WARNING!
Ryan Zane
Distributor | Released | Length |
---|---|---|
Channel 1 Releasing | 2001 | 95 |
Description source: promotional material
Presenting the 2 box set from Channel 1 Releasing of two Award Winning Directors, Jerry Douglas and Chi Chi LaRue telling One Classic Story. The Box set includes Two Filthy Movies.
Seems there's a glitch with the Way-Back Machine, Sherman. For the video The Back Row, it's showing two years - 1972 and 2001! How can that be? Ah, it says here that award-winning director Chi Chi LaRue, in homage to award-winning director Jerry Douglas, remade the classic film using all of the current video-making methods of the time. Sounds like an interesting comparison! How well will this new version hold up against the old? Let's take a look and see.
Young blond Kyle Kennedy has taken on the role played by Casey Donovan in the original, and he does a great job as a horny young man searching for dick in New York City. Just like the original, he ends up in a porno theater, where a big-dicked sailor (Ethan Richards) gets it on with a poppers fiend (Mark Slade). Thrown into the mix is a student (Rob Kirk) who's sitting behind them, watching Richards go down on Slade's thick meat. Kirk and Kennedy watch and stroke themselves as the other two studs swap head, ending with Slade and Kirk shooting their loads in Richards' face. Not only is the action more intense and easier to see then the original, the guys are a lot hotter too.
Following the formula from the previous version, Kennedy kicks around the Big Apple, ending up at the Port Authority, where he spies cowboy-outfitted Ryan Zane. Zane is GQ gorgeous, has a nice lean, naturally hairy bod and is just sexy as hell. Be still my heart (and other vital organs!). Anyway, Kennedy and Zane lock eyes, give each other a grin and then coyly chase each other around the town. Ending up in a leather goods store, Kennedy tries on garments while Zane fantasizes from afar how the blond would look in them naked. Zane sits on a couch, and imagines he's naked and stroking his hot pole while a leather-clad Kennedy walks up. The two stroke their cocks until both guys shoot on Zane and he comes out of his fantasy coma. Just like the original, both guys buy matching cockrings before heading to another porno theater.
Megahung Chad Hunt is the ticket taker at the theater, and somehow both Kennedy and Zane pass up the stud's monster-sized cock when he offers it up to them. Instead he strokes his foot-long bone to orgasm while the flirting duo heads inside to the men's room. Interrupted by a construction stud (Tanner Reeves - remember him?? Still handsome and built!), our guys sit in the theater away from each other and watch sexy Dante Foxx take a shower on the big screen. Like all of the scenes in this new version, the film showing in the theater is much clearer than the original and has hotter men. Watching sultry Foxx totally pound his roommate (Thomas Bond) is much better than the original. Boy, can that guy fuck! Likewise, the imagined scenes of Zane and Kennedy acting out the same sex scenes is also much better. That lucky bastard Kennedy gets to munch on Zane's hot hole while the stud sucks his cock. Sounds like heaven to me! Zane fucks the blond's sweet ass, stroking him at the same time until they both spooge. While the sex is better, the interaction between Zane and Kennedy in the theater isn't as tense or emotional as Donovan and George Payne. Payne seems to absentmindedly play with his nipples in the theater, whereas Zane does it on purpose. Kennedy, grinning all the time, cuts the tension too, but that's what this is all about:: The tension of "will they or won't they?" hook up. After the movie, when Zane looks over and sees Kennedy jacking with Reeves, he looks more pissed off than jealous. Kennedy grinning back at him could be the reason why!
Following the original's plot, Zane and Kennedy rendezvous back in the men's room, showing each other their cocks (finally!). And just as they get busy, in walks Reeves, with Zane taking off. In this version, though, Zane stays in the doorway, watching Kennedy give Reeves the eye and the two getting it on. After the twosome swap bjs kneeling on the rest room floor, Hunt appears again in a leather harness, his mammoth cock ready to go! Zane patiently observes the sucking and rimming and gets an eyeful as Kennedy fucks Reeves and then Hunt forces his horsecock up Kennedy's boyish ass. And while all this is going on, out of a stall appears young Hispanic Danny Lopez. While cute, he doesn't contribute much to the scene. The hottest thing he does is lie still while Hunt jacks off over his ass crack, bending down and immediately eating his load out of Lopez's crack. Now, that's fucking hot! Again, the sex is hotter than back in 1972 (no weird toys, candle wax, etc. in the modern version), but I like the fact that the men didn't talk/moan in the original.
