Behind the Green Door (1972)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Directors:

Artie Mitchell
Jim Mitchell

Writer:

Anonymous (story)

Release Date:

17 December 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Adult | Drama

Plot:

Two men enter a fast food place. The owner asks them about a mysterious matter. After some considerations...

Plot Keywords:

Stage | Audience | Orgy | Lesbianism | Brunette

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Marilyn Chambers	...	Gloria Saunders
George S. MacDonald	...	Barry Clark (as George S. McDonald)
Johnny Keyes	...	African Stud (as Johnnie Keyes)
Lisa Grant	...	Matron
Yank Levine	...	Dudley
Toni Attell	...	Mime (as Toad Attell)
Ben Davidson	...	Porter the Bouncer
Adrienne Mitchell	...	Waitress
Dana Fuller	...	Cook
Dale Meador	...	Hotel Clerk (as Dale Meade)
Jim Mitchell	...	First Kidnapper (as James Mitchell)
Artie Mitchell	...	Second Kidnapper (as Art Mitchell)
Mike Bradford	...	Parking Lot Attendant
Tony Royale	...	Guard
Bunny Brody	...	Female Attendant

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:X | Australia:X | Finland:(Banned) (1995) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Jartech

Trivia:

After seeing her (under the name Marilyn Briggs) in Wes Craven's 1971 film Together (1971), the Mitchell Brothers offered Marilyn Chambers a role in this movie, giving her the option of taking a role in which she wasn't required to have sex. Originally, Chambers chose a non-sex role, but allowed the Brothers to talk her into taking the lead. For her gig, she was paid $25,000 and 1% of earnings (which in 1974, brought her between $2,000 and $2,500 per month), the highest amount ever paid a porn performer. Chambers said that her experience was a good one as the Brothers treated her as an actress, with respect.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "SexTV: Sextv Roundtable: Shooting Porn (#5.23)" (2003)

Taxi Driver's Eyes Wide

No history of film can evade porn. Some of it contains some clever ideas and every once in a while it actually influenced something. That's the case with this.

Schrader has explicitly said that this influenced his "Taxi Driver" in the notion of someone driving around and creating a whole imagined sexual narrative. Kubrick has admitted no such thing with his "Eyes Wide Shut," but one is tempted to make a dual connection: the private sex club with masked men and the imaginary narrative. ("Eyes" is about a dialog between two dreams.)

Here's the story: A guy drives a long time, giving us the impression that this defines his character. He enters a diner and meets a friend. The two spin a tale which constitutes the remainder of the movie.

But that isn't a simple tale. It has another nesting: the same two guys engaged in inane conversation on a restaurant terrace, while a plain girl (the only other being present) occupies a nearby table. Then we have an improbable story which could be the fabrication of the two in the diner, or the one (the driver) imagines in looking at the girl on the terrace. (Or all could be something imagined by the driver while driving. We get a hint at the end that the latter is more probable.)

That tale is that she is abducted and placed on a stage in a private sex club so they/we can watch an innocent be ravished. Now begins the porn section which I suppose is tame by today's standard. It includes a racial stereotype that Spike Lee should have put in "Bamboozled" (except he exploits that one himself).

Within that stage scene is a bizarrely psychedelic cinematic celebration of the ejaculation. Like everything in this project, the quality is laughable. But the idea is that we have four nestings.

Then the first framing is closed and we are back at the diner. The cook asks what happened next. The driver leaves and drives a very long time, during which he imagines the girl again (and we have another porn sequence).

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.