3 A.M. (1975) User Reviews

Classic of the genre!

[mex_amcleaning2007 · 7/10 · 9 June 2020]

Gary Graver (sic. Robert McCallum) was one of the finest directors ever to work in hardcore film. A student of the great Orson Welles, Graver always brought a heir of sophistication and characterization to his films which few other directors could approach. This is his first film and is is his best.

The film opens with a slow pan and then zoom into a beach house in the dead of night. As we enter a room, Kate (Georgina Spelvin) begins her narration. She is the sister of Elaine, a married woman whose husband Mark owns the house. She explains that her sister has two children with her husband, Ronnie and Stacey (both of whom are to be supposed to be in their mid teens). As Elaine and her husband have sex (which is audible to everyone else in the house), Kate sits awake in her bed and explains (in voice-over) that she has been having an affair with her brother in-law for many years. Ronnie and Stacey are also awake, nervously listening to their parents lovemaking which quickly turns into an argument culminating with Mark saying that he's fed up with his life and needs to get away (i.e. he's gonna leave for good). Kate runs after him (unknown to everyone else in the house) and follows him to his prize boat on which she asks him to to go away with her. He says no and in a momentary fit of rage she hits him on the head with a bottle of wine, knocking him unconscious and sending him tumbling overboard. Quickly jumping in the water after him, Kate quickly realizes that he is gone for good and returns to the house both grief stricken and terrified.

The film then proceeds to chronicle how each family member copes with the loss of a loved one. All the while, Kate keeps her secret as her own struggles with guilt and loss are quickly catching up to her...

Although director Graver had worked as both cinematographer and director on a few softcore films prior to this endeavor, his move to hardcore marks his true transition from noteworthy cinematographer to a truly visionary director.

Graver skillfully crafts a very moving and at times downright depressing tale of an isolated family's descent into near madness. Perfectly cast with Georgina Spelvin playing a heroine and a villainess simultaneously, Graver makes sure never to directly cast stones at the actions of any of his characters, no matter how disgusting and evil they might be. In fact, despite her malicious deeds, Spelvin is almost made out as a pitiful woman rather than an evil one.

The three other principle cast members, Charles Hooper (Ronnie) Clair Dia (Stacey) Rhonda Gallard (Elaine) are also cast to perfection and each brings a sense of believability and desperation to their roles which makes their individual stories all the more affecting.

Although taught by Orson Welles, Graver seems to draw more heavily on Ingmar Bergman throughout this film. From the cool, foggy beach on which the film takes place, to the constant feelings of both isolation and claustrophobia, to even the cinematography, Graver's nods to Bergman are apparent from beginning to end.

It's somewhat hard to pin down a direct philosophy or "deeper meaning" contained within this film as there appear to be a few. For one, Graver attempts to show the effects of living in an isolated world where secrets, no matter how well concealed, can really stay buried for ever. Characters make frequent mention of the physical walls of the house being unable to keep sound from traveling to everyone inside of it. From the opening sex scene and argument which is heard by everyone, to Ronnie remarking to Kate "Don't you know how sound travels in this house?" and "I heard you crying in your room last night," and even Kate's final act which is eavesdropped on. Graver also makes a strong attempt to examine the sense of loss and internal guilt felt by each family member when Mark is killed. Through this, Ronnie is established as easily the strongest character, yet even he is shown to have his faults. One particularly interesting sequence involves Stacey attempting to rebuff what she felt was her father's preference for her brother. Her approach is direct as she flat out tells her brother "You might have thought dad loved you more but you're wrong; he loved us both equally." It is soon revealed that despite her seemingly jealous attitude towards her brother, she is actually looking at him as almost a replacement for her father.

Photographically, 3 A.M. is near perfect, with much attention payed to skillful composition and pitch perfect lighting. The script and dialog never misses, and the excellent cast truly do bring "Tony Trelos'" brilliant script to life. The music, a stirring mixture of atmospheric original and classical pieces, perfectly enhances the mood of any scene and is used to great affect.

Although better known for his later efforts such as V The Hot One and Amanda By Night, 3 A.M. is easily the best film Gary Graver ever directed and one of the top 10 American hardcore films of all time.

Good Enough To Make You Wish It Were Better

[ascheland · 6/10 · 20 January 2019]

I learned of "3 a.m." from the documentary "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead," during which it was revealed Orson Welles assisted Gary Graver -- Welles' cinematographer for "The Other Side of the Wind" as well as directing "3 a.m." under his Robert McCallum moniker -- in editing one of its sex scenes so Graver could get back to work on "Wind."

