Cast List

Peter de Rome, Garry Hunt, Big Bill Eld, Mark Woodward, Jack Deveau, Archie Gresham, Robert Alvarez, Kirk Luna, David Savage. Jamal Jones, Al Mineo, Dennis Walsh, Shawn Roberts, Henk Van Dyik, Robert Rikas, Brian Destazio, Rene, Mary Jim Sstunning, and others.

Review

A narrated history/documentary (by Mark Woodward) of Hand-in-Hand Films, the pioneer gay movie company that first appeared in 1972.

Unlike Erotikus, which is a history of the gay movie, this flick is a history of Hand-in- Hand and how its three founders (Jack Deveau, Robert Alvarez and Jaap Penraat) dedicated themselves to moviemaking. Behind-the-scenes explanations of how adult films are made; segments from several films, and unreleased material (including bloopers and out-takes).

Sex, sex, sex, both romantic and frantic, include classic segments and copulating lust. The action is hot, post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS fucking! Interviews, masculine men having sex and/or making love, humor, selected highlights, and much more.

Films featured include Left-Handed (Hand-in-Hand's first and also the first gay film to be fully scripted and include a musical score), Peter de Rome's Hot Pants (a go-go boy jacking off), Ballet Down the Highway, Adam and Yves, Wanted: Billy the Kid, The Night Before, Drive, Bagdad, and several others.

The narrator also reminds us that after Left-Handed, movies began to include story to draw the audience in, and that the camera no longer just photographed sex -- it now became a part of it.

The shooting of the now famous 21-hours-of filming the New York subway scene from de Rome's The Erotic Films of Peter de Rome (Underground) is chronicled here, and the filming and action are outrageous. The rea1life thrill of getting caught, getting arrested, staying erect on a moving train, etc., are all explored.

You'll also learn that director and photographer Arch Brown's The Night Before experimented with black-and-white photography and dance.

The only lengthy segment is saved for the end of this video. It's the orgy scene from the movie Beyond These Doors, a sort of Persian bacchanal.

"Interesting anecdotes like these, skillfully interspersed with steamy sex sequences." -- Contax.

Directed and produced by Tom De Simone, Jack Deveau and Robert Alvarez.

With original music by David Earnest.

A BIJOU VIDEO exclusive that is timeless and important in both history and gay filmmaking.

1975, 93 min.