Debbie Does Dallas Uncovered

It is interesting how films like this tend to rely on rehashed information without, in my opinion, bringing real facts to light. The filming of the original DDD is assumed to have been filmed without the awareness of the faculty. Yet no interviews with any of the staff or faculty have ever been published except in newspaper accounts of the day. Filming in 35mm is not a secretive affair. Especially in that time period. There would have been a crew of at least 30 plus actors and catering and such. It would be interesting to know how this was done without permission on a high profile campus such as Prett. Was there a student or faculty conspiracy? The film itself is indeed recognized as important in its genre and deserves study. This film fails in providing us with any substance and instead relies on simple, unproven hearsay and tepid sensationalism to push out yet more useless information to add to the glut on the market. I was terribly disappointed with the film.

Like most recent porno docs, this is a lot more entertaining than the actual movie its about (although I don't suppose people would watch it for quite the same reason). The "curse" is pretty overstated though. It's not too surprising, for instance, that the producer of the movie was mobbed up. The Mob was deep in the porno industry in those days (fortunately things are much better today now that big corporations like the Hilton hotel chain are underwriting the gang-banging and sodomy of 18-year-old girls). It's also not too surprising that one of the actresses O.D.ed.--woman that will have sex for money on film are usually not too emotionally well-adjusted. And though lead actress Bambi Woods has "disappeared" most people interviewed in the documentary agree that it's more likely that she just doesn't want to be found than that something nefarious happened to her. All but one of the the women in the movie seem to have "disappeared" in the sense that they have left the industry and refused to appear in this documentary--and who can blame them? If you're a middle-aged woman with a husband and kids living in the suburb, would you want everyone to know you used to be a porn star?

That leaves only the men to be interviewed, and they also seem to have suffered a "curse" of a kind. They all seem somewhat wistful about how their porno work has ruined their career ambitions and wasted their lives. The most entertaining and candid is Robert Kerman (although I was disappointed he didn't mentioned his Italian cannibal films--but I guess he wasn't too proud of those either). This movie doesn't really show the "dark side" of porno as it purports too, but it is nevertheless a good antidote to recent porno puff pieces like "Family Business" that try to portray the "adult industry" as somehow healthy or normal. The truth is the modern "industry" is a hypocritical, money-making, soul-devouring abomination that almost makes me miss the days of the Mob and 42nd Street and the pimply skanks with visible track marks. Wherever Bambi Woods is I'm sure she's in a better place

What was probably the last "big" news "erotic" film before video took over and the porno industry went where it belongs, on the home VCR, "Curse of Debbie Does Dallas" (just like some old porno films, they have changed the name of the documentary to re-market it) could have made an interesting jumping point for a discussion on the porno industry, the country that supports it and the psychology that drives it.

Instead we are given yet another "dregs of humanity" portrait that's been done before. A telling point is that the "moral" voice of the film is given to the FBI agent who tells of his disdain for erotic films several times. Granted that the man spent years chasing the criminals who ran the industry but his position is the easy way out. Actually the story of his exploits, which are very interesting, have been done elsewhere in more detail. A strange point is when he tries to categorized which type of child pornography "really" bothers him. Yes, the porno industry is a sad, sleazy place but we know that already. What we need to know is what drives it, why do people hate it yet spend billions of dollars to get the product. Why is it a shameful place to work for all but a few uninhibited people?

Questions that come up are ignored so the film can focus on the shame and misery and exploitation of the performers. The documentary spends time on "all" the performers who died, implying that they either overdosed or committed suicide while giving no real statistical evidence that the rates are higher then in the general population. Possibly it is but we need to see some real evidence not anecdotal comments from the interviewees. "R. Bolla" seems like a sad case until you check out how many porno films he has done. How can someone do dozens of porno films over the span of a decade and then wonder why the "normal" entertainment industry doesn't want anything to do with him. Why are people bigoted against him and why is he unaware of the position he put himself into? More questions unasked. When the only actress interviewed, Robin Byrd, says that she has nothing to be ashamed of, the statement is just left there. Most of the other interviews are interesting on their own but don't add up in the film. It would have been interesting to explore why some of the female performers are so ashamed of their participation in the film that they refused to be interviewed yet the men have no qualms. The difference between the late 1970's and now could have been interesting. And the similarities.

You're better off renting "Boogie Nights". It's a fictional story yet has more real answers.

After watching Debbie Does Dallas again, I looked on YouTube for related material and found this documentary about the movie. It tried to trace what happened to the star, Bambi Woods, to no avail. The male stars-Herschel Savage, Eric Edwards, and Robert Kerman (who I identified as Richard Balla when reviewing the actual movie)-are interviewed but the only female star to grant one was Robin Byrd. Edwards mentions his relationship with another of the female stars-Arcadia Lake-who he helped get off some drugs before she eventually got back on again to, it seems, a tragic end. A couple of former FBI agents are also interviewed about catching a mob boss who was involved in the production. Then there's the producer/director who only agreed to go by his credited name on the film-Jim Clark-who provided quite an interesting story of how the project came to be. Quite a worthy doc on one of the most successful of the classic porn films.

A British documentary scorns our favorite American film. They probably wish they had invented it first. If Bambi Woods has died, where's the obituary? No one has published one or a date of death. Arcadia Lake was married to Eric Edwards, she died of an overdose, and Bambi must have planted the same news about herself to start over with a new private life. The film uses repeat clips of DDD throughout, slow motion, blurred, and in dark shadows. Rumor and innuendo is explored as if all the film makers are on trial, yet only one mobster has been officially indicted in connection with the film. He died before the FBI could arrest him. Much time is wasted while the male actors watch and review their scenes when more info could be revealed instead. The second feature about two housewives entering careers as porn stars was laughable at times. They walk on the set and order intimate positions like items on a menu. First, they enjoy it, but the interviewer persuades them to think again and feel some guilt and shame. I admit I skipped a scene with the younger of the two, but it was obviously more sick and tasteless than a real film anyone would make.