That the director of "Citizen Kane" helped edit a hardcore movie is a juicy morsel of gossip, but it's not the sole reason to see this movie. Made at the height of the porno chic era, "3 a.m." plays more like a domestic drama than a sex film, which is to say it's more of an adult film than a trashy porno movie. The axis on which the movie's story turns is Kate (Georgina Spelvin), a spinster living with her sister Elaine (Rhonda Gellard) and who's been carrying on a 15-year affair with Elaine's husband, Mark (Frank Mauro, who resembles a more attractive Jamie Gillis). Then Mark is accidentally killed, leaving Kate trying to keep the surviving family -- including Elaine's "teen" kids Stacey (freckle-faced Clair Dia) and Ronnie (Charles Hopper) -- together and her secrets hidden. And also have sex in the shower with a random hippie chick (Judith Hamilton), who otherwise has nothing to do with the story.

I wasn't surprised to find out that the screenwriter of "3 a.m.," hiding behind the name Tony Trelos, was actually Tony Crechales, who also wrote the lurid drive-in thrillers "Blood Mania" and "Point of Terror" ("Tony Trelos" was even the name of Peter Carpenter's character in "Point of Terror"). Chances are "3 a.m." would've descended into camp, as "Blood Mania" and "Point of Terror" did, had Graver not had such a strong cast. While I wouldn't call a lot of the performers in "3 a.m." actors, most everyone involved delivers an effective performance. The one exception is Spelvin, who turns in a performance worthy of a mainstream movie. She may not have been the prettiest woman in adult film, but Spelvin is far and away its best actress, adept at drama and comedy, as well as being an energetic sexual performer. I can't imagine anyone else in the role of Kate and delivering as nuanced a performance as Spelvin gives here. A special mention should also be made of Sharon Thorpe as Vicki, the sexy neighbor who seduces Ronnie. Though Thorpe's role doesn't require much dramatic range, she's got a natural acting style and ably conveys sexual confidence. Her solo performance, as it were, for Ronnie's benefit is easily one of the movie's best sex scenes -- and I make that observation as a gay man.

But as good as "3 a.m." is, it can't fully overcome the constraints of its genre. There were several instances where I wished the non-sexual scenes were allowed to play out rather than abruptly ending in an effort to get to the next sex scene. Likewise, some of those sex scenes, like Spelvin and Hamilton going at in in the shower, seemed only to exist to fulfill a quota (girl-on-girl scene, check). It is an adult movie after all, so sex scenes for the sake of sex scenes are to be expected, and Spelvin and Hamilton are a lively pairing, but I wish Crechales or Graver could've found a cleverer way to introduce Hamilton other than resorting to a porn cliche. Conversely, enough attention is paid to storytelling that the sex scenes, many of which are either too brief or too repetitive to make much of an impression, get a short shrift. The movie's tagline should be amended to, "A film that will only intermittently turn you on." By the way, that Spelvin-Hamilton shower scene is reportedly the scene Welles helped Graver cut together. To be a fly on the wall during *that* editing session!

Ultimately, with all "3 a.m." has going for it -- strong acting, artful cinematography, a meatier if somewhat soapy story line -- it's only good enough to make you wish it were better. This is no forgotten porn classic, just a better-than-average adult film. Still, I'd seek out "3 a.m." before watching some of Graver's R-rated exploitation trash. Compared to "Texas Lightning," "3 a.m." is "Citizen Kane."

Overrated

[DjPatof · 5/10 · 7 August 2021]

This movie could have been so much more. Unfortunately it seems that it was so important to make it a porn movie that all the rest was cast aside.

The actors are pretty good, the scenic environment are beautiful, the directing and montage are top notch. But the movie just can't get over the "X" classification. If the producer could've get over the sex scene and assume the real possibility of what the subject was instead of focusing on what that subject could have shown.

I beg to ask a remake of this movie without removing the hard scene but focusing on the story instead. I think movies of the 2020's can middle the importance of a good story with the importance of sexuality in life. I may be wrong but I've always thought that cinema was suppose to be a mirror of reality and those scene shouldn't be a censored if they help the story.

Wake Up Call

[Nodriesrespect · 10/10 · 1 October 2009]

Making his entry into the explicit arena as sexploitation was rapidly going out of style, one of the prime purveyors thereof, the late Gary Graver a/k/a "Robert McCallum" parlayed his professionalism honed through many years of gainful employment in various capacities (most prestigious of which being cinematographer capable of turning compromised circumstances to artistic advantage) by filmmakers as diverse as Al Adamson and – as he rarely hesitated to point out, unfortunately to annoyance of some – Orson Welles.

