Blog : The Alley Cats

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6/5/2007 8:26 am

The Alley Cats

The Alley Cats (1966) – Radley Metzger

Radley Metzger is a legend in history of erotic cinema. He was the basis for Burt Reynolds’ director character in “Boogie Nights” (1997). Metzger began his career creating high-end beautifully crafted soft-core features. It has been claimed that his talent rivaled the masters of the French New Wave directors of his time. Most certainly his attention to detail and craft was head and shoulders above his American contemporaries with their focus on massive cleavage.

Metzger’s most famous films include “Carmen Baby” (1967) , “Therese and Isabel” (1968 ) and “Camille 2000” (1969). This film and “Dirty Girls” (1964) are considered his lesser films, but there is a charm about them. One has to place the film in the context of the cultural revolution that began with “beat poets”, was sparked by the Berkley riots in 1964 and ignited the sensibilities of the massive social movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s. It wasn’t all just weekend hippies and pot.

“Alley Cats” has been put down because it is somewhat weaker than Metzger’s more famous works, but primarily the shunning of this film is due to a lack of understanding that it, and similar works, laid the ground upon which sexual portrayals in feature film became the stock of selling a movie; why the rise of “porno-chic” in the ‘70’s came about; and dare I say it, the ability for Mike Myers to capitalize on it via his Austin Powers character. The prior two somehow represent a richer cultural influence, but the pseudo-psychedelic pop cultural references Myers makes are derived directly out the boundary pushing of film and titillation of the ‘60’s. Myers knows this and articulates it when he is not “performing” for the camera. The point I am making is that when you watch a film like “Alley Cats” and the dialogue makes you want to laugh out loud it is a valid response. The soundtrack is a delicious riff of hipster jazz that sometimes makes you want to snap your fingers or grin a little at its’ unaware stereotype. However, the laughs and the grins should be more aligned with tongue-in-cheek 60’s cinema than with a Myers parody of the genre. That is where some of those who criticize a film like this reveal their lack of cultural aesthetic.

With all that, yes the film is really for those who wish to travel back in time. It is by no means a “classic” but it is a solid representation of a film genre that underlies so much of contemporary mainstream film and indeed pornography. The erotic content runs the gamut of what could just be barely tolerated at the time. As with all Metzger’s early works there is a lot of screen time dedicated to women exploring lesbian activities, and this film throws in swinging, orgies and a couple of whips for good measure.

As noted above Metzger was the inspiration for the director in “Boogie Nights”. This is because when porn became “mainstream” after the release of “Deep Throat” (1972) Metzger began directing high-end porn for the mainstream market under the name “Henri Paris”. His earlier style made him one of the hottest and sophisticated porn directors in the l970’s and the reason is clear with one of his hardcore masterpieces “The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann” (1975). The longevity of that particular film and its’ current nostalgic demand speaks volumes.

Watch this Metzger film and others with a sense of perspective and cinema history and it will be enjoyable, particularly with some wine and someone close.

Note: as I watched this film there was a certain “warmth” to it. In my teens there was a tradition of the long-weekend all-night drive-in. From dusk to dawn, whatever reels they could rack up would screen after the first two features. As soon as the previews came on this rental I was transported back in time. The owner of the now plowed down Notawasaga Drive-In (Alliston, Ontario) loved to show 1960’s soft-core features. It kept the concession going until 4am, but when I got to film school it became clear that his penchant for this era was more than soda sales and this was never made so vivid as when he screened “Claire’s Knee” (1970) on the Labour Day weekend of 1980. Of course, there was always the “affect” the suggestiveness of such films might have upon one’s date. Whoever you were Mr. Drive-In Owner, I salute you.

Note: the copy of this film I rented came complete with trailers for all of Metzger’s classics. This alone was worth the rental fee. I am hoping to transfer those trailers from the VHS tape (yes, tape) to the hardrive for sharing.


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