Mau Mau Sex Sex (2001)

Director:

Ted Bonnitt

Writer:

Eddie Muller (writer)

Release Date:

6 April 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

What went on... what came off!

Plot:

A documentary about the history of exploitation films that focuses on the careers of legendary producers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney. |

Plot Keywords:

Exploitation | Producer | Exploitation Filmmaking | Sex | Retrospective

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

David F. Friedman	...	Himself
Dan Sonney	...	Himself
Frank Henenlotter	...	Himself
Mike Vraney	...	Himself
Carol Friedman	...	Herself
Margaret Sonney	...	Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Linda Cotton	...	(archive footage)
Chet Huntley	...	Himself (archive footage)
Shari Mann	...	Teddy (archive footage)
Connie Mason	...	Suzette Fremont (archive footage)
Rosa Lee Sonney	...	Herself
Lili St. Cyr	...	(archive footage)
Stacey Walker	...	Sharon Winters (archive footage)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Anniston, Alabama, USA

Company:

7th Planet Productions

Trivia:

The film's title is derived from a statement Dan Sonney makes while discussing the film Mau-Mau (1955).

Movie Connections:

References Magic Spectacles (1961)

good stuff but should be better

The virtues here are mainly in the fantastic subject matter - Dan Sonney and David Friedman, devoted family men (well sort of) and pioneering purveyors of the lower forms of cinematic sleaze. Not the very lowest - maybe I'm wearing rose-tinted nostalgia glasses, but the clips from their nudie-cuties and gorefests look great about eighty percent of the time, just drenched in Kodachrome, suggesting lost worlds with their cavorting volleyball nudism. Then, oh well, they get bored and start beating up/dismembering the gals. Now they've got age eighty surrounded, the businessman and the carny, and they play well-rehearsed shtick off each other like the pros that they are. Bonnitt straddles affection and cagey ambivalence pretty smartly, and one can only admire how he follows in his subjects' footsteps with his stubborn independence in the new age of digital distribution. On the other hand, one is hard pressed to admire his skill at putting a movie together; the movie is one-quarter gone before Friedman gets a character sketch, the worthy conceit of showing these old sleazebags in their suburban still lives is milked to the point of raw pointless tedium, and having ONE big-name sycophant (Frank Henenlotter?!) on board to fill in the gaps isn't really much of a challenge to the talk-doc paradigm. Very likable, but less than the sum of its fascinating parts.