(Originally posted July 17th, 2007)
In many ways, this is director Doris (Deadly Weapons) Wishman’s ultimate movie. It’s a crazy, anything-goes pseudo-documentary about sex changes and transvestites. It would make a perfect double feature with Glen or Glenda. While it doesn’t match that film’s fever dream WTF? power, it comes pretty close. It also delivers what Glen or Glenda promised and couldn’t show: actual footage of a sex change operation performed in graphic detail.
Wishman intercuts an interview with “Leslie” (“A year ago, I was a man!”) a real transgendered Puerto Rican with footage of a real doctor, Leo Wolman (who relies heavily on cue cards) who introduces us to several real transvestites and transsexuals. He refers to their plight as a “monstrous biological joke”. There are even sex scenes with said transsexuals and some simulated scenes with porn vets Harry Reems and Vanessa Del Rio. The craziest part (if you don’t count the operation scenes) is Wolman’s story of a man who wanted to become a woman so much he cut off his own penis using a chisel and a hammer! This incident is lovingly recreated in graphic detail for your viewing pleasure. If that doesn’t make you squirm in your seat, I don’t know what will.
This is one of the craziest movies ever made and only the strongest of stomachs need apply. If you loved Glen or Glenda (or maybe even Faces of Death) then what are you waiting for? Wishman started filming this as early as 1971 (as Adam or Eve) but later added the interview footage and released it in ’77.
AKA: Man or Woman?
DORIS DECEMBER NOTES:
1) Let Me Die a Woman and Glen or Glenda would make a fascinating double feature. Both films tackle the subject of transition within the confines of an exploitation movie. Both films offer a plea of tolerance and acceptance for their subjects. However, since they are at their core, exploitation movies, the addition of sensationalism and smut (remember the bondage scenes in Glen or Glenda?) give them an extra layer of weirdness that makes them strangely even more appealing. Although these scenes somewhat cheapen the message, it certainly makes them memorable, especially when you consider no one was really making movies that addressed the subject in a serious manner (unless you count The Christine Jorgensen Story).
2) The scene of our main subject, Leslie getting dressed in front of the camera is supposed to be kind of like a slice of life sort of thing, but yeah, it kind of feel a little exploitative. Despite that, she remains an engaging presence and helps to put a friendly and down to earth face to trans women for the audience.
3) Doris Wishman Trademarks: Feet, random narration, showers featuring overly bombastic scores, and surgery scenes.
4) The scene where a guy uses a hammer and chisel to hack off his dick is one of the greatest scenes in exploitation history.
5) Despite the air of overriding exploitation elements, this is probably the most progressive movie of the ‘70s in regard to gender identity. Some of it hasn’t aged too well, but its heart is in the right place (most of the time) and it makes every attempt to show the various trans participants as real people with real problems and showcases their plight with sincerity.
6) The Mondo movie aspects kind of run against the grain of the film’s positive messaging, but it helps to make it truly a one-of-a-kind experience.
7) The sex change surgery sequence shows in graphic detail what Glen or Glenda could only hint at. Like the chisel scene, it helps cement the film’s place in the annals of exploitation history.
8) The only scene in the movie that doesn’t really work is the long, solarized sex scene that occurs near the end, but then again, what would a Doris Wishman flick be without a gratuitous eleventh-hour sex scene?
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