Joy (1977)

Pleasant classic this time. Joy (Sharon Mitchell) is a young girl who is terrified at the idea of having a sexual relationship to the point where her boyfriend (Jay Pierce) leaves her. The day of their split-up she is raped in her apartment by two thugs. After a struggle she perceives that sex is not such a bad thing. As she will not be satisfied by the thugs, she will do the same with the inhabitants of New York. This does not seem like a greatly develloped scenario (one could even think it's pretty sexist), but this is really not the case. Rather it is an allegory about the society in general and its fear of sex in particular. In fact the film clearly shows that sex is not scary and even useful (just see the satisfaction of Robert Kerman after he was attacked). Everything is presented in a positive and pleasant way (if we except the beginning of Joy's rape). I also like the fact that the scenes are really short. I may be wrong but I interpret this as the disappointment that Joy feels after these relationships (she doesn't get enough). Sharon Mitchell (who looks great in this by the way) provides an excellent performance in this film and there is also a police investigation to find her. The head of the investigation is played by Jake Teague and I must admit that it is his best performance as an actor (not to mention that this is not his usual casting).

The distribution includes many familiar faces (Crystal Sync, Philip Marlowe, Herschel Savage, Veri Knotty, Clea Carson, Bobby Astyr, Gloria Leonard, Roger Caine, Dave Ruby, Eric Edwards ,...), but also many unknowns. Strangely it is the only film directed by Harley Mansfield, but this is probably an alias for someone else ...

This film is available from Video-X-Pix and do I need to say that this one deserve a special edition with a commentary track with Sharon Mitchell (getting Teague for it would be awesome but he doesn't want to talk about this part of his life...). Too bad the shitty economy and the piracy prevent us to get this...