The adult movies of Gary Graver that have been cut or banned in Australia. He directed some of these under the name Robert McCallum.
The X-rating, for hardcore sex, was introduced in February 1984.
Erika’s Hot Summer
Directed by Gary Graver / 1971 / USA / IMDb
In November 1973, a 1726.23-meter (62:55) ‘reconstructed version’ of ERIKA’S HOT SUMMER was passed with an R-rating.
Regent Trading Enterprises was the applicant.
Censored Australian video
In the early 1980s, it was released on tape by K&C Video.
Simon reports.
K&C Video (au) – VHS – 56:34 (PAL)
Something Weird Video (us) – VHS – 64:19 (NTSC)
It is unclear why the following scene was missing from the K&C release. Only a very small part of it shows sex and that is very tame when compared to what remains. The time below refers to the SWV print.
Before – The naked girl is shown in the forest as the photographer shoots her.
Censored at 08:53 to 14:01 – The photographer leans over and kisses the girl. They return to his studio where she looks at some of his pictures. She then strips and he takes some nude shots before they have sex.
After – Flashing lights and people dancing in a club.
3 A.M
Directed by Gary Graver / 1975 / USA / IMDb
In September 1978, an 1891.30-meter (68:56) print of 3 A.M. was banned because of ‘indecency’. The running time indicates that this was a precensored version.
G.H. Photography was the applicant.
Videotape refused
In October 1981, a 77-minute tape was banned because of sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
Videolink was the applicant.
This may have been an import of the UK pre-cert released by Cal Vista.
The Ecstasy Girls
Directed by Gary Graver / 1979 / USA / IMDb
In March 1981, a 2076.60-meter (75:41) ‘pre-censor cut version’ of THE ECSTASY GIRLS was banned because of sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
A 1978.39-meter (72:07) ‘reconstructed pre-censor cut version’ was passed with an R-rating in May 1981 The sex was now described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In both cases, AZ Associated Theatres was the applicant.
Banned tape
In June 1981, a 75-minute video of THE ECSTASY GIRLS was banned because of sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
A. Faiman was the applicant.
Censored tapes
A 70-minute tape was passed with an R-rating in February 1984. The applicant, Video Classics, released it as part of their Movies at Midnight range.
It was later rereleased by Palace Vibrant Video.
Both of these tapes were heavily censored.
Review
Mike reports
Videorama (nl) – VHS – 92:34
The wealthy J.C. Church (John Alderman) needs help. His elderly brother is dying and his will currently divides his assets between his sister, brother and four daughters. Keen to pocket all the money for himself, Church spots Jerry Martin (Jamie Gillis) at a Hollywood party and admires his way with women. Church’s brother is a rigid moralist who opposes any kind of sexual behaviour outside of marriage, so Jerry is hired to seduce the five women thus ensuring that they will be written out of the will.
The initial submission by AZ Associated Theatres in March 1981 almost certainly removed the hardcore. The further cuts of 03:34 required by the Film Censorship Board are likely as follows.
Jerry’s first target is one of the daughters, Nancy (Serena). He meets her at a casino and she takes him back to her place. Before he can initiate sex and capture the proceedings on camera as evidence, she tells him that she has drugged his drink. When he regains consciousness, he is naked and locked inside a cage in her purpose-built dungeon. She spends a few minutes taunting him while dressed in bondage gear and waves a whip, which she never uses on him.
Everything is quite tame so far, but eventually he escapes from the cage, bends her over a table and rapes her while whipping her with a belt and a paddle. He then ties her to a wooden frame and inserts a lit candle into her vagina. Their reactions afterwards suggest that this might all have been a consensual role-play, but either way the Board would have had issues with the part of the scene after Jerry turns the tables and sexually assaults Nancy. That part of the scene lasts 03:40, almost exactly the length of the cuts required for an R-rating.
Hot Rackets
Directed by Gary Graver/ 1979 / USA / IMDb
In December 1981, a 72-minute tape of HOT RACKETS was banned because of sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
Videolink was the applicant. This may have been an import of the UK pre-cert released by Cal Vista.
Special Condition video
In October 1983, Starlight Video had a 64-minute ‘overseas modified version’ passed with the Special Condition ‘that this film/tape will not be exhibited in any State in contravention of State’s law relating to the exhibition of films’.
Pre-X video
Tabu Video released HOT RACKETS on tape in 1983. The cover claims that it ran 90-minutes and notes it was X-rated.
This is incorrect, as this classification was not available until the following year.
