American adult movies from 1979 that have been cut or banned in Australia.
The X-rating, for hardcore sex, was introduced in February 1984.
Candy Goes to Hollywood
aka Gail Palmer’s Candy Goes to Hollywood
Directed by Gail Palmer / 1979 / USA / IMDb
In July 1981, a 2299.90-meter (83:50) ‘pre-censor cut version’ of CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD was banned due to sex. It was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
A 1952.16-meter (71:09) ‘reconstructed pre-censor cut version’ was passed with an R-rating in October 1981. The sex was now described as:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In both cases, Cinerama Films was the applicant.
Banned in Queensland No. 1
On 23 May 1983, the censored R-rated version of CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
It was listed as GAIL PALMER’S CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD.
The distributor was Cinerama Films
Banned on Video
In April 1983, an 83-minute tape of CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD was banned for the same reason as the July 1981 submission. Presumably, this was a precensored version.
PBL Video was the applicant.
14th Mandolin’s adult videos
The X-rating was introduced in February 1984. In July of that year, an 85-minute tape of CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD was passed this new rating. The sex was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
In April 1985, a 69-minute precensored version was passed with an R-rating. The sex was:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In both cases, the applicant was 14th Mandolin. They released it on their Pink Video label.
Banned in Queensland No. 2
On 25 May 1985, the censored 69-minute R-rated tape of CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was 14th Mandolin.
X-rated tape
CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD was passed for a second time with an X-rating in October 1984. The 89-minute tape had the same level of sex as the July 1984 classification.
W.B. and J.E. Wathen were the applicants.
Review
Mike reports
Vinegar Syndrome (us) – DVD – 88:24
Candy (Carol Connors) goes to Hollywood to make her fortune. She’s hardly made it past the Walk of Fame before she’s accosted by Johnny Dooropener (John Leslie), a low grade talent scout who promises to make her famous. He opens many doors for her but most of them lead to sleazy men who want to take advantage.\
It is difficult to be sure about the nature of the cuts to CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD because the complete version runs 88 minutes and the first submission by Cinerama Films was only around five minutes shorter. Precuts of that length would have been insufficient to remove all the hardcore. However, it is not a surprise that the Film Censorship Board required significant cuts.
1. Johnny Dooropener persuades Candy that he will make her a famous singer but that she needs to be ready to perform on a talent show that evening. He says that he can hypnotise her into becoming a better singer very quickly. While hypnotised he makes her give him oral sex by telling her she is sucking an ice cream. This scene is played for comedy but it is still non-consensual.
2. When Candy gets to the talent show the contestant immediately before her (Wendy O. Williams) is demonstrating her novelty act. This involves firing ping-pong balls out of her vagina at the judges.
3. Johnny books Candy on an evening chat show hosted by Johnny Farson (Gary Grime). She is given a lift to the show by Samantha (Delania Raffino) who takes Candy back to her apartment, drugs her and then penetrates her with a strap-on dildo. This scene is both non-consensual and far too strong in terms of sexual detail.
4. Candy eventually arrives at the Johnny Farson Show and has very graphic sex with Johnny in his dressing room. This scene includes many close-ups and point of view shots where the camera takes the place of the participants.
5. Candy is taken to a Hollywood party which turns almost immediately into an orgy involving around 15-20 people. They form groups of 2-4 and the camera pans around repeatedly for over ten minutes capturing many close shots.
CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD is a sequel TO THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF CANDY (1978) which also encountered censorship problems in Australia.
Chopstix
Directed by Maria Lease / 1979 / USA / IMDb
In January 1982, a 2097.30-meter (76:27) ‘pre-censor cut version’ of CHOPSTIX was banned because of sex. It was described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
It was refused again in May 1982 in a 1986.00-meter (72:23) ‘reconstructed pre-censor cut version’. The sex had now been reduced to being:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
An appeal was made to the Films Board of Review. In July 1982 the Refused Registration was upheld.
CHOPSTIX was finally classified with an R-rating in November 1983. The 1920.10-meters (69:59) ‘second reconstructed version’ passed because the sex was now found to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
The applicant, over this 19-month classification process, was Cinerama Films.
