LET’S GET PHYSICAL: ALL AMERICAN HUSTLER (1972) * ½

FORMAT:  DVD

A hooker named Carol (Mickie Lynn) breaks up with her boyfriend and goes to a party at the airport where she shoots up in the bathroom.  Elsewhere, Carol’s friend Candy (Candy Kay) makes it with a lucky dude that dresses like every third Match Game panelist in the ’70s.  Meanwhile, Carol takes on a slew of clients (including one guy who just wants to rub one out on her underwear).  Later, she and Candy go to a New Age commune where they drink from a coconut and bang two creepy cult dudes.  Eventually, Carol has a mini breakdown about the way her life is going (and who could blame her?  I mean did you SEE those cult dudes?) and commits suicide. 

The guy who plays Carol’s abusive boyfriend in the beginning is none other than Video Vacuum favorite, Michael Pataki.  He’s been in everything from biker movies (The Sidehackers) to low budget horror gems (The Grave of the Vampire) to big budget blockbusters (Rocky IV).  I think they may have used a stunt cock for him in his sex scene though.  While it’s fun seeing him pop up, sadly his presence is the best thing All American Hustler has going for it. 

I’ve got to tell you, this is one scummy skin flick.  I guess the idea here was to deglamorize the profession of prostitution.  That may have been a decent concept if there was any artistic merit on display.  Also, did we really need to see the scene where junkie Carol shoots heroin into her arm in graphic close-up?  Again, I think the aim was to make a realistic portrayal of a working girl, but just bluntly showing drug use without much context comes off as exploitative and crass more than anything else.  The downbeat ending is borderline tasteless too.  I wonder how the raincoat crowd reacted to this in the theater back in the day. 

This probably wouldn’t have even been much fun even if the sex scenes were hot.  I’ve seen worse to be sure, but there’s nothing here that will exactly get your pulse racing.  In fact, I have a suspicion that the filmmakers were trying to make a purposefully anti-erotic movie.  Why else would you play a Richard Nixon speech over a sex scene?  Or include a random scene with the annoying folk musician?  Well, if that was the goal, all I can say is… mission accomplished!