Pets (1974) Raphael Nussbaum

Pets (1974)
Genre: Sexploitation
Aspect ratio: Widescreen 1.85:1 | Length: 100mn
Dvdrip Xvid Avi - 704x400 - 23.976fps - 1.46gb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071992/

Although they are linked, this is essentially a trio of exploitation shorts on the subject of possessiveness. We have the stylish black lady happy to humiliate and rob the well off white man, the lesbian artist who takes in a model and the gallery owner who keeps a very special zoo in his basement. Candy Rialson is perfect in the lead as she is used by them all, even if as in Voltaire's Candide, she gets a fair bit for herself along the way. This is super sexy seventies sleaze and with dodgey pop psychology and all, a delightful treat. There is a cute central performance from Candy Rialson as Bonnie, chauvinism a plenty, a sublime theme song and spot on costumerie. Not to mention a girl in a lion's cage and a spot of whipping.

Now *this* is a 1970's exploitation flick worth seeking out for the curious and the adventurous. It tells the story of Bonnie (70's goddess Candy Rialson), who makes a break from her controlling jerk brother and has a series of adventures. First, she makes the acquaintance of Pat (Teri Guzman), a volatile small time criminal and they humiliate and rob a hapless horny guy, Dan Daubrey (Brett Parker). Next, she comes into the life of a possessive lesbian painter, Geraldine Mills (Joan Blackman). Finally, after leaving Geraldine, she connects with Vincent Stackman (Ed Bishop), a man with creepy ideas about women and how women ought to be treated. Yes, in the end, this turns into an effective story about male chauvinism and ignorance out of control, portrayed in a depraved yet fascinating way. The film is admittedly somewhat episodic, but the stories are very compelling and compulsively watchable. 70's trash fans can take delight in the amount of sex and bare female flesh to which we are treated; Rialson is an immense pleasure to look at and delivers an engaging performance; while not exactly innocent, she definitely ends up wiser and savvier by the end and fully capable of taking care of herself. The relationships are interesting and the characters colorful. That's not to mention the fact that this film has many comedic moments as well as the occasional harsh one (this will be a little hard to stomach at one point for a dog lover); it's quite funny and although a little long for an exploitation flick at 101 minutes, it's never, ever boring. That sappy theme song is recycled a little too much, but it doesn't detract from the fun. The acting is also superb, with Blackman and Guzman making vivid contributions and Bishop scoring as a guy who's sort of subtly off putting at first until we get the big reveal into his mindset. K.T. Stevens, Roberto Contreras, and Berry Kroeger make enjoyable cameo appearances. The final twist is delicious and it's very nice to see that women in this film are quite able to fend for themselves and get what they need. Written by Richard Reich and producer / director Raphael Nussbaum, based on Reich's play, this is a great unsung film of its era.