Gene Roddenberry's Sexploitation film
- Thread starter Guartho
- Start date
We may not have known about this... but we all knew Roddenberry was a pervert. Cracked is late to the party.
Well, I didn't know about the movie. But now I've got to see it! 
This film is not a secret. It is so bad it should be though.
And this thread really doesn't have anything to do with Star Trek, other then sharing a writer. I think it would be best served in General Media. Hitting the button... now.
And this thread really doesn't have anything to do with Star Trek, other then sharing a writer. I think it would be best served in General Media. Hitting the button... now.
Are there actually Trek fans who’ve never heard of Pretty Maids All In a Row? I mean, the film isn’t that obscure. Written and produced by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Roger Vadim, it’s a lightweight mix of sex comedy and murder mystery (okay, not much of a mystery, really).
Among the cast are two faces familiar to Trekkers: James Doohan and William Campbell. There’s also Keenan Wynn, future Kojak Telly Savalas, and Roddy McDowall, who at that time was in everything.
The picture looks like it was filmed at Teen Model High. Vadim may have been better known for the women in his life -- Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve and Jane Fonda being the most famous -- than for his filmmaking talent. But you can't fault his eye for beauty.
Oh, and Angie Dickinson looking insanely hot and doing a discreet nude scene. What’s not to like?
Among the cast are two faces familiar to Trekkers: James Doohan and William Campbell. There’s also Keenan Wynn, future Kojak Telly Savalas, and Roddy McDowall, who at that time was in everything.
The picture looks like it was filmed at Teen Model High. Vadim may have been better known for the women in his life -- Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve and Jane Fonda being the most famous -- than for his filmmaking talent. But you can't fault his eye for beauty.
Oh, and Angie Dickinson looking insanely hot and doing a discreet nude scene. What’s not to like?
Gene and porn? That's offensive! Ban Gene Roddenberry!!!
..not sure if there is anything to add to that.
Gene's Tarzan film would have been far naughtier.
Gene and porn? That's offensive! Ban Gene Roddenberry!!!
It was hardly porn. It was an R-rated movie. But this was just three years after the introduction of the R rating, which allowed nudity in "legitimate" commercial films for the first time in the US; and I think Pretty Maids was one of the first films to take advantage of that freedom. (I once read that it was the first R-rated film with nudity in it, but I've never found any corroboration for that claim.) So it may have been considered pretty daring for its time, but it'd be pretty tame by today's standards. Or rather, the nudity would seem more tame today. The subject matter, teachers seducing students, probably seems more shocking today than it would've in 1971, when society wasn't as sensitive about issues like sexual harassment and exploitation of minors.
I've been aware of this film ever since I saw its script for sale in the old catalogs from Lincoln Enterprises, Gene and Majel Roddenberry's mail-order company which sold memorabilia, scripts, and the like from Star Trek and other Roddenberry productions (as well as a couple of non-GR productions such as Kung Fu). But I've never managed to see it.
Gene and porn? That's offensive! Ban Gene Roddenberry!!!
It was hardly porn. It was an R-rated movie. But this was just three years after the introduction of the R rating, which allowed nudity in "legitimate" commercial films for the first time in the US; and I think Pretty Maids was one of the first films to take advantage of that freedom. (I once read that it was the first R-rated film with nudity in it, but I've never found any corroboration for that claim.)
Definitely not! There are quite a few movies through the latter half of the 60s that were R Rated with some nudity. Coogan's Bluff, to name a fairly mild example.
^Well, the MPAA's R rating wasn't created until 1968. There were some earlier films that did include nudity in some cuts, but it was controversial. Or so I read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudity_in_film#Nudity_in_mainstream_films
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudity_in_film#Nudity_in_mainstream_films
Coogan's Bluff is from 1968, that's why I picked it as an example
G.R. had already pretty much washed his hands of Star Trek during its third season, and gone on to other projects. And Desilu no longer existed then; it had been absorbed by Paramount.
^Right. Roddenberry walked away from producing TOS to protest its move to a "death slot" on the schedule. He didn't leave to work on other projects, he was able to work on other projects because he left.
And the timing doesn't work out there anyway. TOS's third season was produced in 1968-9. Pretty Maids was a 1971 film.
As for Desilu, it was bought by Gulf+Western in April 1967, and in July of that year it was merged with G+W's previous acquisition, Paramount Pictures.
And the timing doesn't work out there anyway. TOS's third season was produced in 1968-9. Pretty Maids was a 1971 film.
As for Desilu, it was bought by Gulf+Western in April 1967, and in July of that year it was merged with G+W's previous acquisition, Paramount Pictures.
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