Dr. Minx is part of an unofficial trilogy from director Hikmet (AKA: Howard) Avedis that also includes The Stepmother and The Teacher. All three films revolve around an older woman seducing a much younger man. Unfortunately, all of them contain way too much plot that gets in the way of the business at hand.
The always lovely Edy Williams stars as Carol, a doctor whose ex-boyfriend Guss (William Smith) is a total lout. He figures Carol owes him half of her inheritance and he isn’t above blackmail to get his hands on the loot. Meanwhile, she falls for one of her patients, a young man named Brian (Randy Boone) whom she nursed back to health after he had a bad tumble on his motorcycle. Problems arise when the kid kills Guss in a struggle and Carol coerces him into hiding the body.
The movie wastes no time getting down to business as the opening scene features a totally nude Williams wrapped around Smith in a post-coital embrace. Then, like The Stepmother and The Teacher, Avedis bombards us with a bunch of dialogue scenes, subplots, and other unnecessary bullshit that takes away from the main crux of the story: Namely, finding ways to separate Edy from her wardrobe. Even the sex scenes that occur later in the film are only lukewarm at best. To make matters worse, Avedis’ awkward camera placement and non-existent editing don’t do much to liven these scenes up.
There is a little bit of a feminism slant here. It’s almost comical the way that her male patients gawk at Edy in disbelief when they find out she’s a doctor. Naturally, she is more than eager to prove that she is just as capable as a male physician. Even this welcome subplot is dropped almost immediately as it’s introduced in favored of the lame film noir plotline.
Williams’ bubbly personality, plunging necklines, breathless line readings, and likeable performance is the best thing the movie has going for it. Too bad the plot-heavy sequences prevent her from demonstrating her bedside manner. It’s always good seeing Smith turn up in a ‘70s sleaze fest. He makes for a formidable villain, as you might expect, and his absence is felt once his character is killed off.
Ultimately, Dr. Minx is more of a noir thriller than a drive-in skin flick. That wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t so fucking dull. I will give credit to Avedis. He made the movies he wanted to make with just enough exploitation elements in them. That way, the studios could play up those angles in the trailers and lure in unsuspecting viewers. (He even did this in later films like Mortuary, which had a completely different ad campaign that featured absolutely no footage from the movie itself.) This bait-and-switch is a good way to get a film made, but it’s a bit of an irritating experience for the viewer to say the least.
If things played out the way the ads would’ve had you believe, Dr. Minx would’ve been a classic. Imagine all those naughty nurse movies, but you know, with a doctor instead. Too bad all the murder plots, blackmail schemes, and superfluous characters (like the best friend who fancies himself an amateur detective and cosplays as Columbo) gum up the works.
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