Private Lessons (1981)

An immigrant housemaid seduces a 15-year-old boy and later fakes her own death as part of his chauffeur's blackmail plot. Troubles arise when the two start to fall in love.

Director:

Alan Myerson

Writers:

Dan Greenburg (novel), Dan Greenburg (screenplay)

Stars:

Sylvia Kristel, Howard Hesseman, Eric Brown

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sylvia Kristel	...	Nicole Mallow
Howard Hesseman	...	Lester Lewis
Eric Brown	...	Phillip Fillmore
Meridith Baer	...	Miss Phipps
Pamela Jean Bryant	...	Joyce (as Pamela Bryant)
Peter Elbling	...	Waiter
Patrick Piccininni	...	Sherman
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Jack Travis
Ron Foster	...	Mr. Fillmore
Beans Morocco	...	Green, The Gardener (as Dan Barrows)
Dan Greenburg	...	Hotel Owner
Marian Gibson	...	Florence
Judy Helden	...	Miss Kristel's Double

Storyline

Phillip Filmore is a naive, 15-year-old, preoccupied with sex, who develops a crush on Nicole Mallow, the new 30-something, French housekeeper and sitter to look after him when Phillip's father is out of town for the summer on a "business" trip. But Mr. Filmore's unscrupulous chauffeur, Lester Lewis, takes advantage of Phillip's crush on Nicole to hire her to seduce the youth, then draws her into a plot to fake her own death in a blackmail scheme aimed to drain Phillip's trust fund.

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Plot Keywords:

chauffeur | blackmail | sex | housemaid | love | 

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Taglines:

When EMANUELLE's Sylvia Kristel is your teacher the bedroom is the classroom [DVD Australia]

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lecciones privadas

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,800,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$26,279,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Barry & Enright Productions, Jensen Farley Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Howard Hesseman wore a wig in this film.

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Goofs

After Nicole tells Philly to close the door to her room but before she sits down on the bed, a crew member can be seen pulling something out of the way beyond the door.

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Connections

Edited into Twisted Sex Vol. 23 (2007)

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Soundtracks

"That's The Reason"
Performed by Willie Nile
Composed by Willie Nile
Publisher: Lake Victoria Music
Courtesy of Arista Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Youthful Reminiscence

The last time I saw this movie before getting the newly-released DVD was back in my childhood, let's say 6th or 7th grade. Back then, the naughty scenes were quite exciting and the plot was good for a giggle. And of course young, awkward boys enjoy some small hope that one day they will become more suave through kind experiences of female beauty. On general principal I thought I should add the DVD to my collection. Overall, I was not disappointed.

One major detraction I didn't remember seeing before was the crude white-paint censor blots in the two full-frontal nude scenes (boooooo!). This film has a few details on refused-classification.com which suggest that it might have been doctored in this way in order to gain its R rating, even back in 1982. I wonder why it was not offered with a "director's cut" as a special feature of the DVD (e.g. "Dressed to Kill") - artistically speaking, I would rather have a scene cut than done up with something so cheesy and distracting as a censor box (shame!).

This movie is what it is - for me it represents just a little piece of my childhood, and contains a few moments that were interesting to revisit. If the features of the DVD had been more complete I would have given it about an 8. I'm hoping I will be amused by the commentary when I hear it.