Film Review: Porky's (1981)

Eisenhower era was, for the long time, seen as the embodiment of everything wrong with America and everything Boomers have been rebelling in 1960s, and it took some time for more measured approach to take place and those years be reappraised into something like a lost Golden Age. For some people this process went much faster, especially those who were teenagers at the time and who would paint their portrayal of those time with the large amounts of nostalgia. One of them was Bob Clark, whose 1981 Canadian sex comedy Porky's represented the most personal, but also the most successful of all the films in his career.

The plot takes place in 1954 South Florida and describes the lives of sex-obsessed high school students. One of them, Edward "Pee Wee" Morris (played by Dan Monahan), desperately wants to lose virginity, not discouraged with the disastrous attempt with promiscuous Wendy (played by Kaki Hunter). He and his friends make another attempt by hiring a prostitute (played by Candy Clark) only to realise that they are target of a practical joke. Another attempt lead them outside county lines to "Porky's", infamous strip bar in Everglades where they hope they would have some quality time with strippers. The owner Porky Wallace (played by Charles Mitchell) takes their money only to swindle and humiliate them. The boys are determined to have their revenge, but first they must deal with some issues of their own.

Clark's script was based on his own growing up in Southern Florida during the era, but the film, despite some toying with nostalgia in American Graffiti style, apparently held a lot of appeal to early 1980s teenagers. At least this is the conclusion that could be made on its enormous commercial success, which led to couple of sequels and making raunchy teen sex comedies one of the trends in 1980s Hollywood. Porky's applied principles of such films by using very crude, unsophisticated humour based on sex, as well as plenty of nudity, both male and female. Critics, like in many such occasions, didn't like the film, calling it worthless exploitation. Some of their complaints have a lot of merit. Porky's is not a very good film. The script lacks coherent plot and the jokes are of varied quality. Some, like the one featuring young Kim Cattrall in the role of nymphomaniacal Coach Honeywell, go for too long and overstay their welcome. Others are, on the other hand, quite effective although they don't have much to do with the rest of the film. Probably the best example is the scene in which boys get caught by girls peeping them under shower and which is followed by its aftermath – a brilliant one shot scene that gives an ironic epilogue. Clark occasionally tries to give some sort of social and artistic value to his project, so the script doesn't shy away from the slightly more serious tone and important issues like family abuse, anti-Semitism and racism, but those scenes still play the second fiddle to sex. Mostly unknown cast is, on the other hand, very good, but only two actors truly stand out - Nancy Parsons as constantly infuriated Coach Balbricker, as well as Dan Monahan who, despite single-mindedness of his sex-obsessed character makes "Pee Wee" sympathetic to the audience. Any viewer who accepted American Pie as solid entertainment would probably have little problems accepting this.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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