I recommend that fans of the late, Great Harry Reems track down this obscure relic from the beginning of the 70's Adult film craze. Here is Reems at the beginning of his career, sans mustache but still possessing that on screen charisma that would carry him through his illustrious showbiz career. "Time To Love' is one of those "real movie' porn flicks; it has a solid story, good camera work, and a respectable budget. Basically a morality tale, it's purpose is to glorify the institution of marriage and monogamy. And although the idea of a porn film praising marriage and monogamy is utterly bizarre, it works. This is a thoroughly enjoyable "buddy movie," that begins at a college reunion, where two college friends, Ned and John, get together after 10 years and compare notes on their lives. As they wander around NYC they visit restaurants and bars while they reminisce about their past and current lives. Ned has become an amazingly successful tv news anchorman, whose celebrity status has allowed him a life of international travel, and an endless supply of bed mates. Flashbacks of Swinging London and Japan of the 1960's are used to great effect, and they blend seamlessly with the erotic scenes, of which there are enough, but not as many as you would expect. Harry Reems plays John, the "nice guy," down to Earth, and happily married with two cute kids, and an ideal home life. Reems played a similar character in Andy Milligan's "Fleshpot On 42nd Street" a few years later. The first half of this charming flick covers the past lives of both guys, and the second half is rooted firmly in the present, when John invites Ned to his home out on Staten Island. At this point the movie switches gears, and becomes even better. After bragging about the "wonderful life of a bachelor." Ned begins to doubt his life choices as he sees his buddy, at home with his beautiful wife, surrounded by their kids, and all things domestic. The final erotic scene between Reems and his wife is the centerpiece of the film. it's quite a beautiful scene, filmed artfully, and scored with music that is haunting and romantic. It's a very long sex scene, but never feels exploitative or "dirty" at all..something that is unheard of within the Adult film genre. "Time To Love" is such an odd obscurity, and a true relic of the genre. In 1970 NYC, there were hippies gathered in Washington Square Park, Vietnam was in full swing, and the transition from the happy and peace loving 60's, to the darker, more pessimistic 1970's, was taking place in every major city..and this film captures that time in a fascinating way. I think this is an utterly fascinating movie, for many different reasons. Recommended to anyone interested in the "Golden Age" of Adult film, as this is definitely one of the truly obscure titles. Also for Reems fanatics, this is his first starring role, and he is fantastic in it. This must surely be a collectors item.
2 Reviews
Eye-opening "real movie" from porn's early days
lor_15 July 2011
Before porn films became routine and perfunctory assemblages of same-old shots & positions, there was interesting experimentation afoot, best exemplified by the excellent but forgotten A TIME TO LOVE. Filmmakers Harold Kovner and Jay Campbell were on to something but, alas, porn soon took another boring route instead.
I've been watching a lot of prehistoric porn lately, including loops of course, but mainly 1970/71 features, when big-screen XXX was in its infancy. The 1-day wonders can usually be identified by their abbreviated running times (generally under 1 hour), while an ambitious project clocks in closer to real feature length, 83 minutes for this one.
The actors do not ad lib, but follow a real script for a change, telling the story of college buddies on the football field reuniting 10 years after graduation to compare lifestyles and reminisce.
Ned Bangor (well-played by Howard Blakey, presumably a stage actor given his few film or TV credits) has become a celebrity TV news journalist, host of the UBS series "Man of the World". His buddy John (Harry Reems, sans mustache) is an account executive at an advertising firm specializing in TV commercial campaigns.
The dichotomy is that Ned is a confirmed bachelor, boasting of his globe-hopping sexual conquests, which we see in a series of well-staged flashbacks. John, on the other hand, is happily married to Margo (gorgeous Tina Russell, the film's star even though only appearing in limited scenes near the end) with two kids. The kids' roles are surprisingly well-acted and strictly heartwarming, hardly typical of XXX. Film's title theme of "everybody needs love" is clearly pretty sappy for a porn audience, but sincerely expressed here, without any hint of sarcasm or satire.
Indie production is clearly low-budget but feels like an epic compared to contemporaneous porn. That's because the filmmakers make excellent use of (obvious) stock footage, keep the story moving, and while sex takes place on cheap sets there are enough exterior scenes to avoid the dreaded claustrophobia of the genre. Even such niceties (usually missing) of the cast showcasing clean feet throughout add to the professionalism, as does well-recorded direct sound dialog.
