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| Adrienne Barbeau, Tod Miller, Stan Wiest. |
A distasteful attempt to cash in on the early 70s fad for onstage sex and nudity, Stag Movie featured
young Adrienne Barbeau before she became a TV and film star. She played a buxom
actress filming a porno musical in a motel near JFK. The plot had various silly
ingredients, including a gay actor, Mafia gangsters, and a dishonest producer.
Barbeau’s ample proportions, on frequent display, were not
sufficient distraction to keep the audience’s mind off the inane score. The
simulated sex was accompanied by songs that had “the dubious distinction of
having set the orgasm, troilism, and oral intercourse to words and music,”
smirked John Simon.
“I cannot imagine a more dispiriting and dismal evening in
the theater,” chafed Clive Barnes. “It is as appetizing and as erotic as cold
mulligawney soup laced with frozen porridge.”
Cast members included Moose Matthews (a pseudonym for a college classmate of mine who probably wishes not to be identified), Hy Anzell, Stan Wiest, and Tod Miller,
among others.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that the
director, Bernard Barrow, who later played Johnny Ryan in the long-running soap
opera “Ryan’s Hope,” was my former professor and then professorial colleague and friend. The producer, Robert L. Steele, who went on to a dangerous career in
intelligence and security, was my former classmate and, for a time, teaching
colleague. Bernie and Bob: R.I.P.
