Woodyanders Review of The All American Hustler

The All American Hustler (1972)

Bleakly fascinating portrait of a prostitute

[8/10 · 31 May 2016]

Prostitute Carol (a fine and affecting performance by Mickie Lynn) services several johns in Los Angeles and begins to feel dejected about her dismal lot in life. Director Huck Walker deserves a lot of praise for his bold willingness to make this seamy snapshot of a few days in a sex worker's life as depressing and unerotic as possible: The sex scenes are graphic, but often sordid and hence decidedly less than arousing, the tone remains resolutely grim and gritty throughout, Carol's customers are a pretty homely and pathetic bunch, there's a potent central message about the heavy emotional toll that prostitution takes on the human soul, and the downbeat ending packs a devastating punch. Lynn's spot-on acting as the hauntingly tragic and troubled main character holds this picture together; she receives sturdy support from Candy Kay as heroin addict hooker Candy, Michael Pataki as Carol's deadbeat boyfriend, and Virgil Frye as a yoga-practicing hippie guru. Marred only by some seriously wonky sound issues, this grimy slice of seedy urban life overall sizes up as recommended viewing for Golden Age adult cinema aficionados looking for something daring and different.