CHICAGO—Bijou Video, which specializes in re-mastering and re-releasing time-honored classics of gay adult cinema, has released four titles from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s in which four studios examine classic themes. First Time Round, Blue Angel, Horse Hung Hispanics and Lesson Well Learned explore coming out, sexual politics, Latin heat and consensual discipline in ways that stand the test of time.
Modeled after the French classic La Ronde, J. Brian’s First Time Round employs humor and pathos to expose a series of sexual encounters between good-looking men who are discovering their sexuality. Highlighting outdoor sex, uniforms and “straight” men, the film carries one character from each scene forward into the next.
Starring Joe Markham, Jason Walker, Doug Williams, Dale Carpenter, Timothy Simons, Aaron Bedford and Eric Martin, the 112-minute movie begins with a hitchhiker who learns about the magic of gay sex after stroking his thick cock on the beach, then progresses full circle, ending with a fag-bashing sailor who experiences magic with the hitchhiker.
As impressive as the sex is the music by the Grateful Dead, the Who, and other favorites of early 1970s rock.
Director Jurgen Bauer’s Blue Angel (Paladin Studios, 1986) takes an allegorical look at the cabaret performers of 1930s Berlin through the present-day setting of a well-known San Francisco cinema. The location features male dancers who masturbate on stage. Five performers do solo turns against a background that crosscuts political narrative with both sexual fantasies and nightclub reality. In the end, city officials, wearing swastika armbands, are present at the closing of the nightclub to make sure none of the action gets too hot.
The innovative, 70-minute film employs implicit parallels between Hitler-era Germany and the state of gay America in the late ’80s in service of the director’s desire to change cultural attitudes.
Serious spanking and red cheeks are the order of the day in Man’s Hand Films’ 1988 collection of four vignettes, Lesson Well Learned. A slightly pudgy prankster (Craig Duncan) receives a stern paddling on alternate cheeks by a deadpan, bearded, overweight coach. Though clearly smarting after such punishment, a week later the young miscreant is back in trouble and over the coach’s knee for another open-palmed spanking on his bare butt.
A marvelous transition between segments and nice continuity only underscore the professionalism of the uncredited director during the sessions. One of the better acted, written and performed spanking collections from Man’s Hand Video, this 68-minute video will please spanking enthusiasts.
The most recent release, Brian Brennan’s 1990 Horse Hung Hispanics, proves hefty, uncut meat never goes out of style. The 119-min. collection of eight jack-off solos with some brief interviews from Latino Fan Club displays a clear obsession with Latin men. The photography is excellent and the camera angles are both creative and extra-large, emphasizing drawn-up nuts, veiny foreskin and copious cumshots.
All four titles are available at Bijou’s website, BijouWorld.com.
