Fever Pitch (1995) (V)

User Rating:

3.0/10   

Writer:

Martin Brimmer (writer)

Genre:

Adult

Plot Keywords:

Hardcore | Sex

Cast

Ona Zee

The Empress Has No Clothes !

I've always really liked Ona Zee, as an adult actress and performer, and have tried to appreciate the risks she subsequently took as a producer/director in bringing in heavily noir-influenced tales of crime and punishment on what were obviously insufficient budgets. DEADLY SIN, THIN ICE and especially RAZOR'S EDGE (the latter thanks to another no holds barred Jeanna Fine performance) all had their moments, both narratively and sexually, but would've invariably benefited from a few dollars more in Frank and Ona's piggy bank. Out of respect for Ona, I've always been lenient with her efforts in the past, perhaps looking more at what she was trying to achieve than what she actually accomplished. That respect took a serious bashing when I saw her acting all high 'n' mighty during her mercifully brief interview segment in the excellent documentary SEX : THE ANNABEL CHONG STORY (if you haven't seen it yet, do check it out), extolling the virtues of her own production company as opposed to the slime where the frequently misunderstood Ms. Chong was seen plying her trade in her far from humble opinion. How is the porn industry ever to gain public acceptance and support if they cannot even present a united front rather than this twisted take on hierarchy with the 'tasteful' erotica of Queen Zee and her ilk presiding over the down 'n' dirty 'dreck' for the raincoat crowd supplied by far less self-deluding personalities such as the deeply troubled Chong (oh, watch the movie already). Okay, Ona, the gloves are off...

Private eye Ona (highly professional, credit where it's due, in a non-sex role) stumbles into a police station, slowly dying of some fictitious hard to trace poison. So far so D.O.A. To a less than sympathetic cop she relates how she went from catching soon to be divorced spouses in the act of adultery (cue gratuitous motel room scene between melon-breasted Jessica James and the ever greasy Tony Tedeschi) to tracking down missing heiress Kaitlyn Ashley who turns out to be a gangster's moll who knows too much or a high class prostitute with inside info on influential politicians or... In an effort to pass of a simple framework for the feature's genital groping as sophisticated storytelling (do go back to bed, Ona), Ashley's character changes her tune after every single sexual flashback, providing one illogical twist after another. Low end production values don't help out in this respect either, muddy mood lighting being the worst offender in this respect. And what's the deal with the character played initially by Alex Sanders (as Ashley's husband and partner in crime if you're still bothering to make sense) suddenly turning into Alec Metro who looks absolutely nothing like him for the final carnal encounter ?

Saving grace is, as so often in adult features, some halfway decent sex with the thankfully irrepressible Kaitlyn Ashley (a fairly good actress who does what she can even with this unpromising material) raising temperatures with a lively three-way with then husband Jay Ashley and the ubiquitous Jon Dough and pretty, eager to please starlet Emily Hill making a meal out of curly-haired Greek God Alex Sanders. But to paraphrase the inimitable Peggy Lee, yep, that's all there is.