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Highly Overrated But Still Good

From my favorite movies..

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Artistically this film probably deserves its average 2-3 out of 10 rating on IMDb, but to watch it for artistic reasons is a mistake. This is a film that simply went out to make as much money as possible and in that respect it was a big (and rare UK) success. So while the much mocked health spa/ swimming pool orgy scene is unarguably pure hokum, its purpose was simply to get film goers talking about all the raunchy scenes, as was the sex in the lift scene. Other great word of mouth devices are using the hugely popular (among men of a certain age) Pans People/ Legs & Co in the dancing scenes and cashing in on the disco craze. Simply as a fan of cinema these devices are of great interest. To top it all there is a surprisingly good film poster for a film supposedly of no artistic merit. After watching it after all these years (too young at the time) I am impressed that the rather pathetic British film industry of this time was capable of making such a venal and direct money spinner.

Let's get something out of the way right now: 'The Stud' is garbage and doesn't really pretend to be anything more. It is one of the last in an assembly line of mainstream skin flicks that graced Britain and America during the 1970s, finding its place beside 'Come Play with Me,' the Timothy Lea 'Confessions' series, and the many installments of 'Carry On.' In 1978 and '79, bestselling novelist Jackie Collins took advantage of her success to film two adaptations, 'The Stud' and its sequel 'The Bitch.' Older sister Joan Collins, who dealt closely with Jackie at the time, agreed to play her starring role with backing from producer-husband Ronald Kass and Jackie's late husband Oscar Lerman. The rest, we can say, is history; resulting were two incredibly bad films, but also the prototype for Joan Collins's role of Alexis Carrington on the TV series 'Dynasty.'Released in a burnt-out period of drugs and debauchery, 'The Stud' was very much of its time and an ideal vehicle for adult cinemas. But unlike its successor 'The Bitch,' this earlier film has a semblance of plot, more dimensional characters, and technical work that is not completely awful. The novel and movie use a theme of obvious appeal to working-class men by portraying a young upstart who is eking his way into the social classes that reign above him. This cardboard plot at least makes 'The Stud' watchable, with loads of nudity and cheap, gratuitous moments to wake you from slumber.While Collins is first-billed as nightclub owner Fontaine Khaled, it is really Oliver Tobias who holds the larger role, playing waiter-turned-club manager Tony Blake. Blake, who doubles as a gigolo and lover of Fontaine, portrays the working-class man who is looking to break through England's social rigidity. He hobnobs and often sleeps with upper-class clientele, prostituting his body and his dignity in order to get places. Tony is pretty much a toy of Fontaine and her friend Vanessa (Sue Lloyd), two married women who escape boredom through orgies and videotapes of their conquests. Fontaine's current husband Benjamin (Walter Gotell) brings onto the scene Alexandra (Emma Jacobs), his daughter from a previous marriage, and Tony begins to have second thoughts about his way of life.'The Stud' indeed has the look and feel of a cheap romance novel, but it actually had some things going for it when Jackie Collins began to write its screenplay. While Tony Blake is a disgusting man and can be labeled a pervert for bedding Fontaine's just-legal stepdaughter, there is a small amount of depth in his character and we get to know something about him personally. In an odd way, he represents the working-class Briton (or American for that matter) who wants desperately to live a comfortable life, but is inevitably crushed under the weight of those with larger bank accounts and better heredity. In the end, Blake loses everything, with an ease that working-class men can relate too.However, Collins (with co-writers Dave Humphries and Christopher Stagg) knew the market she was aiming for and kept things mostly on an airheaded level. There is very little plot and dialogue for the actors to work with, resulting in all-around embarrassment. Tobias and Joan Collins fare decently, as does Emma Jacobs in the stepdaughter's role, but everyone is visibly straining to put life into their material. 'The Stud' is so gutted over its 96-minute running time that director Quentin Masters had to cushion the story with nightclub dancing, even though it offers nothing significant. Masters, who may have been under severe budget constraints, directed this film in ways that are laughable. Scenes supposedly taking place at night are botched by windows leaking daylight and it takes half the film to notice a heart-shaped antenna on Blake's roadster, which would have been valuable in showing Blake for the gaudy, tasteless character he is. The sex scene with Tobias and Jacobs (she's about 19, don't forget) is also cheap and exploitative. 'The Stud' is clearly a low-budget film, with tight locations, bad lighting, and poor sound. The disco soundtrack, hyped to the stratosphere when this film was released, comes out blasting while much of the fluffy conversation is drowned out. The cinematography was actually supplied by Peter Hannan, who won an Academy Award in 2006 for co-developing the 'Hot-Head' remote camera. Not surprisingly, The Stud's visuals are superior to that of 'The Bitch' and generally okay, using the darkened gloss that seems common in British film-making. The costuming is ordinary, but a lasing document on 1970s clothing sense - or lack thereof.Unlike other British skin flicks that played in cinemas and vanished, 'The Stud' and 'The Bitch' are still topics of discussion; few, if any, actors have tumbled into the depths of soft porn and risen back to stardom like Joan Collins has. Where else, after all, can we see a popular actress like Joan stripping down naked, smoking marijuana, and flinging herself into the thick of a pool orgy? When do we ever hear a popular actress like Joan asking her boyfriend if he's getting an erection? In interviews, Collins admits that 'The Stud' led to her famous Dynasty role, but this is still one film she'd like humanity to forget.Unfortunately for her, 'The Stud' has made it to DVD, released in the U.S. by Trinity Home Entertainment. As expected for a movie of this caliber, it is presented in fullscreen with decent picture and 2.0 Dolby audio that does nothing to resolve the imbalance between music and spoken words. As if people are buying this for the great narratives! The fact is, Joan is nude and nasty - and people have money to spend.* out of 4Roving Reviewer - www.geocities.com/paul_johnr