After everyone cums, Zane takes off, and Kennedy takes off after him. They pal around NYC, ending up making out in front of a pay phone, where they are observed by hottie Billy Hart. Kennedy flirts with him at first but then realizes what he has in Zane, and the two smooch while the street light above Hart shows a "Don't Walk" sign. Ah, true love!
Out of no disrespect to original director Jerry Douglas, this new version really kicks ass. Aside from the daunting task of taking a 30-year-old film and remaking it scene-by-scene (very well done!), the guys are sexy, the action is clear, and the soundtrack by the amazing Sharon Kane is perfect. Listen to the lyrics after you're done jacking off to the video ? right on target in every scene. Not trying to make this an "either-or" comparison, but the original does excel in some areas. The "chase" scene around NYC is more innocently charming in the original, and Payne seemed a bit more naive, thus more jealous, regarding Donovan/ Kennedy's slutty behavior. This makes the tension and the payoff at the end even better. While Zane is a treat to look at, his sheepishness just isn't the same. Still, we have some outstanding sex going on, with Foxx and Bond really going at it. It was also good to see Reeves again, and Hunt is as sexy as ever. The note from director LaRue to Douglas at the end is also a nice touch. So how well will this version hold up? Pretty damn well, I'll say. But you can judge for yourself, as both versions are packaged together. So if you get one you also get the other.
- Ryan Williams
Well folks, this is a review of the re-make AND the original of the old porn classic "The Back Row." Revisited by director extraordinaire Chi Chi LaRue in 2001, and Jerry Douglas directed the original "The Back Row" way back in 1972. (Why, gay porn was just a baby then!) It was only the third movie featuring porn superstar Casey Donovan, and it was one of veteran director Douglas's first porn efforts. Chi Chi LaRue maintains it was one of his first and most memorable encounters with porn, and that that's why he wanted to do this homage. And quite an homage it is. It follows the original scene by scene, although not blow by blow. (A little imperial humor there.) So that's how we're going to review them -- a side-by-side taste test, as it were.
The story involves an all-day cruise (NOT of the Gilligan's Island kind) between an experienced, cosmopolitan, horny "city mouse" and a hunky, "country mouse" in a cowboy hat. There's no dialog -- just lots of meaningful glances -- as the shy country boy follows the city boy from one place to another, focusing particularly on a porno theater. The country mouse is shy, and the city mouse is coy, so it takes them forever to connect even though they're both immediately smitten. The original stars Casey Donovan as the city boy and George Payne (looking so young and luscious you'll hardly recognize him) as the country boy. LaRue's version features Kyle Kennedy and Ryan Zane (who looks so much like actor John Corbett from HBO's "Sex and the City" that we kept expecting Sarah Jessica Parker to pop in looking for him).
The opening scene is a typical anonymous encounter in an adult movie theater, a venue only too rare these days, but common back in 1972. A sailor (David Knox) shares poppers and other, more personal things, with a shaggy-haired new pal (Robin Anderson) as they swap enthusiastic blowjobs. Casey, sitting in the front row (not the back row?) declines to participate. Auntie Chi Chi has Ethan Richards playing the sailor and Mark Slade as his partner, and adds a horny boy (Rob Kirk) jacking off in the row behind them, and shows Kyle whacking it as well. He also adds a realistic, slurpy, echo-y porno film soundtrack. Both guys cum on Ethan's face.
Casey wanders New York City, frolicsome and fun-loving in his skin-tight denim jeans and jacket. He's cruising the Port Authority [ http://panynj.gov ] when he spies newly-arrived George. Their eyes meet, and George is hooked. He follows Casey around Manhattan, cruising everywhere from the subway to a sex shop where he fantasizes as Casey tries out various items. Both buy cockrings, which they wear like lovely brooches. In the 21st Century version, our city mouse still wears denim, although not skin tight, and Chi Chi even finds the same location shots in the good ole Port Authority. During their cruising, Kyle's huge dick looks like it's going to burst out of his jeans, and Ryan's fantasizing in the sex shop is a bit more explicit, ending in jack-offs and cum-shots from both.
George follows Casey back to the movie theater (or a similar one) where both are accosted on entrance by the ticket guy (Warren Carlton), who pops open his door and flops out his cock while grimacing hideously. Rebuffed by the two studs, he resorts to jacking off. In Chi Chi's version, this role is performed by Chad Hunt. (Chad has a dick that would stop traffic. We don't believe for a minute that either Kyle or Ryan would pass it up.)
