Middle-class Los Angeles couple Paul and Mary Bland (brilliantly portrayed by coauthor and director Paul Bartel and Warhol superstar Mary Woronov) finance their dream restaurant by advertising for wealthy swingers and then killing them off during sex for their cash.
It begins when a drunken lecher from an orgy down the hall in their apartment building wanders into their apartment and tries to rape Mary. Paul dispatches him with a bop on the head from a cast-iron skillet.
The resourceful Blands go through the corpse’s pockets and find hundreds of dollars. An idea is born.
After taking out an ad in a local sex tabloid, a variety of perverts descends on the Blands’ apartment – by appointment of course – to play out their fantasies, but Paul is always there with his trusty skillet before any of them can get to first base with Mary (well, almost always).
Handyman and Chicago conman Raoul (Robert Beltran of Star Trek: Voyager fame) muscles in on the action and demands a cut of the action by selling the bodies to a dog food factory.
He also develops a mad crush on Mary (“my Chiquita”) and a triangle begins to form.
A cute offbeat social black comedy, hilariously sending up California culture and executed with sadistic glee by all concerned, including Buck Henry and Ed Begley Jr.
Although a sequel, Bland Ambition, was planned, Bartel turned his cult sleeper into an off-Broadway musical instead in 1992.
Paul Bland
Paul Bartel Mary Bland
Mary Woronov Raoul
Robert Beltran Doris the Dominatrix
Susana Saiger Hippy
Ed Begley Jr Bobbie R
Dan Barrows James
Richard Blackburn Paco
Ralph Brannen Mr Leech
Buck Henry
Director
Paul Bartel
Video
Related Posts
Elizabeth (1998) This historical drama set in the 16th century - starring Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush and charting the turbulent life and times of…
World According To Garp, The (1982) Splendid performances highlight this sharp, satirical adaptation of John Irving's dark best-seller about the adventures of an illegitimate, eccentric young…
Café Flesh (1982) Although only a classy porn movie with artistic pretensions, Stephen Sayadian's cult classic (directed under his pseudonym 'Rinse Dream') is…
Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, A (1982) Three couples in various stages of their relationships visit the countryside around 1900 to spend the weekend at the home…
Emoh Ruo (1985) This satire on the Australian dream - the idea that everyone is entitled to a piece of God's own country…
Event Horizon (1997) Named after the area of space around a black hole beyond which matter seemingly disappears, the Event Horizon here is…
Greetings From Wollongong (1982) This short (45 minute) dramatised documentary follows a day in the life of four unemployed young adolescents - Debbie, Gina,…
Cannery Row (1982) A marine biologist - and former baseball player - befriends a group of down-and-outs, changing his life irrevocably in this drama based…