I can't pretend otherwise, I've always loved this film and it's one of my guilty pleasures for a rainy afternoon, or more likely a night in with a few drinks.It's astoundingly dreary looking: apart from Joan's soft focus entrance there is precious little opulence on display. The film is low-lit and rather seedy looking. The opening credits sequence remarkably switches from day to night and back again! But right from the start, when the incredibly beautiful Felicity departs after a night with Tony, and then the sequence of him dressing and going out to the sound of the irresistible theme tune (watch Oliver Tobias trying to say "you handsome bastard" tro himself as quietly as possible!), this is a classic quotealong movie. Some of the one liners are great: "they ask for comics and a bag of sweets you give 'em penthouse and amyl nitrate" and best of all "there are two sorts of women in this world. The first sort pick you up and screw you, the second sort pick your brains and screw you up." It's rubbish of course, but however good it may or may not be its about the disco scene and shagging so it will always be seen in that way.Whatever happened to the director? Oliver Tobias is rather underused in the film it must be said: he doesn't have much to do and is rather overshadowed by super-bitch Fontaine. But the soundtrack is great, and the film is fun. And the scenes with Tony and his pals are the best in the movie. Those three deserved a series! But why does Ben return the video to Fontaine? Surely he'll need it as evidence?

This film, while utter trash from beginning to end, has tremendous camp value along the lines of "The Lonely Lady" and "Showgirls". For one thing, fans of the TV show "Dynasty" are REQUIRED to rent and watch this soft-core porn fiasco to see their beloved Alexis Carrington Colby Dexter (etc.), Joan Collins, boffing in the buff as rich-bitch disco maven, Fontaine Khaled (Fontaine is a forerunner of Alexis if ever there was one!). You could even say Fontaine is a sort of "Alexis Uncensored" -- Fontaine has all the glamorous window dressing of Alexis while tossing-off vulgar quips like, "Doesn't that give you a hard-on?" (Yes, you WILL howl when you hear the lines coming out of La Collins' mouth!). Wealthy wives who are bored silly, Fontaine and her corrupt girlfriend Vanessa spend their leisure time plotting trysts and comparing notes on sex while getting massages and applying make-up. It's all too, too FABULOUS! The so-called "plot" (thanks to Joan Collins' sister Jackie's bestselling novel) is thin stuff at best, almost arbitrarily following the whims and fancies of the rich-and-famous as they use and abuse one Tony Blake, a relatively attractive and ambitious young man who has foolishly resorted to hustling to pay the bills (played by Oliver Tobias, who would also run around naked in another tawdry production, "The Wicked Lady", co-starring Faye Dunaway, some five years later). It's the old "hooker with a heart of gold" story all over again; Tony becomes introspective over the course of the film and starts questioning his lifestyle. Without giving anything else away, your jaw will absolutely drop by the time the orgy scene rolls around. ASIDE: this is almost certainly the inspiration for 1980's "American Gigolo" starring Richard Gere as a hustler whose devil-may-care lifestyle finally catches up with him. Huge points are awarded to composer Biddu for the score to "The Stud". Some well-known songs punctuate the disco soundtrack which is unparalleled and truly captures the shallow, glittery period. I only wish it were available on CD (though the credits state an album was available on the RONCO label...). Good News: both THE STUD and THE BITCH have, as of February 2006, finally been released to Region 1 DVD in a boxed set! I've yet to watch either film, but have them on order, and will edit my comments accordingly sometime in March to say how the release turned out. Bad news: Thorn EMI's rather ancient VHS release (if that's all you can get your hands on, or if that's the level of technology you're currently stuck with) suffers from very bad sound. Dialog drops out from time to time, making nuances of the story irritatingly difficult to follow -- you have to keep adjusting the volume on your TV upward to hear what's being said, then down again so you don't get blasted to death by scenes in the disco. I've checked several commercially released copies of "The Stud" on VHS and they all suffered from the same sound problems, so it's Thorn EMI's fault. Which is too bad. "The Stud" is an example of bad film-making at its most obnoxious and should be witnessed by everyone who is either a fan of "bad cinema" or merely familiar with the work of Joan Collins.