A long cast roster of actresses gives the porn fan variety, though perhaps the film failed with its target patrons (and exhibitors) by lacking the vast quantities of XXX footage soon to become de rigeur post DEEP THROAT's success. It plays relentlessly just like a real film, with relatively short hardcore scenes integrated into the action.
Overall it's an entertaining and even thoughtful treatment of the choices people make as they mature, thousands of miles from the simple-minded "sex is all" message of porn. Two sequences detract, however, from the overall effect.
One misjudged segment has Blakey boasting of his conquests around the world on assignment. With library music lifted from the Findlays' 60s softcore epics, we are treated in short order to stock footage of Paris, London, Rome, Berlin and even Mao's China. Quickie montages show Blakey humping a beauty in every port, and director Kovner goes way overboard by including party footage from the archive of Twiggy, George Harrison and John Lennon in late '60s regalia! This elaborate section of the film doesn't work at all.
Worse yet is a WTF? final reel sequence showing a segment of Blakey's TV show. He's on a soapbox, railing against our consumer society, manipulative advertising that gets us to buy planned-obsolescence products and other holier-than-thou pronouncements which I agree with 100% some 40 years later, but which come off preachy and counter-productive (whether this was a real or porn film makes no difference). The auteur's plea for conservation, preserving the environment and moving away from America's traditional worship of "competition" is laudable but laughable, as we watch over five minutes of stock footage including another archive cameo featuring, who else but Ralph Nader.
Finale has Tina and Reems fixing Blakey up with her beautiful (natch) sister Lorraine (unidentified actress in a non-sex role) for a happy ending.
This all plays better than it sounds, and Tina Russell is styled and made up to look the most beautiful of her career. Her loving sex scene with hubby Reems is indeed worth the price of admission. Earlier Reems has a flashback depicting when he "almost cheated on" his wife, with a tall & beautiful patrician woman (Tallie Cochran) picked up in a bar. The script's perhaps Clintonian stretch here has Reems getting a blob and reciprocating with cunnilingus with Tallie, but just as he mounts her he thinks of wifey and splits. So just as Monica Lewinsky was to learn two decades later, in 1971 porn oral sex doesn't count!
Given the uplifting and strictly positive message of the project, Kovner omits cum shots entirely, rightly reckoning that they would destroy the carefully built up point of the sex scenes.
On the other hand, it is just that sign of integrity which perhaps doomed A TIME TO LOVE to obscurity, and meant an early end to Kovner & Campbell's XXX careers. Forty years of hindsight proves that while experimental (READ: pretentious) porn is still of interest, the world of gonzo, wall-to-wall sex or idiotic stabs at "comedy" (XXX satire junk) has fully dominated the business. There is certainly no room for a heartfelt, even sentimental offering like this.
Another sign of ambition is a full-fledged musical score, including folk ballads (like "Love Is the Thing" which bookends the picture) and satirical songs, credited to John Braden. Film's 1971 milieu is cemented by NYC theater marquees displayed on screen, including the Paris Theatre showing Lewis Gilbert's romantic hit FRIENDS (famed for its Elton John score), Robert Kaylor's DERBY, Don Siegel's THE BEGUILED (paired on a 42nd St. double bill with a reissue of Bryan Forbes' DEADFALL). I loved all these films back in first run, and wish that I had been privileged to see A TIME TO LOVE theatrically in 1971 too.
I've been watching a lot of prehistoric porn lately, including loops of course, but mainly 1970/71 features, when big-screen XXX was in its infancy. The 1-day wonders can usually be identified by their abbreviated running times (generally under 1 hour), while an ambitious project clocks in closer to real feature length, 83 minutes for this one.
The actors do not ad lib, but follow a real script for a change, telling the story of college buddies on the football field reuniting 10 years after graduation to compare lifestyles and reminisce.
Ned Bangor (well-played by Howard Blakey, presumably a stage actor given his few film or TV credits) has become a celebrity TV news journalist, host of the UBS series "Man of the World". His buddy John (Harry Reems, sans mustache) is an account executive at an advertising firm specializing in TV commercial campaigns.
