Abigail Lesley Is Back in Town (1975)

Director:

Joseph W. Sarno

Writer:

Joseph W. Sarno (written by)

Release Date:

September 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Bad Girl Who Was REAL Good...

Plot:

An erotically-charged soap opera, Sarno style. |

Plot Keywords:

Mini Skirt | Husband Wife Relationship | Orgasm | Sex | Beach

Cast

Mary Mendum	...	Priscilla Howe (as Rebecca Brooke)
Jennifer Jordan	...	Abigail Lesley (as Sarah Nicolson)
Eric Edwards	...	Chester
Jamie Gillis	...	Gordon Howe
Chris Jordan	...	Alice Anne
Jennifer Welles	...	Drucilla
Julia Sorel	...	Lila
Susan Sloan	...	Tracey (as Anne Keel)
Alex Mann	...	Tyler
Sonny Landham	...	Bo

Directed by
Joseph W. Sarno		(as Joe Sarno)

Writing credits
Joseph W. Sarno		(written by) (as Joe Sarno)

Original Music by
Jack Justis

Cinematography by
Bil Godsey		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Joseph W. Sarno		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Peggy Steffans	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Phil Voza	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Kantrowitz	....	gaffer (as Mike Cantrowitz)
Ron Levitus	....	assistant camera

Music Department
Jack Justis	....	music performer

Other crew
Armand Weston	....	production coordinator

Production Companies

• High Ground Productions

Distributors

• Monarch Releasing Corporation (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• Retro-Seduction Cinema (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• WVG Medien GmbH (2008) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"The Secret Garden" - USA (alternative title)

Runtime:

USA:100 min (DVD release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:R | USA:X

Filming Locations:

Amityville, Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

High Ground Productions

Trivia:

There is a scene in the movie (near a canal) that was filmed behind what was later known as the The Amityville Horror (1979) house.

Movie Connections:

Featured in La Magnifique Obsession de Joe Sarno (2011)

Abigail proves her point and Prissy unwinds a bit

Any movie the title of which has a person's name followed by "is Back in Town" means that wrong was done to owner of said name and said owner has returned to extract revenge. Except in this one the title character was wronger, not the wrongee, and deserved to get the boot. Abigail (Jennifer Jordan) was a sex hound whose crime was bedding down with one guy too many—the husband (Jamie Gillis) of the beautiful but tightly wound Priscilla (Rebecca Brooke). Now she's back, the town tramp, whose quest is to prove to everybody who drummed her out of town (they're all high school buddies from about seven years ago) that they were/still are as sex-mad as she was/still is and place as little value on sexual propriety as she did/still does.

Boy, does she do a bang-up job of it. First she lures in the ladies, one at a time and then in group gropes. Next come the guys, again one at a time, then mixing and matching with the ladies here and there until there should be uniform numbers and a scorecard to keep track of it all. Naked bodies everywhere, brightly lit, clearly displayed, much of it likely performed in hardcore but filmed in softcore.

No one is going to win any acting awards for the film, though Eric Edwards, as the lovable but somewhat dim Chester (Chester? Who makes a movie with a character named Chester in it?) tries his hardest. Jennifer Welles appears as Aunt Drucilla (no, she's not a vampire) bent on loosening up her niece Prissy—"I'd be happy to loan you Bo (Sonny Landham). He'd be happy, too." Bo comes over later and Priscilla tries, but she just can't bring herself to cheat on, of all people, Jamie Gillis. Wow.

Well, Prissy finally goes to see Abigail for some sex counseling and gets it in the form of top-notch oral sex in which Brooke chews up the scenery with her over-reaction to what must be the first orgasm of her life. Best to watch this scene with the sound turned off. A few orgies later she is courageous enough to propose running away from Bayport with her one true love—Chester. In the final shot, the happy couple walks through the sand toward the surf and you keep expecting them to make a left turn, but no, they keep walking straight toward the ocean and, who knows, maybe they're going to walk right in and just keep walking. One note about Bayport. It's really Amityville, New York, director Joseph Sarno's hometown. The horror house in not shown in this film, but several scenes were shot adjacent to it. This was four years before the James Brolin film came out.

Of course this movie is not just about naked people. There is a social message, which is, who are we to judge the horniness of others when we are just as horny as the ones we condemn and would act on it if given half a chance? Maybe even a quarter of a chance. Just who are we? At least I think that's the message. Another message is that if you have a camera and a passable script you can get lots of people to take off their clothes for you and watch them have sex with each other. No fool, our director.