THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1970) **

Bruce Harrington (Harold Herbsman) is a politician who is leading in the polls and is a shoo-in to win the election.  People attribute his popularity to the fact his wife Helen (Janis Young) is super-hot.  Trouble brews when a guy who calls himself “The Flying Man” (Osgood Scott) shows up with incriminating pictures of Helen and threatens to expose her sordid past of drinking, drugs, wild parties, and even her short trip to the booby hatch.  With her husband’s election at stake, Helen has no choice but to pay him off.  However, when he returns later and tries to force himself on her, Helen fights back and the Flying Man winds up dead.  That REALLY puts the future senator’s political career in jeopardy. 

This New York City-lensed sexploitation drama feels a little too much like a soap opera in some places to really work as smut.  The blackmail subplot is kind of dull too and gets in the way of the sex scenes.  The long flashback sequence set at an orgiastic party goes on forever.  Although this scene does provide the film with some glimpses of much needed T & A, it pretty much stops the narrative cold right in the middle of the movie.  The open-ended ending is a little frustrating as well.  This sort of coda may have worked for a plot that was more fanciful, but when it’s used for this kind of realistic drama, it falls flat. 

That’s not to say that The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful doesn’t have its moments.  In fact, it’s at its best when it’s focusing on the subplot surrounding the sexual hang-ups of the politician’s servants.  I mean what other movie gives you a scene where the wonderful character actor Allen Garfield plays a horny chauffeur who bangs a hot maid (Jennifer Welles, a veteran of many Joe Sarno movies) in the middle of the woods?  Welles also gets a hot scene where she turns into a dominatrix, grabs a whip, and flogs the naughty politician.  If Young and Herbsman had the same kind of chemistry that Garfield and Welles shared, the film would’ve been much steamier.  The music is pretty good though, as is the black and white cinematography.