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Peekarama: The Ultimate Pleasure / I Am Always Ready

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    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Peekarama: The Ultimate Pleasure / I Am Always Ready



    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: August 12th, 2014.
    Director: Carlos Tobalina
    Cast: Annette Haven, Nina Fause, Paul Thomas, John Holmes
    Year: 1977/1978
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movies:

    Another Peekarama double feature DVD release from Vinegar Syndrome? Hell yes! This one teams up two California lensed smut fests director Carlos Tobalina, further expanding the label's output relating to the director (and following Marilyn And The Senator and Jungle Blue).

    The Ultimate Pleasure:

    Our first sordid tales tells the story of Jim (Jeff Lyle) and Rose (Kristine Heller), a husband and wife team whose relationship has certainly seen better days and better lays. Rose doesn't get off when Jim does the deed and would rather fall into a bottle than work on their intimacy issues and obviously, Jim isn't happy about this. Things change pretty quickly when Jim's out driving his cab one night. He picks up a fare and the guy dies in the back seat, shuffling off this mortal coil and leaving behind a suitcase full of cash.

    He takes the cash and heads for Las Vegas, telling everyone he's there not for fun but to try and find a new job. He meets up with a specialist in pleasure named Genie (Annette Haven) who is more than happy to get Jim whatever kicks he might be after… for a price. The guy goes wild, getting his rocks off in a foursome that, honestly, looks like a whole lot of fun. Back home, however, Rose is off seeing a shrink, courtesy of Jim and his new found stash of cash. She pays a visit to Doctor Sharpe (Nina Fause) who digs around in her head a bit and finds out that Rose was molested by her old man as a kid. To help her get over this, she gives her a powerful drug made from South American bark and then, as Rose goes under the influence, her id is given free reign. She fantasizes about some lesbian hijinks and then about blowing random strangers (one of whom is John Holmes). Jim's in need of some help too, however, so off he goes to visit Dr. Ruiz (Paul Thomas). Will Jim and Rose ever find the sexual chemistry their marriage needs to last…?

    This one starts off with a really strange gangbang in which the participants go at it overtop of some film being projected onto a screen (see the screen cap below). Why? Who knows. It doesn't have anything to do with the narrative or even really any of the themes that it explores but to Tobalina's credit, it does look pretty cool. From here we get twenty minutes of mildly amusing soap operatics from the two leads who, to their credit, do a decent enough job with the hammy script. The same can't be said for the rest of the cast, however, particularly Fause who is just as bad here as she was in Marilyn And The Senator, though she is plenty easy to look at and was obviously cast for that reason. Paul Thomas, typically one of the best porno actors of his day, is alright but he kind of phones this one in and Holmes' presence is pretty limited.

    With all of that said, this one has certainly got some weird appeal to it. First of all, the ladies are all very fine and Annette Haven is stunning here. For some, that's reason enough to want to check this one out. More than that, however, is that odd sense of timing and random pacing that seems to be so common in much of Tobalina's work. The sex doesn't start until twenty minutes in (random opening orgy notwithstanding) and then from there it's all over the place. There's strange bits and pieces in the dialogue that allude to some of the anti-establishment ideas and anti-government leanings that popped up in Marilyn And The Senator with such obvious enthusiasm. It's an odd slice of sleaze, but screwy enough to be interesting and, yeah, Annette Haven. Next!

    I Am Always Ready:

    Our second feature stars Ronnie Ross as… Ronnie Ross. It seems that she's come into some money thanks to the well timed passing of a wealthy relative of some sort and that she intends to invest that money in a pornographic film production. First, however, she needs a producer so she heads to San Francisco to meet with one. The casting call goes out, she interviews potential talent and soon enough John Holmes has been flown in to star in the picture. Paul Thomas, Ken Scudder, Marlene Munroe and the lovely Dorothy LeMay join the cast as well.

    The cameras roll and John gets down and dirty but Ronnie can't help herself, she likes what John has and needs a piece of it for herself, right now. It kind of spirals from there, with the camera man (some guy named Fernando) screwing around here and there and Ronnie trying to give direction to the cast and the one man crew while still satiating herself in fleshy ways.

    There's very little in the way of plot here and the movie within a movie concept isn't particularly well exploited (how is there only one guy in the crew???) but Ross' amazing performance is truly phenomenal in just how much it resembles watching paint dry. She's not a bad looking woman at all but why Tobalina thought to cast her as the lead would seem to remain a mystery because she has absolutely no dramatic skills whatsoever, at least not if her work here is any proper gauge.

    The sex scenes are fine and dandy and there's some enthusiasm when the performers get it on - so no flaws there. But this is definitely more of an oddball curiosity item more than anything else. If Tobalina had maybe done more to explore rich Ronnie's Holmesian fantasies and the complexities of how she buys her way into participating in one maybe this would have worked on a more mentally stimulating level but it never goes there. Ronnie Ross though, hot damn, watching her 'act' is definitely a rare treat.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Both features look great in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transferred in 2k from their respective 35mm negatives. The elements used were in excellent condition and while there is a scratch or two here and there, for the most part the transfers are as clean and as colorful as you could hope for. Expect some grain, obvious in some scenes more so than others, but this is how it should be. These are very strong transfers if high nice condition film elements, no serious print damage to complain about. At this point in time anyone who has been following these releases knows to expect excellent quality - this release continues that trend.

    Both movies get the Dolby Digital Mono treatment, in English with no alternate language options or subtitles provided. Both films sound fine. Dialogue remains clear and crisp and the scores sound good. Levels are properly balanced for both features though some might note some minor hiss in a few spots.

    The only extras on the disc are static menus, chapter selection and trailers for each feature.

    The Final Word:


    Vinegar Syndrome's double feature release of The Ultimate Pleasure and I Am Always Ready keeps their Peekaram line moving full steam ahead by unleashing a torrent of Tobalina on a world that may not be ready for it. But too bad, here they are! Seriously though, Tobalina's movies are not always super well-made but for this reviewer at least, they're generally pretty interesting and these two fall into that category. Wrap all of that up with another one of Vinegar Syndrome's typically solid technical presentations and fans of vintage smut should step right up.






































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