BY LEE PFEIFFER
Vinegar Syndrome continues to unearth obscure erotic movies from decades past and manages to infuse new life to them. That may not make the people who participated in them very happy but for the sizable audience devoted to retro erotica, this is manna from Heaven. One of the recent releases is also one of the strangest. Billed on the DVD sleeve as "The Flying Acquaintances", this 1973 bares the title of "The Acquaintances" on the print that the DVD was mastered from. A perusal of the bonus publicity materials indicates it was also marketed as "The Sensuous Stewardesses." Bizarrely, the film opens with a syrupy love song crooned by a Jack Jones wanna be. How this pertains to the scenario of the film itself remains a mystery. The nominal plot (such as it is) concerns a bank teller, Max (future porn superstar Jamie Gillis) who makes ends meet by moonlighting as a taxi driver in New York City. In reality, he has other reasons for this secondary job. Seems Max has an enviable ability to get female passengers in bed. All the while, he assures his wife that he is remaining faithful. In the first scene, Max picks up a stewardess at the airport and drives her home. She invites him in and tells him she doesn't have enough money for the fare but she will be happy to work it off in "trade". Max accepts, thereby leading to one of the longest and most boring sex scenes ever filmed. Not helping matters is the fact that the movie is softcore. There is plenty of female full frontal nudity but the film still balks when it comes to having the guys go Full Monty. While the stewardess is screaming in passion, the scene cuts to the apartment next door where a sexually frustrated wife is trying unsuccessfully to arouse her construction worker husband. (We know he's a construction worker because he wears his hard hat at home.) Turned on by the shrieks of joy coming from the next apartment, the wife strips naked but all her hubby wants to do is drink beer, eat chicken and watch some mindless action movie on TV. Whatever amusement this scenario might have provided is not only beaten to death, it's then disinterred, abused and buried again. The seemingly endless sequence will have your mind drifting to more erotic thoughts such as what groceries you need to add to your shopping list. Another scenario finds a young Frenchman in New York who is seduced by a comely young woman. In yet another vignette, a young male virgin is seduced by a cougar who gets it on with her girlfriend to ensure he enjoys the experience. A common theme throughout centers on frustrated women trying to entice largely passive males.
What is remarkable about this film is that it seems dated even for 1973. By then, softcore was out and hardcore was in. The film seems to be from an era where people had to get watching those old "nudist" documentaries. It is as close to hardcore as you can get, but even by porn standards, the production lacks imagination or skill in terms of execution. There are redeeming factors, however. For one, the Vinegar Syndrome restoration is highly impressive. Second, the film has a great deal of on location scenery. If you enjoy seeing New York during this time frame, the film offers a cornucopia of great images including Columbus Circle and Times Square. For those of you who like to spot retro movie marquees, it's probably buying the DVD for that purpose alone. In slowing down the frames, I spotted some great ones: "Prime Cut" playing side by side with "The Godfather" at the old Loews State in Times Square; "The Sorry and the Pity" at the Paris Theatre and other 42nd Street marquees featuring "Hannie Caulder", "The Legend of Nigger Charlie", "The Possession of Joel Delaney" and many more.
The movie includes some photos in a still gallery and the original trailer.
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