Forget Lord of the Rings, this is my favorite trilogy. Starting with Takin' It Off (1985), followed up by the amazing Takin' It All Off (1987), now we have the Return of the King of this series - Party Favors from the same year. As it contains the same sets, same wardrobe and some of the same actors as the second installment, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was filmed at the same time.
This may have the sleaziest title credits I've seen since Pretty Maids All in a Row. That Rock Hudson film featured a boy going to school, watching all the girls in short skirts, delivering an uncountable number of upskirts. This film features Gail Harris (AKA Gail Thackray) on a bike.
A couple girls are walking down a street. We'll learn this is Bobbi (Blondi - as Marjorie Miller) and Trixie (Jill Johnson).
Bobbi bends over delivering an upskirt from hell. We're not quite one minute into this film and we've seen two of the stars' behinds. I'd say we're off to a rousing start.
A big black guy is so gobsmacked by the upskirt, he falls down and hurts himself.
Remember Becky's Academy of Erotic Exposure from Takin' It All Off? We're at the same studio with Pop (George "Buck" Flower) and the pianist. Murray (Farley Maynard).
Also returning is the flamboyantly gay dance instructor, Elliot (John F. Goff).
The dancers: Bobbi (Blondi), McCall (Gail Harris), and Trixie (Jill Johnson). Note that Trixie was played by a different actress in Takin' It All Off, and there was no Bobbi character.
Pa is the same old hick as in the last movie; and Candie Evans returns as his daughter Alison.
Now that we've met the cast, let's get to the plot. The town is under the ruthless puritanical control of a Reverend Percy Honeywell. Like Jerry Falwell, he's cracking down on sinful pursuits like erotic dancing. The police department is called in to shut the place down. Office Dave (at left) won't do it, and has a soft spot for these ladies.
The girls resume their erotic dancing. This demonstrates why the Takin' It Off series is in dire need of a restored Blu-ray edition. The eye candy is plentiful, but hard to make out on the VHS copy.
At the Honeywell estate. We have the self-righteous crusader for purity, Reverend Percy Honeywell (Albert Lord) and his often drunk wife, Irwanna (Alva Megowan). This is just about Megowan's only IMDb credit, but she's wonderful at playing an intoxicated spouse. The three girls are the purity singers, whom the reverend creepily molests....
Like so many of those crusaders against sin in the 1980s, he's in no position to cast stones. But of course, he presents himself as the holiest of holy.
With the reverend closing down all the strip clubs, the girls need to find another way to pay the bills. Pop wins a pizza delivery business in a bet. This sounds like the perfect opportunity to make money, but the girls taste the pizza and it's awful.
Pop's Pineapple Pizza Parlor is a bust (pun intended). Poor McCall comes back with a pizza box busted over her head.
Bobbi received glowing reviews and a return request from her pizza delivery... where her top accidentally came off. Subsequently, Elliot has an idea - they'll do a striptease service instead!
Bobbi provides the first call as part of their new business "Penelope's Party Favors".
The first call is for a businessman at an outdoor restaurant. It's a huge success.
Trixie does the next call at a doctor's office.
Trixie pretends to have come down with a rash, and strips down frantically in the waiting room.
It's revealed that the old nurse actually ordered the service as a surprise for his practice's twenty year anniversary.
As much as I'd love to see these strip-a-grams become popular, I'm pretty sure they'd be illegal - even without Reverend Honeywell's intervention.
Alison and David are getting along well, but she's a bit down. Pop won't let her be part of the new business, not wanting her practice door-to-door stripping.
McCall has the next job - at a wedding anniversary. She introduces herself to the man of honor, Al, pretending to know him from somewhere.
Al: I think you have me confused with someone else
McCall: C'mon you know me. Two years ago in London
Al: I was there, but I think I would've remembered you
McCall: Don't tell me you forgotten Boo Boo...
McCall: (squeezing her boob) Hello Boo Boo. (making boob talk) Hello Al.
God I love this movie. This is so insanely stupid and ridiculous. Gail Harris is literally making her tit talk for laughs.
Then it's dance time. McCall turns on the boom box.
Al's wife has had enough and throws a pie in his face. Naturally, this starts a big pie fight. Everyone's throwing a seemingly infinite number of pies at each other.
Alison is convinced by Elliot that she can join the stripper delivery service without disobeying Pops if she rides a bike instead of using the delivery van. It's a stretch, but Alison is desperate to join the fun. Her first gig is as a police officer.
What's funny is that, before she starts stripping, the guy believed he was really under arrest and starts squealing on his co-workers, selling them out. It's little comedic bits like this that elevate this from being just a boring T&A comedy. (When I say 'elevate' I don't mean high-brow, but rather achieving a Benny Hill or Three's Company level of humor. It's clever in all the "wrong" ways.)
Finally, we get to Reverend Honeywell's master plan to bust Penelope's Party Favors once and for all. He pretends to hold a stag party, and hires every girl to do a striptease. He has arranged for the police department to arrive at 7:30 to arrest them all.
McCall is the first to perform - as a cheerleader.
Gail Harris is dynamite.
What Honeywell doesn't know is that the girls are onto him. Officer Dave alerted them to his plan to arrest them. McCall snaps a guy's party hat - subtly insulting him and hurting his chin. Again, the girls know these guys are out to get them, but aren't letting on that they know, and are taking every opportunity for some passive aggressive fun.
Trixie does a cowgirl number.
She does her job getting the guests hot and bothered.
These repressed religious folk are at their breaking point. Throughout the performances, the faux stag party guests make expressions like this.
Bobbi does a little girl routine.
While Bobbi performs, McCall and Trixie continue to rile up the audience.
Just at the moment when all the men are about to explode, the police arrive.
But of course it's not the real police - it's Pop, Alison, Murray and Dave.
Pop sends the girls out of the room; this is police business.
Alison is left alone with Honeywell who is past the point of caring. He's ready to get down.
It's a set up, of course. The reverend is busted as a hypocrite; his wife and the Purity girls arrive to catch him in the act.
The movie ends with everyone having fun in the pool. The Purity girls (I'm not sure if they're supposed to be Honeywell's daughters) get completely naked and skinny dip. THE END
The Purity girls are the only actresses to provide full frontal nudity in this film. A disappointment considering Takin' It All Off was nonstop bush. I wonder what happened - considering this was made the same year, by the same director, you'd have thought it would maintain the same level of FFN. Go figure.
That disappointment aside, the film was just about as much fun as part two. I always love Gail Harris, and the story is just non stop energy, brimming with bawdy humor. If ever there is a restored version (possibly less censored), I will be the first in line to watch it.
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
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