After another failed connection at the men's room, Casey and George proceed into the theater. Finally -- the back row! The feature they watch is "Roommate–Wanted!" involving a nerdy guy (Arthur Graham) and his roommate (Robert Tristan) having sex after sharing a joint. Scenes from the movie are artistically intercut with George's fantasizing himself and Casey in the roles, and with his watching from the theater. This has the unfortunate effect of not allowing you to see any of the sex very well. Clearly realizing this, Chi Chi has slowed and reduced the jump-cuts so that it's clearer who and what you're watching, and a lot more sexually explicit as well (although perhaps less raw and artful). Although the fucking is a flip-flop in Douglas's original (there's a brief, simulated suggestion of George bottoming -- very vague), in the new version Dante Foxx tops Thomas Bond, and Ryan fucks Kyle.
While he's been fantasizing, a construction worker (Chris Villette, in hardhat, no less) has made a move on Casey. He who hesitates is lost, as they say, a lesson George has now learned the hard way. Chris necks with Casey, who jacks to climax as the creepy ticket guy moves in on George, who takes off. Chi Chi escalates the encounter to a brief but uncompleted blowjob between the construction worker Tanner Hayes and Kyle.
Hygienic Casey moves to the boys' room to wash off his dick, followed by George, his shadow. They start to jack off at the urinals. Finally -- they're going to consummate this relationship! Nope -- here comes the construction worker Chris, and George is off like a scared rabbit. George watches from the door as he's treated to a real suck-n-fuck-fest when the creepy ticket guy pops out of a stall where he's been lurking and the three go at it. Only Casey is particularly attractive, but they fuck with abandon. Someone has thoughtfully brought a supply of candles so they can do some kinky hot wax stuff, and a strap-on dildo is also used (strapped off, however). Casey puts on a rubber -- in those days, that was kinky gay sex. My, my. Casey tops the other two briefly and shoots in one guy's mouth, then leaves them.
Well, Auntie Chi Chi brings this scene to an entirely new level. Tanner Hayes as the construction guy looks great a little heavier and with gray on his temples. When Chad and his gigantic meat move in, the party really begins. It's not as dirty as the original, but it's a lot better lit. Kyle fucks Tanner, and then Chad stuffs his salami up Kyle as a new boy (Danny Lopez) shows up -- hey! -- that wasn't in the original! They end up in a flesh pile with Kyle fucking Danny, and then everybody cums.
Guiltily, Casey approaches George afterward, and all is forgiven as they finally start talking, frolicking, and even holding hands. Geez! It's about time. While smooching in a phone booth, Casey is tempted by a new guy who strolls up, but seems to read romantic implications in a nearby stoplight blinking, "Don't walk." The new version echoes the old scene by scene, except guess what -- they can't find a phone booth! And the stop light just has a red palm, which could mean "stop" or it could mean "are your hands red and chafed from jacking off?"
Both versions certainly have their charms. George Payne looks fantastic without his beard -- young, nubile, just ripe for the picking. While the sex is less explicit, it has the advantage of waves of nostalgia hitting you like Dolby SurroundSound. Chi Chi does his usual effective job with the sex scenes, and the cast is certainly more classically handsome. It is certainly a loving tribute. Both movies also have notable soundtracks. The original includes songs with lyrics like, "Little boy, little boy, won't you come and play with me? I will give you candy." You absolutely must hear it; it's a total scream from the perspective of thirty years later (and it's quite professionally done, actually.) Sharon Kane [ http://SharonKaneXXX.com ] is responsible for the new soundtrack, which includes some very nice danceable tunes, but is generally less amusing than the original.
Not only does this re-make pay homage to early porn history and revive a classic by Jerry Douglas, one of the mainstays of the industry; but it also may introduce a new generation to porn classics of yore. Perhaps "Song of the Loon" will be next, re-made as a fetish video by Titan.
The DVD version includes both full-length features (1972 and 2001 on one disc); photo gallery (broken down by model); easy-to-navigate chaptering (and a special cum-shots-only sub-menu); bonus DVD-ROM content (online photo galleries and trailers via Web browser and QuickTime player); and previews of various Channel 1 Releasing titles.
A DVD Review by The Porn Emperor