Released by: Alpha Blue Archives
Released on: 2017.
Director: K.B.
Cast: Brigitte Maier, Al Poe, Margo, Dudley Dare, Tasty Freeze
Year: 1976
The Movie:
A genuine XXX Blaxploitation oddity, Tongue was directed by someone credited as 'K.B' and released in 1976. The story revolves around a young black man named Quasi (Al Poe) whose most distinctive quality is the fact that he's got a nine inch tongue. He lives by himself, alone save for the presence of a pet frog, and honestly he doesn't really seem to have much to live for. His girlfriend left him a few years ago and since she split, he's gone mute.
Quasi spends his days playing chess in the park by himself. One day, while doing this, he's made fun of a young woman, which seems to be an impetus of change in his life. We next catch up with him at his doctor's office where gay physician Dr. Woodcock (Dudley Dare) takes advantage of him. From there, the nurse (Tasty Freeze), intrigued by the size of his tongue, winds up setting him up with her constantly horny friend Cherry (Brigitte Maier). Clearly more than comfortable in her own skin, Cherry initiates a three way with Quasi and her friend Nancy (Margo). While this is exciting to Quasi, he can't stop thinking about his ex and what they once had. Cut to a beach where a young black couple makes love on a sheet. Quasi sees them and watches for a bit until he's threatened and subsequently chased away by the man. With nowhere else to go, Quasi heads back to Cherry's house. Possibly reconsidering things with her, he picks her some flowers before knocking on her door, only to arrive as an orgy is playing out. With nothing else to do, he heads back to the beach and eventually wanders to his ex's house where he sees her in the embrace of a white man
“You've had Throat, you've seen Jaws, you can't afford to miss Tongueâ€
Tongue is a mess of a film in a lot of ways but no less fascinating for it. Quasi's internal monologue narrates the picture to a degree. We wonder, as he obsessively pets his frog and plays chess, if he doesn't have a criminal background, possibly even blood on his hands in that regard. There are things that are hinted at here that are never fully explained, but instead left to our imagination. The movie might have had more impact had it been a bit more clear - you could argue that it's okay to leave things up to the audience to decide, which is certainly true, but you could also argue that in this case it's just lazy writing. Still, Tongue is an interesting film in a lot of ways. It's an early Blaxploitation XXX picture, one of the first, and it does flirt with racial issues in interesting ways, particularly with its ending.
In regards to the movie's appeal as a XXX picture, it's pretty weak. While top billed Brigitte Maier does look fantastic here, the sex scenes are not very well filmed or very well lit. You get the impression that this is intentional, as if the picture never had any intention of titillating its audience in the first place. Bodies just sort of lay on top of one another, writhing about with no real enthusiasm or energy. No one seems to enjoy themselves all that much and the lack of energy in the scenes that do involve Quasi serve not to put him on a pedestal as some sort of stud but to accentuate his lonliness.
Interestingly enough, the film did have an original soundtrack by Roger Hamilton Spotts. It was released on vinyl way back when in 1975. It's quite hard to find, though it has been bootlegged over the years, and was originally pressed by a label called Chocolate Cities. The soundtrack is one of the best parts of the movie, integrating the odd sounds of a Theremin with the expected soul and funk style that you'd expect out of a seventies Blaxploitation picture. It's also interesting to note that the movie was written and produced by Niva Ruschell, who has an uncredited appearance (as Niva Rochelle) in the opening scene of Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song alongside a then thirteen year old Mario Van Peebles according to this link.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Alpha Blue Archives brings Tongue to DVD framed at 1.33.1 taken from a print that has clearly seen better days. There's print damage throughout but the biggest problem with the picture is that it's just really faded, resulting in some very flat colors and black levels that are closer to a murky grey. Given that this is the only game in town as far as seeing the movie goes, it's forgivable and if your expectations are in check, its's watchable enough, but the screen caps below don't lie.
The only audio option for the feature attraction is an English language Dolby Digital Mono track. There's some hiss here and there and some jumps and spikes in the balance of the levels but for the most part the dialogue comes through okay even it is fairly wobbly in spots though, which is kind of annoying.
Extras are spread across the two discs in the set as follows:
DISC ONE:
There are two bonus feature films on this disc, the first of which is How Sweet It Is! Directed by David Worth (as Sven Conrad), this one is basically a loop carrier strung together by some bridging scenes in which a couple (Maggie Williams and Tom Cantrell who is credited as John Roy Jones) lay in bed and read sexually oriented letter sent in to a sex fantasy magazine. As they read to one another, we see various fantasies acted out, most of which look to have been spliced in from loops made prior to the feature.
