A fond trip down mammary lane!- Hollywood Reporter
Mar. 21, 2001
By Michael Rechtshaffen
| SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- With titles like "The Defilers," "She Freak," "The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill" and "The Flesh Merchant" to their credit, it's unlikely that veteran producers-showmen Dan Sonney and David Friedman will be subjects of an AFI tribute anytime soon. These now-retired purveyors of the "nudie cutie" take the viewer on a fond trip down mammary lane. Definitely the Felix to Friedman's Oscar, Sonney was the son of a famed lawman who was featured in a series of films that documented his rapid-fire agility with a pair of handcuffs. Friedman, once billed as "the world's greatest carny," was able to parlay a fair share of his freak show know-how into the picture business. For example, take the intriguing title, which refers to a 1950 news documentary about the rise of the East African Mau Mau resistance movement narrated by Chet Huntley. Deciding it needed a little more oomph, they snuck in some additional footage of "sex-mad natives" -- which was actually shot in South Central Los Angeles -- before it hit the drive-in. In the early '60s, when those innocent nudist camp volleyball games were no longer packing 'em in, they turned to edgier fare, including the disturbing "roughies," in which female characters were unpleasantly victimized (again, some form of social commentary would have been appreciated here), leading up to 1963's "Blood Feast," the first of director Herschell Gordon Lewis' cult splatter films, which opened in Peoria and became a smash hit. Of course, the advent of video and the death of the drive-in effectively rendered their particular brand of showmanship obsolete. In a bit of irony, Friedman and Sonney take Bonnitt on a tour of their old San Fernando Valley stomping grounds only to discover their former production offices have been taken over by an Asian Presbyterian church. It's the only part of "Mau Mau Sex Sex" where no additional comment is necessary. MAU MAU SEX SEX 7th Planet Prods. Director-producer: Ted Bonnitt Screenwriters: Eddie Muller, Ted Bonnitt Director of photography: Ted Bonnitt Editors: Ted Bonnitt, Christopher Rowland, Eddie Muller Color/stereo With: Dan Sonney, David Friedman, Frank Henenlotter Running time-- 80 minutes No MPAA rating |
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