases and fancy
vocabulary. The banter
is witty, and the
characters exit and
enter dramatically, as
if the film really were
a 1930s stage play
rather than a 1970s
film. The cast handles
the stylized dialogue
admirably and, despite
the single set, the
entire film has a lot of
energy and exhibits a
lot of intelligence. It
plays out as if Eugene
O'Neill had written an
erotic play about
the people who make
porno reels. The final
mutual seduction between
Dreyfuss and Harper
builds and builds to a
... well, I guess the
word is "climax," in
more senses than one ...
... all of which made me
wonder who the film was
made for, until I
realized that I am now
thinking like a person
from the year 2005. Back
in 1975, films were not
made "for" anyone - they
were made "by" someone
who was true to his
vision and hoped there
was a large enough
audience of like-minded
individuals. As it turns
out, there was no
audience for Inserts.
Except me. Yes, I admit
that not many people
will want to see Richard
Dreyfuss in an X-rated
film with aspirations to
be an Oscar Wilde play
but, dammit, it worked
for me. I found the film
very funny at times, and
both intelligent and
erotic. You may feel the
same way.
Note: these clips (not
mine) are in 1080hd, and
the film includes
virtually non-stop
nudity, so they
represent massive
downloads. (Cartwright
400+ meg, Harper 800+
meg)
