Housewives Gone Wild!

Before we had a healthy independent gay cinema, and before home video brought us a million choices in entertainment, queer lives were all but absent on film. As a dubious bonus of sexism, lesbian characters were somewhat marketable in underground film, and girl-on-girl action could often be found in the grindhouse theaters, perhaps as a subplot in a Russ Meyer movie or women in prison film, or as the main event in a sexploitation flick. Although these exploitation films were generally made by and for men, and offered at best an ambivalent view of homosexuality, they were in the vanguard of changing standards of what could be shown on film.

The campy, juvenile humor of Meyer and the arty eroticism of Radley Metzger are fairly well known, but the dykesploitation subgenre has been less well remembered. Next week Wolfe Video begins to redress that with the release of two low budget lesbian themed movies: That Tender Touch (1969) and Just The Two of Us (1975.) Both films feature troubled female couples and are not only historically interesting, but surprisingly entertaining - albeit mostly in the so-bad-it's-good way.

From the opening strains of its maudlin theme song, and strange shots of women frolicking in fountains, That Tender Touch promises unintentional hilarity. The widowed Marsha takes in the younger Terri, and the pair soon become lovers. For a while they enjoy suburban, wood paneled and shag carpeted bliss, but trouble arrives in the person of Ken, a photographer who falls in love with Terri. Flash forward to a destitute and forlorn Marsha turning up on the doorstep of the now-married Terri and Ken, who reluctantly install her in the guest room. Marsha literally writhes with repressed desire, while Terri primly battles her resurgent lust for her ex-lover. After repeated rebuffs, Marsha removes herself from the picture to allow Terri and Ken their happiness. What, you expected a happy ending for two queers in 1969? Occasionally touching in its depiction of obsessive love, That Tender Touch is a sad but fairly satisfying film.

The same can't quite be said for Just the Two of Us in terms of narrative, which despite its short running time feels strangely incomplete. With their husbands away on business, lonely housewives Denise and Adria find themselves spending all their time together, eventually falling into an affair. Denise is in love but Adria is just having an adventure; she soon drops Denise for an out of work actor. But when her husband discovers her infidelity, Adria moodily returns to one of the spots where she and Denise once canoodled. She finds Denise there, and the two uncertainly walk away together as the movie fades to black. Although the script is weak, Just the Two of Us has some hilarious montages, as well as the amusing mediocre acting and eye-popping 1970s decor and costumes you'd expect.

It's interesting that just five years after the Stonewall Riots, Just the Two of Us portrays its lesbian couple favorably, complete with a finale that can be read as a happy ending. Denise in particular is treated with sympathy; whereas Tender Touch portrays Marsha as misguided and a danger to Terri and Ken's marriage, Two of Us paints Denise as the victim and the fickle Adria as the transgressor. In one of the movie's best scenes, Denise has a near breakdown when another woman hits on her. "I had something real," she sobs. "And this isn't real!" It's her affair with Adria that was real, not her unhappy marriage. Also, Denise and Adria discover clues to a larger lesbian community, while Marsha and Terri are isolated misfits. Still, both films are layered with ambivalence and half-buried stereotypes. In both movies it's the very young and indecisive woman who is the sexual aggressor, and who breaks off the relationship, while the maternal partner becomes obsessive. Lesbianism may be harmless, but it's clearly linked with immaturity and confusion if not mental illness, and suggested to be just a phase.

It's a shame Wolfe couldn't spend the money on a proper restoration of these films. The prints show much wear and tear, and the audio quality is substandard. Still, these tawdry films are a fascinating part of our history. And if you're in the right mood, they're a hoot.