TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE (1970) **

Take it Out in Trade was one of Ed Wood’s final features and was considered lost for nearly half a century.  Now that the world can finally see it, it’s easy to tell why it was almost lost.  Wood is one of my favorite directors, and I’m of the opinion that anything he made should be preserved in some way, shape, or form.  Unfortunately, this is one of his lesser works.

A private eye named Mac McGregor (Michael Donovan O’Donnell) is hired by a rich couple to find their daughter (Donna Stanley).  He takes the money and uses it to go around the world to watch women undress and have sex.  Once he starts running out of money, Mac decides he should at least try to find the girl.  Mac tracks her down to a whorehouse where she works as a prostitute, but getting her home back to her folks won’t be so easy.

The early scenes work the best.  The detective plot is a sturdy enough basis to build a decent skin flick on.  Basically, the first part of the movie feels like a nudie cutie from the ‘50s as O’Donnell hides in the bushes while spying on women.  Once he finds Stanley, the flick takes a nosedive fast.

It’s here where it seems like Wood just gave up on the film.  The first part features lots of cross-cutting during dialogue scenes and random cutaway shots of nudity.  (Think of some of Russ Meyer’s work, but done with less panache.)  By the halfway point, the frenetic editing gives way to a lot of stagnant shots of people’s asses while they roll around on a bed.  

I wasn’t expecting the sex scenes to be sexy mind you.  I was at least hoping that Take it Out in Trade would have some of that old Ed Wood magic.  However, other than one or two weird snippets of dialogue, and the inexplicable overuse of airplanes taking off for no good reason, there’s very little of Wood’s cinematic genius (or lack thereof) on display.

The most memorable scene of course comes when O’Donnell roughs up a transvestite suspect, naturally played by Wood (who was billed only as “Alecia”).  This scene works because Wood is clearly having fun putting his fetishes out there for all the world to see.  If only the rest of the film wasn’t so damned unremarkable, Take it Out in Trade could’ve been a lost classic.  As it stands, I could take it or leave it.