Although he would soon stoop to conventional dramatic structure, Graver took a bold non-linear approach here, drifting in and out of past, present and possibly fantasy, reminiscent of the fresh and vibrant style of French art-house filmmakers like Alain Resnais and Jean-Luc Godard in their groundbreaking '60s efforts. Extensive voice-over narration – too often a last ditch attempt at straightening out an unfathomable plot but eloquently employed here – by Georgina Spelvin's doomed spinster Kate keeps an attentive audience clued in at all times.

Film's quizzical title refers to the exact moment when Kate's life careened out of control, ending an illicit nighttime rendezvous with brother in law Mark (one shot Frank Mauro) right after he has announced their inevitable break-up with an impulsive blow to the head which sends him hurtling over his boat's railing towards an apparently accidental death by drowning. Guilt eating away at her, the bereaved mistress tries to keep up appearances with the deceased's mourning relatives, with whom she has been living ever since the now teen-aged kids were born.

Characters interact believably in the compelling screenplay attributed to "Tony Trelos", actually a rare non-horror credit for Tony Crechales who penned such poverty row cult favorites as Curtis Harrington's THE KILLING KIND, Reginald Le Borg's "Grande Dame Guignol" PSYCHO SISTERS with a slumming Susan Strassberg and former science fiction siren Faith Domergue and George Edwards' unjustly overlooked THE ATTIC featuring a devastating turn by criminally underrated character actress Carrie Snodgress.

Apologists, i.e. those looking for "redeeming value" to justify their copious consumption of carnal cinema, have in the past poured great effort and conviction in defending many a competently crafted, thoroughly plotted if erotically lackluster porno. In his maiden full color penetration seafaring voyage, Graver shows how it's done, attributing equal weight to story and motivation, production excellence as well as intimate intensity. Rather than being a separate, easily isolated entity, each sex scene beautifully blends into the complex narrative and is executed wholly in character to boot.

Now is as good a time as any to comment favorably on truly flawless casting, each performer perfectly corresponding to supposed age group and physical type. The ever outstanding Spelvin and one shot wonder (more's the pity) Rhonda Gellard make entirely credible sisters, a lifetime of sibling rivalry apparent in their covertly hostile exchanges, the root perhaps also of Kate's less passionate rather than territorial involvement with the younger, prettier Elaine's spouse.

Baby-faced Charles Hooper, whose only other credit was a bit part in Graver's TANGERINE, convincingly portrays mixed-up son Ronnie, hormonal confusion making him an all too easy target for predatory next door neighbor abd disillusioned over the hill model Vicki (an uncharacteristically glamorous Sharon Thorpe whose confident sexuality barely masks a lonely heart), leaving him to seek solace in a textbook taboo situation with kid sister Stacey, most effectively essayed by the appealingly gawky Clair Dia. Film's treatment of incest is exemplary, not blindly condemning but thoughtfully exploring individual circumstances that might lead up to such a transgression.

Apart from writing and acting, another notable asset is the deserted, out of season beach setting, almost a character in its own right and definitely of influence on people's behavior. Stunning cinematography by Michael Stringer, an esteemed hold-over from Graver's simulated days who went on to shoot Greydon Clark's endearingly ludicrous LAMBADA : THE FORBIDDEN DANCE, makes the movie's sense of dread and foreboding completely palpable.

Eclectic soundtrack is credited to Dutch(?)-sounding guitarist Peter Van Den Beemt but contains several familiar library tracks along with excerpts from avant-garde luminary Pierre Henry's lauded "La Reine Verte" album, most indelibly during a searing sexual episode involving Kate's soothing shower intruded upon by an unnamed, possibly imaginary (subsequently symptomatic of the lead character's encroaching frustration) hippie chick looking for a phone, made flesh by Spelvin's real life lover Judith Hamilton.

Rounding out the cast is the potential buyer of the boat who ends up making love to the emotionally crushed Elaine instead, Bob Rose, a fly by night stud whose most high profile work was playing male lead in Harold Lee's ORIENTAL TREATMENT and supporting Nancy Hoffman in Kirdy Stevens' sleeper LITTLE ME AND MARLA STRANGELOVE.

3 AM represents that extreme rarity, the kind of film the genre's detractors routinely claim is "too good for porn", which they of course intend to pass off as high praise. It's true that the movie ranks head and shoulders above most of its competition in the fornication film field, both in terms of ambition and the successful realization thereof, placing it in pole position with the likes of Gerard Damiano's DEVIL IN MISS JONES and Radley Metzger's OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN among the industry's few genuinely untouchable classics entirely worthy of their reputation.