Soft & hard from 14th Mandolin
In February 1984, the X-rating was introduced. This allowed 14th Mandolin to have an 82-minute tape of CHOPSTIX passed with the new classification in July of that year. The sex was now:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
They followed this with a 70-minute pre-censored version, which was passed with an R-rating in April 1985. The sex was:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
Both X-rated and R-rated versions were released by 14th Mandolin on their Pink Video label.
Banned in Queensland
On 25 September 1984, the censored R-rated version of CANDY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was 14th Mandolin.
Pro-Ball Cheerleaders
aka Pro-Ball Hookers
Directed by Jack Genero / 1979 / USA / IMDb
In November 1979, a 1739.50-meter (63:24) ‘pre-censor cut version’ of PRO-BALL CHEERLEADERS was banned because of ‘indecency and indecent language’.
A 1561.73-meter (56:55) ‘reconstructed version’ was passed with an R-rating in April 1980. It was awarded for sex, which was described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In both cases, Greg Lynch Film Distributors was the applicant.
The Film Censorship Board noted in May 1980 that the title PRO-BALL CHEERLEADERS had been altered to PRO-BALL HOOKERS.
Banned video
In July 1981, a 70-minute tape titled PRO-BALL CHEERLEADERS was banned because of sex, which was described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
A. Faiman was the applicant.
Who were Fantasm Video?
PRO-BALL CHEERLEADERS was released on tape in the early 1980s by Fantasm Video. A 1982 advertisements listed them as being contactable through a PO Box located in the Sydney suburb of Strawberry Hills.
It appears that none of their range was rated, as they list bestiality titles such as HIM, HER AND PETS and ANIMAL LUST, as well as the controversial WATERPOWER (1977).
Review
Mike reports
Alpha Blue Archives – VHS – 79:54
A college American football team is preparing for their big game under the watchful eye of the owner (Rick Lutze). He makes clear that any of the players indulging in carnal pursuits will be kicked off the team. A rival persuades one of a new group of cheerleaders, Goldie (Debbie Evans), to seduce their star player so that he’ll be benched for the rest of the season.
The runtime of the Greg Lynch submission strongly implies that it had been already precut to remove the hardcore. But the Film Censorship Board would still have had problems with it.
There is a scene late in the film in which the cheerleading coach Tamara (Candida Royalle) tells the team owner, ‘Don’t put that thing in me. That’s why I divorced Uncle George!’. He ignores her and she starts to enjoy it quite quickly. The scene lasts no more than 00:30.
The other issue may have been the language which is extremely graphic at times. There are several sex scenes in which the participants provide a running and explicit commentary on what they are doing and would like to do next. The cheerleading coach also has a rather odd method of encouraging team spirit and she calls the cheerleaders ‘cunts’ at regular intervals.
For the record, the retitling as PRO-BALL HOOKERS makes no sense in terms of what is seen on screen. The cheerleaders have fairly frequent sex but calling them hookers is certainly going too far.
Small Town Girls
Directed by Tom Janovich / 1979 / USA / IMDb
In December 1981, a 1983.30-meter (72:17) ‘pre-censor cut version’ of SMALL TOWN GIRLS was banned because of sex, which was said to be.
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
It was refused again in November 1982 for the same reasons. This time the print was said to be a ‘reconstructed pre-censor cut soft version’ that ran 1703.00-meters (62:04).
An R-rating was finally awarded in July 1983 to a ‘second reconstructed pre-censor cut soft version’ that ran 1645.80-meters (59:59). The sex was described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In all cases, Cinerama Films was the applicant.
Censored R-rated video
In June 1986, a 59-minute tape of SMALL TOWN GIRLS was again passed with an R-rating for the same reasons as in July 1983.
The applicant was 14th Mandolin who went on to release it on their Pink Video label.
NSW Police refusal
In July 1987, two submissions from the NSW Police were both banned due to ‘gratuitous sexual violence’. The first tape ran 75-minutes, while the second was a 154-minute double-bill. This latter video was listed as SMALL TOWN GIRLS (aka EROTIC DAYS, EROTIC NIGHTS / DOUBLE PENETRATION).
