Wednesday 9 July 2014

Vinegar Syndrome Review: Abduction of an American Playgirl (1975)

"She's more than they can handle!"
Eric Edwards (TEENAGE TWINS, DEBBIE DOES DALLAS) and Alan Marlow (ROLLERBABIES, MARASCHINO CHERRY) star as Will and Fred, two down and out guys who are just as desperate for money as they are some tail. Whilst contemplating their situation, they spot Jackie, a good looking socialite played by Darby Lloyd Rains (NAKED CAME THE STRANGER, PAMELA MANN) exiting a small shop (which happens to be in the middle of nowhere). They hatch the plan to abduct her and give her such a good seeing to that she'll be so satisfied that she won't feel the need to call the police. A kick in the balls later, the pair take their hostage to Will's sister's place so they can have a little bit of fun. After searching through Jackie's stuff, Will cooks up the plan to hold her for ransom. With all this planned out, it should be smooth sailing from here right?
If you said yes... You'd be dead wrong! You see, although a film about a woman being held captive sounds like pretty serious stuff, Abduction of an American Playgirl plays out as a goofy comedy and does it so well.  First off, Jackie's father has no interest at all in shedding out the cash to get his daughter back. As we see through countless phone interactions between Fred and Jackie's father. On top of that, it seems that the boys have bagged themselves quite a frisky little fox. It starts off all fine and daddy but when Jackie gets a taste (literally) for Will and Fred, she begins to demand more and more. It gets too much for our poor captors, so much so that they barter down their price so they can get rid of Jackie once and for all. They could just leave her or escape themselves but they wouldn't want Jackie to phone the cops now would they?
Will the pair finally be free of Jackie? Will they get the money? Will they just forget the hassle of the money? You're going to have to check out the film for yourself to find out. Overall, the film is a nice and compact (the running time coming in at just 71 minutes) piece of adult cinema. The sex is good throughout with a variety of different scenarios and positions to please the trench coat folk out there. What I enjoyed most was the comedy. I am a big fan of Alan Marlow's comedic talents, and it was great to see him and Eric Edwards (who is fantastic as usual) have such great chemistry throughout. Sure the comedy got a little hammy at times but it just adds to the charm of the film. Everyone involved put in a good, solid performance. The story, although fairly straightforward, was written well and if you're one of those types who doesn't care for those pesky sex scenes, was strong enough to warrant a viewing on its own.
 I'm not too sure what sort of home video release this title has had in the past, but as always, Vinegar Syndrome have done an exceptional job with the transfer. For a film of this nature, the quality of sound and video is second to none. The film is presented in 1.33:1 and was restored in 2k from the original negatives. It's also great to see that the trailer is included also. If you are reading this, you probably already know Vinegar Syndrome are doing such a stellar job restoring and presenting their releases.
The film comes as part of a double feature through the Peekarama Collection. The second film on disc is Claude Goddard's Winter Heat starring the ever so wonderful and terribly missed Jamie Gillis (WATERPOWER, MISTY BEETHOVEN). It's a nice and rough little home invasion film and actually makes for a good double feature with the much lighter in tone Abduction of an American Playgirl. If you want to know more about Winter Heat, I welcome you to check out my review on Youtube:
Overall, this is a great release and one that fans of the genre will love but also a good 'entry point' film for people wanting to explore the wonderfully sticky world of classic adult cinema. As with most of the Vinegar Syndrome releases, it's very easy to find and very affordable. You can buy the film directly from Vinegar Syndrome and it's also available on Amazon. For my UK readers, it occasionally pops up on Amazon UK for a great price.