And that's about it as far as the story goes. As to the bumping and grinding? There's a lot of it, and some of it is pretty great. Monica Walters goes at it with Tony Deluca, Sandy Dempsey gets a solo scene shot with a weird red filter, Maggie Williams and Tom Cantrell go at it before we see him take on Rainbow Robbins, then Brigitte Maier, then Olivia Marno and then Maggie Williams again. Brigitte Maier shows up a second time in a scene with Franklin Anthony and Sherman Richmond, then it's back to our loving couple who are clearly really in the mood because of this magazine. Gina Bedell fucks Paul Castano after that, and then before it's all over there's a big group scene featuring Brigitte Maier, Gina Bedell, Lilly Foster, Rainbow Robbins, Paul Castano, Franklin Anthony, Tom Cantrell and Rick Cassidy.
The lighting in the film seems to want to be artistic but it fails at that and instead proves distracting. The dubbing here is fairly awful, giving things an occasionally comedic slant when it's clear that it shouldn't have that. Still, most of the ladies look good here. Maggie Williams is a fox and a half and it's nice to see Maier get a fair amount of screen time. It's a shame that Ms. Dempsey's scene isn't better than it is, but some Sandy Dempsey is better than no Sandy Dempsey, so the movie has that going for it too.
The second bonus movie is Inside Of Me, a fairly plotless endeavor supposedly directed by Richard Mailer (though there's no directorial credit on the version included on this DVD). The film opens at the Los Angeles Free Clinic where a pretty young thing goes down on a guy in a closet while some goofy music plays. They hump and then a girl with curly hair gives some guy head in another room. From there we meet a doctor named Casey who uses his prescription writing powers to coerce pretty girls into doing dirty things in exchange for pharmaceuticals.
As such, much bumping and grinding takes place with an unnamed nurse (Maier) peeking in as the action plays out in the different rooms of the clinic. A few kinks are indulged - we get some interracial sex, some toy play, some butt play and a pretty great old school lesbian scene that then turns into a three-way with some bearded guy. Things get rough when two guys, a black dude and a white guy, catch the nurse peeping and decide to force themselves on her, but soon enough she comes around to their way of thinking. And that's pretty much it, except for a predictable gag that happens at the end of the movie that, well, it makes sense given that all of this is taking place at a clinic and all. Shot fast and cheap, this low budget fuck film doesn't have much of a story at all but it's got some decent use of music in it and Ms. Maier, the top draw for most viewers, is in nice shape.
Aside from that, disc one also includes a theatrical trailer for Tongue as well as the option to enjoy all six tracks from the movie's original soundtrack (which did get a vinyl release) - Tongue, Funk Time, Quasi's Theme, Mind Blower, Cherry's Thing and last but not least Party Time, the nineteen minute track that takes up the entirety of the second side.
DISC TWO:
On the second disc we get yet more Maier features, starting with After School Exams, a fifty-six minute quickie that opens with Brigitte and her man asleep in bed. The phone rings and a woman named Kathy is on the other end, she and a friend want to come by for the weekend. Turns out Kathy (Dalana Bissonnette) is the guy's daughter and she and her friend will be by in an hour - which is just enough time for Brigitte and her beau to have warm up with some oral sex and then get down to some humping!
Soon enough, Kathy and her friend Emma arrive at the front door. They all make small talk for a bit and then the girls head into the backroom and talk as they get changed. Kathy can't help but notice that Emma is 'looking pretty good' in her birthday suit and this, of course, leads to a lesbian make out session, albeit a very brief one. Once that's over, Kathy calls up a guy she knows to come over for a party - and then the girls get back to their lesbian lovemaking job. Before you know it, a few guys have arrive and again, everyone sits around and talks for a bit. From there, various couples split off and make out and then eventually have sex - one in the bedroom, one out in the woods at a picnic of some sort, and from there they head out to find a hotel to hang out at. Kathy and Emma eventually have a group grope with their two boyfriends in the living room but, in a plot twist that will shock absolutely nobody, mom and dad show up and interrupt… only to then get in on the action themselves.
This one is fairly mediocre, not much story, but both Brigitte and Dalana look great. It's a shame that the sound is so lousy here, it makes it really tough to hear the dialogue, not that there's a whole lot to the story. The camera work is okay, nothing to write home about but free of any major issues. Essential this one is not but Maier fans will find some value in it.
