#the final sin

[mnemememory]

The internet has shown me Sam’s last live show outfit.

I...don’t know whether to be grateful for the warning or upset that the experience has been spoiled for me. I think I’m edging towards grateful. Just. Wow. 

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | The Final Sin (Howard, 1977)

If you thought Forced Entry was the only '70s porno with graphic Vietnam imagery, you'd be WRONG. Because this one does too. We open with a montage of war photos, some of which are pretty graphic, so the lonely hearts who bought tickets for this back in the day were probably smart to show up a little late. Over this montage we got some pretty pretentious narration. "Only the players have within themselves the power to change their destinies, for the victors and the vanquished are the same in the final sin."

If you're wondering if the rest of the movie will clarify what this means or what the final sin is supposed to be, uh, it does not. However, the trauma of war is felt in the presence of an upper class family's patriarch having lost his dick during the war. This has turned him into a hateful SOB who takes it out on his family, who may or may not be into it to varying degrees (his wife describes his interest in his daughter as "not a healthy relationship", but her objections aren't terribly convincing), as well as a couple played by Mick Jones and Linda Wong he blackmails into enacting his twisted desires. He's especially hateful towards Wong, subjecting her to all kinds of racial slurs, which makes this a tough recommend, even if the guy is clearly painted as a villain.

That being said, I do think this works on an erotic level. The director as villain trope, with the father orchestrating the proceedings, at one point watching the participants on screen, and occasionally getting hands on with his direction, is something I find to be a pretty potent erotic idea and one that gives shape to the proceedings. And this piles on an assortment of kinky elements, like whipping, pegging and incest, to keep things watchable on its super sleazy level. Obviously not for all tastes, but I'll fess up and say that the performance by Ursula Brandwin as the mother, with her collar and ridiculous hairdo, was kinda doing it for me.

Plus there's some slick direction by Cecil Howard, who finds ways to stage and shoot this to feel dynamic (the surveillance element, the father circling the action in his wheelchair, a shot from the mother's legs to the son down the hall, the choreography in the bondage scene). Honestly it's a shame about the racism and the graphic war photos because this has a plenty going for it otherwise.

[spaceunicxrn]

[dracelatthedragoncat]