Not among his major works, SUMMER HEAT is nevertheless another demonstration of the movie-making skills of pioneer pornographer Alex De Renzy. It's romantic and almost delivers some significance, but maybe that's asking too much.
The structure is a bit odd -perhaps evidencing some second thoughts or tinkering. Opener is a closeup sex scene where we can't identify the participants, with the anonymous heroine groaning in ecstasy as a jazz score plays. It's revealed to be Liz, played by Delania Raffino, a talented beauty whose strong showing in this film and the following year in EXPECTATIONS never amounted to a career. Her bed partner is ubiquitous Jamie Gillis, whose role is structurally closer to host (think Ralph Richardson in TALES FROM THE CRYPT) than a protagonist.
Gillis suggests they spend a weekend at Lake Shasta, and Liz remembers "a love story" of her trip there 5 years back with hubby, Senator Jack (Jack Wrangler), when the dam was completed and the lake about to open to the public. (In real life Lake Shasta dates back to 1948, but the film is definitely set in the '70s).
Film proper is told in flashback, with occasional returns to present-day Gillis. Jack is hosting an outing on the lake with wife Liz, his brother Jessie (Jessie Adams), who is an old flame of Liz's, Jessie's date Alice (luscious Desiree Cousteau, who gets top billing for obvious reasons), plus friends Phil (John Leslie) and Judy (an unrecognizable Juliet Anderson, styled with long hairdo instead of her iconic AUNT PEG look).
On the lush lake setting, there's plenty of sexual hijinks by this group, and De Renzy often makes it seem like we're watching a "real" film, with speedboat chases and the like. It plays like couples porn, very tame within De Renzy's oeuvre, until plot intercedes in a rather scatterbrained way. Jack has spearheaded this dam project but there are locals who have protested violently against it. They turn out to be backwoods locals (out of the DELIVERANCE school), and sure enough they show up to switch the film into thriller mode in later reels.
SPOILERS ALERT:
A hillbilly rapes Cousteau and roughs up Jack, whose casting pays off when a hillbilly girl punishes him by shoving a corncob up his rectum. Now that's the De Renzy we expected! Brother Jessie outwits the baddies and rescues our heroes in the nick of time. This certainly explains why Liz doesn't want to return to Lake Shasta, but fails to demonstrate why we needed the flashback construction and Jamie's extraneous participation.
The superstar cast, plus Delania, provides quality sex scenes, but one senses they could do so much more given a better script (Leslie, Anderson and obviously Gillis don't have real characterizations). Laurien Dominique is listed in the cast in IMDb, but she doesn't show up at all.
Another stumbling block is Jack Wrangler as the U.S. Senator. I guess if he were starting out today he could be cast as John Edwards (sorry, but I couldn't resist), but he's very unconvincing in the role here. Jessie Adams as his brother really takes center stage.
The structure is a bit odd -perhaps evidencing some second thoughts or tinkering. Opener is a closeup sex scene where we can't identify the participants, with the anonymous heroine groaning in ecstasy as a jazz score plays. It's revealed to be Liz, played by Delania Raffino, a talented beauty whose strong showing in this film and the following year in EXPECTATIONS never amounted to a career. Her bed partner is ubiquitous Jamie Gillis, whose role is structurally closer to host (think Ralph Richardson in TALES FROM THE CRYPT) than a protagonist.
Gillis suggests they spend a weekend at Lake Shasta, and Liz remembers "a love story" of her trip there 5 years back with hubby, Senator Jack (Jack Wrangler), when the dam was completed and the lake about to open to the public. (In real life Lake Shasta dates back to 1948, but the film is definitely set in the '70s).
Film proper is told in flashback, with occasional returns to present-day Gillis. Jack is hosting an outing on the lake with wife Liz, his brother Jessie (Jessie Adams), who is an old flame of Liz's, Jessie's date Alice (luscious Desiree Cousteau, who gets top billing for obvious reasons), plus friends Phil (John Leslie) and Judy (an unrecognizable Juliet Anderson, styled with long hairdo instead of her iconic AUNT PEG look).
On the lush lake setting, there's plenty of sexual hijinks by this group, and De Renzy often makes it seem like we're watching a "real" film, with speedboat chases and the like. It plays like couples porn, very tame within De Renzy's oeuvre, until plot intercedes in a rather scatterbrained way. Jack has spearheaded this dam project but there are locals who have protested violently against it. They turn out to be backwoods locals (out of the DELIVERANCE school), and sure enough they show up to switch the film into thriller mode in later reels.
SPOILERS ALERT:
A hillbilly rapes Cousteau and roughs up Jack, whose casting pays off when a hillbilly girl punishes him by shoving a corncob up his rectum. Now that's the De Renzy we expected! Brother Jessie outwits the baddies and rescues our heroes in the nick of time. This certainly explains why Liz doesn't want to return to Lake Shasta, but fails to demonstrate why we needed the flashback construction and Jamie's extraneous participation.
The superstar cast, plus Delania, provides quality sex scenes, but one senses they could do so much more given a better script (Leslie, Anderson and obviously Gillis don't have real characterizations). Laurien Dominique is listed in the cast in IMDb, but she doesn't show up at all.
Another stumbling block is Jack Wrangler as the U.S. Senator. I guess if he were starting out today he could be cast as John Edwards (sorry, but I couldn't resist), but he's very unconvincing in the role here. Jessie Adams as his brother really takes center stage.