The Film Censorship Board noted that it was SMALL TOWN GIRLS that determined the treatment of the compilation videotape and that Ron Jeremy’s DOUBLE PENETRATION (1986) carried the lower (X-rated) classification.
Review
Mike reports
VCX (us) – DVD – 81.55
An Adult magazine editor (Hal Freeman) is offering a prize of $50,000 to the reader who sends in the most erotic story based on their sexual fantasies. Four women have made the shortlist, and are given 48 hours to act out their fantasies for real. Each is given a male minder to keep them out of harm’s way and to take part in the fantasies as needed. The editor can’t decide which fantasy is best and declares a four-way tie. The four fantasies are played out progressively throughout the film and are intercut with each other.
It seems likely that the first version submitted by Cinerama Films was based on simply cutting the hardcore. But that clearly wasn’t sufficient; mainly in view of what we are lead to believe is the fantasy of Cindy (Dorothy LeMay). She is abducted at knifepoint by a kidnapper (Aaron Stuart) and taken to a warehouse in which she is tied to a cross, has her clothes cut off with the knife, and is then sexually molested and raped while being verbally abused. She is further sexually assaulted with a banana and then an oversized sex toy. Her minder (David Morris) watches most of this through a window but doesn’t intervene for a very long time because he doesn’t want to intrude on her fantasy. The second submission presumably cut the non-hardcore sexual violence from this scene. It would be a surprise if much of this scenario survived.
The further cuts made by the Film Censorship Board were likely to a dream sequence in the mind of Barbarella (Valerie Darlyn). Her bedroom is invaded by a policeman, fireman, sailor and two other women. She is made to fellate the policeman’s baton before an orgy ensues. Before too long the policeman orders one of the other men to be tied naked to a chair at gunpoint and he is made to have sex against his will.
The two later submissions from the NSW Police would seem to have been almost the complete so it’s not surprising they were banned due to gratuitous sexual violence.
Taxi Girls
Directed by Jourdan Alexander / 1979 / USA / IMDb
In July 1980, a 1951.90-meter (71:09) print of TAXI GIRLS was banned because of sex and violence.
The sex was described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
…and the violence:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
A 1794.80-meters (65:25) ‘reconstructed version’ was banned in September 1980. Both the sex and violence in this version were described as:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
An R-rating was finally awarded to TAXI GIRLS in November 1980. The 1701.17-meter (62:00) print was described as being the ‘second reconstructed version’. The rating was awarded for sex, which was now:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In all cases, Mutual Film Distributors were the applicant.
Censored Pink Video
In September 1986, a 51-minute pre-censored tape of TAXI GIRLS was passed with an R-rating. As with the previously classified version, the sex was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
14th Mandolin released it on their Pink Video label.
Review
Mike reports
Alpha Blue Archives (us) – Blu-Ray – 82:25
A group of hookers are constantly harassed and arrested by the police. They decide on a new business model – they will set up a taxi firm and service their customers during the journeys instead of standing on street corners. A rival male taxi firm resents this and decide to take revenge.
It seems that the first submission in July 1980 had been precut to remove the hardcore, but there would have been more than enough to trouble the Film Censorship Board in the softcore version.
After all the hookers have been arrested for soliciting, they overpower the cops at the police station and stage an orgy in the cells. This includes one of the female prisoners fisting another.
Mini-TVs have been installed in all of the cabs to allow films to be shown which will get the passengers in the mood. One of these clips shows a woman being forced to give oral sex at knifepoint.
Most of the sex in TAXI GIRLS is consensual and involves the hookers sleeping with various men to get their business started. They service the bank manager so that he will give them a loan, and a car salesman so that he will give them a bargain on the taxis. But in the last 15 minutes, several men from the rival taxi firm, including Rick Lutze and Mike Ranger, abduct two of the female drivers. They take them to a warehouse where the women are slapped around, verbally abused and gang raped extremely graphically. There is a lot of crying and screaming, although one of the women eventually starts to enjoy it. The rest of the girls arrive at the warehouse and attack the still naked men with baseball bats and smash glass bottles over their heads