The Naked Stranger reminds me of one of those Anthony Spinelli morality plays we're always raving about: actors giving their all; a tight, neatly-woven script, and scorching sex scenes that develop within the story, not gratuitously.

Barbara Dare plays the title character, the pretty villain who enters the lives of the unhappily married Ariel Knight and Tom Byron. She begins an affair with Byron befriends Knight, forces a break-up and ultimately rips them both off. It is one of Dare's finest performances with Knight turning in acting she had only achieved once before, in Spinelli's The Last Condom.

Director Paul Thomas has captured two of the year's greatest sex scenes, both with Tom Byron and Barbara Dare. O love a woman when she sweats. A perfunctory car scene with Aja and Rocky DiLorenzo goes nowhere but they hook up with Dare for a steamy tape-ending three-way. And if that's not enough of Barbara, her stint with Knight is loving, seductive and nicely paced.

The Naked Stranger has everything going for it: hot sex, an interesting story, fine acting, production values (nice New York settings) and superb packaging. A big hit!