It's odd that any overview of Stallone's questionable movie career must always start with this, an insufferably tedious soft porn movie made when he was broke. Homeless and working for $200, the rights to this one were last seen on Ebay in November 2010, where it was sold for £270,000.
The links to Rocky are quite astonishing, not least that it was retitled "The Italian Stallion" to cash in on that film's success. But there's even a bit where Stallone does a run up and arms stretched moment, not to mention an instrumental track around 11m in that alludes so strongly to the Rocky theme I feel certain it must have been added in post- production some years later. Certainly Kitty's voice, which appears (badly) dubbed, does appear to have been recorded at least six years after the film was originally made, with lines like the title quote and the follow up thought "some day he'll be known as the Italian Stallion."
Just about to enter his mid-twenties when this was shot, Stallone isn't as stacked as he would later become, looking like a normal guy who lifts a few weights rather than the "coffee table" that Ruby Wax once described him as. The pacing is almost impossibly slow... nearly seven minutes can go by as "Kitty" gets everything ready for Stud to come home.
Rumours abound that this was a hard core film with the offending bits edited out, but this would seem to defy logic. Not only would removing such elements defy the film's release as an attempted financial concern, but the film clearly isn't that kind of movie. Okay, I could be wrong, but the facile depictions of love making and the half-hearted attempts at being an art movie would seem to bely the idea that shots of penetration were once in this film. It's an utterly sexless sex film, where the flaccid members of the male cast and heavily simulated bouts of love making would in no way indicate there was a darker underside. I've seen some of the alleged clips, and am not convinced that Stallone disinterestedly pretending to be making love without physical contact could suddenly transform into ejaculation shots where his face isn't on camera.
The most controversial element that IS in the film is a scene where Stallone hits Kitty around the head and beats her with a belt, something which turns Kitty on. This raises complex questions about misogyny and violence against women, though also raises the point that there ARE some mixed up women in the world like this, sadly, and also the honest truth that the scenes are amusing in how fake and badly orchestrated they are, no matter what the proposed content. I've seen some comments that suggest that he rapes Kitty here, but it's clear that it's a twisted S & M game that she's a willing part of.
The narration throughout is irritating and a distraction, the music laughably dated, but fun because of it. A group orgy ensues, which may or may not be all in "Stud's" mind. Fans of 60s TV cult "The Prisoner" may get off on seeing a naked ring-a-roses dance, which concludes with the instrumental track used in the final episode, known as "September Ballad".
Ultimately if you're watching this as a Stallone fan, wondering why his face went from gaunt in 1970 to looking like it was about to give birth in laughable dumbfest The Expendables (5/10), then it's worth a view. But unless you're such a Stallone completist, give it a miss.
The links to Rocky are quite astonishing, not least that it was retitled "The Italian Stallion" to cash in on that film's success. But there's even a bit where Stallone does a run up and arms stretched moment, not to mention an instrumental track around 11m in that alludes so strongly to the Rocky theme I feel certain it must have been added in post- production some years later. Certainly Kitty's voice, which appears (badly) dubbed, does appear to have been recorded at least six years after the film was originally made, with lines like the title quote and the follow up thought "some day he'll be known as the Italian Stallion."
Just about to enter his mid-twenties when this was shot, Stallone isn't as stacked as he would later become, looking like a normal guy who lifts a few weights rather than the "coffee table" that Ruby Wax once described him as. The pacing is almost impossibly slow... nearly seven minutes can go by as "Kitty" gets everything ready for Stud to come home.
Rumours abound that this was a hard core film with the offending bits edited out, but this would seem to defy logic. Not only would removing such elements defy the film's release as an attempted financial concern, but the film clearly isn't that kind of movie. Okay, I could be wrong, but the facile depictions of love making and the half-hearted attempts at being an art movie would seem to bely the idea that shots of penetration were once in this film. It's an utterly sexless sex film, where the flaccid members of the male cast and heavily simulated bouts of love making would in no way indicate there was a darker underside. I've seen some of the alleged clips, and am not convinced that Stallone disinterestedly pretending to be making love without physical contact could suddenly transform into ejaculation shots where his face isn't on camera.
The most controversial element that IS in the film is a scene where Stallone hits Kitty around the head and beats her with a belt, something which turns Kitty on. This raises complex questions about misogyny and violence against women, though also raises the point that there ARE some mixed up women in the world like this, sadly, and also the honest truth that the scenes are amusing in how fake and badly orchestrated they are, no matter what the proposed content. I've seen some comments that suggest that he rapes Kitty here, but it's clear that it's a twisted S & M game that she's a willing part of.
The narration throughout is irritating and a distraction, the music laughably dated, but fun because of it. A group orgy ensues, which may or may not be all in "Stud's" mind. Fans of 60s TV cult "The Prisoner" may get off on seeing a naked ring-a-roses dance, which concludes with the instrumental track used in the final episode, known as "September Ballad".
Ultimately if you're watching this as a Stallone fan, wondering why his face went from gaunt in 1970 to looking like it was about to give birth in laughable dumbfest The Expendables (5/10), then it's worth a view. But unless you're such a Stallone completist, give it a miss.