The dichotomy is that Ned is a confirmed bachelor, boasting of his globe-hopping sexual conquests, which we see in a series of well-staged flashbacks. John, on the other hand, is happily married to Margo (gorgeous Tina Russell, the film's star even though only appearing in limited scenes near the end) with two kids. The kids' roles are surprisingly well-acted and strictly heartwarming, hardly typical of XXX. Film's title theme of "everybody needs love" is clearly pretty sappy for a porn audience, but sincerely expressed here, without any hint of sarcasm or satire.
Indie production is clearly low-budget but feels like an epic compared to contemporaneous porn. That's because the filmmakers make excellent use of (obvious) stock footage, keep the story moving, and while sex takes place on cheap sets there are enough exterior scenes to avoid the dreaded claustrophobia of the genre. Even such niceties (usually missing) of the cast showcasing clean feet throughout add to the professionalism, as does well-recorded direct sound dialog.
A long cast roster of actresses gives the porn fan variety, though perhaps the film failed with its target patrons (and exhibitors) by lacking the vast quantities of XXX footage soon to become de rigeur post DEEP THROAT's success. It plays relentlessly just like a real film, with relatively short hardcore scenes integrated into the action.
Overall it's an entertaining and even thoughtful treatment of the choices people make as they mature, thousands of miles from the simple-minded "sex is all" message of porn. Two sequences detract, however, from the overall effect.
One misjudged segment has Blakey boasting of his conquests around the world on assignment. With library music lifted from the Findlays' 60s softcore epics, we are treated in short order to stock footage of Paris, London, Rome, Berlin and even Mao's China. Quickie montages show Blakey humping a beauty in every port, and director Kovner goes way overboard by including party footage from the archive of Twiggy, George Harrison and John Lennon in late '60s regalia! This elaborate section of the film doesn't work at all.
Worse yet is a WTF? final reel sequence showing a segment of Blakey's TV show. He's on a soapbox, railing against our consumer society, manipulative advertising that gets us to buy planned-obsolescence products and other holier-than-thou pronouncements which I agree with 100% some 40 years later, but which come off preachy and counter-productive (whether this was a real or porn film makes no difference). The auteur's plea for conservation, preserving the environment and moving away from America's traditional worship of "competition" is laudable but laughable, as we watch over five minutes of stock footage including another archive cameo featuring, who else but Ralph Nader.
Finale has Tina and Reems fixing Blakey up with her beautiful (natch) sister Lorraine (unidentified actress in a non-sex role) for a happy ending.
This all plays better than it sounds, and Tina Russell is styled and made up to look the most beautiful of her career. Her loving sex scene with hubby Reems is indeed worth the price of admission. Earlier Reems has a flashback depicting when he "almost cheated on" his wife, with a tall & beautiful patrician woman (Tallie Cochran) picked up in a bar. The script's perhaps Clintonian stretch here has Reems getting a blob and reciprocating with cunnilingus with Tallie, but just as he mounts her he thinks of wifey and splits. So just as Monica Lewinsky was to learn two decades later, in 1971 porn oral sex doesn't count!
Given the uplifting and strictly positive message of the project, Kovner omits cum shots entirely, rightly reckoning that they would destroy the carefully built up point of the sex scenes.
On the other hand, it is just that sign of integrity which perhaps doomed A TIME TO LOVE to obscurity, and meant an early end to Kovner & Campbell's XXX careers. Forty years of hindsight proves that while experimental (READ: pretentious) porn is still of interest, the world of gonzo, wall-to-wall sex or idiotic stabs at "comedy" (XXX satire junk) has fully dominated the business. There is certainly no room for a heartfelt, even sentimental offering like this.
Another sign of ambition is a full-fledged musical score, including folk ballads (like "Love Is the Thing" which bookends the picture) and satirical songs, credited to John Braden. Film's 1971 milieu is cemented by NYC theater marquees displayed on screen, including the Paris Theatre showing Lewis Gilbert's romantic hit FRIENDS (famed for its Elton John score), Robert Kaylor's DERBY, Don Siegel's THE BEGUILED (paired on a 42nd St. double bill with a reissue of Bryan Forbes' DEADFALL). I loved all these films back in first run, and wish that I had been privileged to see A TIME TO LOVE theatrically in 1971 too.
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