The dawn of X
The X-rating was introduced in February 1984. In April of that year, an 84-minute tape of HOT RACKETS was passed with this new classification. It was awarded for sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
W.B. & J.E. Wathen was the applicant.
This was followed in August 1984 by a second X-rating for a 64-minute tape. It was awarded for the same reasons as in April 1984.
Tabu Enterprises was the applicant.
Tabu’s R-rated cut
In November 1985, a 69-minute tape was passed with an R-rating. The sex was described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
The applicant was again Tabu Enterprises. This R-rated version had a longer running time than the X-rated one they had classified in April 1984.
Other videotapes
HOT RACKETS was also released on tape during the 1980s on the Mature Video Movies label. Presumably, this was the hardcore version.
Video Excellence released a censored R-rated tape in the late 1980s.
Review
Mike reports
Unknown source – 80:41
Herb Adler (Jon Martin) is an enthusiastic member of the local tennis club, but since his wife Liz (Candida Royalle) likes neither sex nor tennis, he uses the club as a way of finding sexual partners. Eventually his wife joins the club too and they try the swinging lifestyle together. This seems to be the official plot of HOT RACKETS, but in fact Liz is far from a shrinking violet herself and before the half-hour mark, she’s had sex with her chauffeur (Don Fernando), a male waiter at the tennis club and a female masseuse (Laurien Dominique).
The tennis doesn’t take up too much of the running time, and what the players lack in technique they make up for in being naked on court. The sex, however, is pretty much constant and as was usual in hardcore films of this era, we see every conceivable pairing of sexual partners, the occasional threesome, and an orgy to conclude matters. Even when penetration isn’t visible it’s absolutely clear that real sex is taking place and it’s consistently enthusiastic and graphic. Cutting together a softcore variant, which met the Film Censorship Board’s standards, must have been a challenge.
HOT RACKETS is a film that was waiting for the introduction of the X-rating in 1984. Before that, unless around 20 minutes of footage was removed the sex was always going to be frequent, high and gratuitous. However, since there is no real attempt at plotting and the dialogue between the sex scenes doesn’t amount to much, it would also be possible to put together a version which contains pretty much only the sex. That is presumably what Tabu Enterprises did in their 64-minute X-rated version released in 1984.
Co-Ed Fever
aka Coed Fever (Classification Board title)
Directed by Gary Graver / 1980 / USA / IMDb
In September 1981, an 80-minute videotape of CO-ED FEVER was banned because of sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
A. Faiman was the applicant. This may have been an import of the Adult Videos (Rippledale) UK pre-cert.
Censored theatrical release
A 1848.00-meter (67:21) ‘modified version’ was passed with an R-rating in May 1982. The sex was now:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
A.Z. Associated Film Distributors was the applicant.
Modified videos
In July 1984, a Video Classics had a 66-minute tape of CO-ED FEVER passed with an R-rating. It was awarded for the same reason as the May 1982 submission. This was released as part of their Movies at Midnight range.
It was reissued in the mid-1980s by Palace Vibrant Video.
Both of these tapes are heavily cut.
Review
Mike reports
Caballero Control Corporation (us) – VHS – 90:49
W.R. Jackson (John Alderman) owns a national newspaper and plans to run a story on the university at which his daughter Kimberley (Annette Haven) studies. The Dean (Juliet Anderson) disapproves of the fraternity guys and thinks that their appearing in the story would give a bad impression. So a plan is hatched to ensure that all the sorority members stop having sex with the guys and that they be given temporary boyfriends from a more respectable fraternity.
The plot may not be especially credible but it is clear that the makers of CO-ED FEVER and the actors took it seriously, and most of the film is devoted to dialogue and character development. The sex isn’t especially graphic and would have been even less so when the hardcore was removed. There are long gaps between the sex scenes, so it’s surprising that the Film Censorship Board thought the sex in the originally submitted 80-minute softcore version was frequent and highly explicit.
The only clearly problematic scene takes place at an initiation for the new sorority girls in which Kimberley, the head of the sorority, has the new girls spanked on the bare buttocks with paddles. She then decides to make an example of Alice (Samantha Fox) who we are told has betrayed the sorority. Alice is made to give a blowjob to a guy, paddled on the bottom and is verbally abused by a woman wearing a strap-on dildo who threatens to rape her. However, a softcore edit of this scene would have lasted 1-2 minutes. It’s not clear at all why the Board required cuts of a further 10 minutes before awarding an R-rating.