“There is an expression for girls like her…you see it scrawled on walls!”
Enter a world where just drinking a bottle of coke seems wrong! It’s a world of films that are proudly defended this way:
“I made some terrible pictures, but I don’t make any apologies for anything I’ve ever done. Nobody ever asked for their money back.”
Yes, it’s the twisted world of early exploitaiton cinema, seen through the eyes of one very demented producing genius – meet Producer David F. Friedman!
Among his classic films:
A Smell Of Honey, A Swallow Of Brine!
Kudos to Something Weird Video for putting “A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine,” one of David F. Friedman’s best movies, on DVD!
Let’s take a moment – LOOK AT THAT TITLE! And what about that tagline! “There is an expression for girls like her…you see it scrawled on walls!”
I mean, C’MON, MAN! This is sexploitation at its finest!
Welcome To The Black ‘n’ White World Of “Nudie Cuties!”
And it was the world of David F. Friedman – an American filmmaker and film producer best known for his B-movies, exploitation films, as well as what were first known in the business as “nudie cuties”, an early brand of “sexploitation” film.
The posters promised rampant nudity and sexual situations, but the movies barely had either. Friedman saw a way to make money off of “lonely” young men…without ever really showing anything “dirty”…it was the ultimate “come on” to male grindhouse audiences…
“I May Be A Bitch, But I’ll NEVER Be A Butch!”
Check out this classic moment from “Brine”:
So what exactly is “A Smell Of Honey, A Swallow Of Brine” about? Well, the poster suggests it’s every young man’s fantasy: AN ADULT EXPERIENCE! Look at what it says at the bottom right: “The cunning young cannibal who devoured everything that fell into her soft warm trap…”
Sexy Stacey Walker, with her arched eyebrows, wicked smile and heavily sprayed hair, burns up the screen as Sharon Winters, a character who gets her kicks seducing men, then crying “Rape!” (In his commentary, Producer Friedman tells how he considered calling the movie “C.T.”, but figured no one would get it.)
Shot in black and white, “A Smell of Honey” has a deliciously tawdry look, yet shows some artful flourishes- likely attributed to the early worked of legendary Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs. Even when the actors are clothed, our imaginations are nudged into the gutter – here are some examples: Walker and her “victim” framed in a tree that looks like spread thighs – and of course, THIS:
It’s the classic moment when Walker suggestively drinks from a Coke bottle while the camera periodically cuts to the thrusting, bulging crotch of her boyfriend singing in a bar. In a world when nudity in a film was an invitation to being busted by the vice squad, this kind of stuff worked!
According to the Producer, Walker could’ve easily gone on to stardom, in either exploitation or even mainstream movies (she reportedly was courted by Paramount). But, as Friedman tells it, she married “some gazoony” and moved back to her home state of Texas after only making two feature-length movies. Folks, THIS is what you call an audio commentary worth listening to!
This Something Weird release includes a couple of other obscure movies, as well as trailers for other Friedman movies, like “The Defilers,” “The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill” and “The Lustful Turk” (in which all the men wear obviously fake beards). But the best extra is Friedman’s commentary on “A Smell of Honey.” This sultan of sleaze livens up any DVD with his frankly-told, frequently humorous anecdotes of exploitation’s golden age.
Kudos To Something Weird!
Thanks to Something Weird Video for keeping the classic era of exploitation alive! Go to their website to buy and download these gems!
http://www.somethingweird.com/cart.php?page=about_swv
And while you are there, check out these other two Friedman gems!
The Defilers! / Scum Of The Earth! – What A Combo!
These movies from the mid-60′s were cautionary tales for women – and wild, escapist fantasies for men…
The Defilers!
Another classic exploitation poster – promising so much more than the film would deliver.
Carl Walker Jr, and Jameison Marsh are two wealthy and spoiled young men whom date and degrade women just for their own twisted, misogynist enjoyment.
When men spot Jane Collins, a young and naive newcomer to Los Angeles, they kidnap her from her apartment and hold her prisoner in the dark and damp basement of an abandoned warehouse where they take out their carnal desires and rages against this beautiful, blond, defenseless woman.
Now, this was clearly before the era of women’s lib – but these films were selling an interesting message: it was dangerous for women to venture out on their own – independent of their protector…again, cautionary tales like this were just a hook upon which to play out male fantasies – pure grindhouse…
Scum Of The Earth – Directed by Hershell Gordon Lewis!
And look at this: Friedman worked with the master of classic grindhouse entertainment, Hershell Gordan Lewis!
A naive and innocent teenage girl is blackmailed into modeling in the nude for a photographer who is in league with a teenage gang whose boss illegally sells photos of teenage girls being abused and degraded.
Read All About It From The Trash-Film King Himself!
In 1990 Friedman published his autobiography, A Youth in Babylon: Confessions of a Trash-Film King.
He remained proud of his cinematic oeuvre: “I made some terrible pictures, but I don’t make any apologies for anything I’ve ever done. Nobody ever asked for their money back.” And how can you argue with that?
David F. Friedman died in 2011, so these movies and his book will help keep his twisted legacy alive!