No opening titles on this thirty six minute short called Taming Of Bonnie. It starts out with Bonnie (Brigitte Maier) being told by a scruffy guy named Charlie that if she wants the job she's going to have to “give up some of that pussy.†Shortly after, she meets him in his office - or more accurately a dirty backroom with a mattress I nit - where he tells her he hired her because he knew she had great tits. They go at it for a bit and she looks bored, turning away while he bumps and grinds into her.
Afterwards she heads out and finds that her car won't start. Cut to a used car dealer where a salesman tells her she can have a car that was only ever driven by a little old lady for $400, but she doesn't have it. She's got $220.00, that's it, but he agrees to take the cash and take her back to his office for some fun in exchange for the car. She agrees and again we go to an office that is really just a dirty room with a mattress in it where we watch them screw.
Later that night we cut to her apartment. There's a knock at the door and it's her boyfriend. He doesn't have much money to take her out but he offers to take her to Taco Bell before hitting the pool hall. We miss out on the Taco Bell action then head to his friend's place where they have some drinks and shoot some pool with a group of beatniks. This eventually turns into an orgy with the pool table as the centerpiece. The next morning, Bonnie complains to her friend Beth that she can't find the kind of job that'll make her independent. It turns out Beth has an opportunity for her - and then the two of them go visit some dudes who don't mind paying for sex! It turns out Bonnie's a natural but then there's a twist ending that we won't spoil here.
This one is fairly amusing. The presentation quality is a bit rough, clearly this was taken from a print that's seen better days, but for the most part you can understand the audio well enough. Maier looks great here, she's in very fine form and seeming to enjoy herself, which makes her plentiful screen time all the more fun to watch. No credits for this one, can't even find a listing for it online anywhere but the packaging credits it as having been made in 1974.
Love Lies Waiting, taken from a tape source complete with tracking lines and very washed out, hissy audio, was directed by one Simon L. Egree and it starts off with a biker named Dale giving a professional prostitute named Veronica (Orita De Chadwick) savvy enough to comment on his bike a ride to work. He drops her off where we meet Eva (Cyndee Summers). Eva explains to Dale how things work - she's got three girls working for her and they make a nice living doing what they do. Dale and Eva talk while Veronica gets into something more comfortable, and shortly after Veronica arrives in a babydoll. Dale wants action, and so they head into a bedroom with some neat wallpaper where she pays him back kindly for that ride to work - even going so far as to use some whipped cream on her, at which point he tells her 'You've got the split and I've got the banana!'
After that, a pair of guys in a red car get two foxy girls to hop on in, at which point they all go for a drive, spout off some inane dialogue about what these girls do for a living and then it comes out that, well, they're hookers. Of course, they wind up at Eva's brothel just as Eva is about to show off the rest of the girls that work for her - Monique (Maier) and Cece (Dalan Bissonnette). From there we watch Monique satisfy her new friend by not letting him use the back door (she insists on an extra $50.00, he declines). After that, Cece gets it on with her john (played by Rick Lutze) before both Cece and Monique get into a four way with their johns (precluded by an impressive girl on girl appetizer), bringing the movie to a close, but not before Eva and Dale go at it in the main room.
Outside of the presence of Maier and Summers, this is somewhat unremarkable, but then you could argue that the presence of Maier and Summers by default makes it remarkable enough to note. It's quick, painless and essentially plotless, and perfectly fine for what it is. There's not much of a story and the characters are flimsy but there's some decent looking seventies girls here getting down and dirty and for some of us, that's reason enough to give it a watch.
The second disc closes out with a selection of loops featuring Ms. Maier - there's eight and a half minutes of material here, shot silent but set to some music chosen by ABA that has a sort of disco vibe to it. Here you can thrill to the site of Brigitte rolling around on a blue and green couch and playing with herself first with her fingers and then with a toy before then taking on fives dude atop a white fur rug with some help from a blonde shaggy haired female accomplice.
Rounding out the extras are static menus for each disc and on the second disc, the Alpha Blue Archives Retro Starlets Trailer, showing off some of the other titles available in the line.
The Final Word:
Tongue isn't particularly arousing but it is a genuinely interesting and bizarre XXX film that stands out from the crowd thanks to its interesting cast, it's genuinely great soundtrack and its odd plot. As to the rest of the 'lost films of Brigitte Maier?†Well they vary in quality quite a bit but each one offers up enough of Ms. Maier doing what she does best to appease her fan base.