I don't know what happened to Red Ezra's career in recent years, but I was a big fan of his 10 or so years ago, when he was making ambitious features like SWEETWATER and HEARTS AND MINDS. ROADBLOCK is just a simple, underachieving video (resembling his mentor Michael Raven's ADRENALINE).
The setting is the same, small-town America that's unchanged by modernity. Jessica Drake was the hapless waitress hoping to leave her diner job forever in Raven's take on NATURAL BORN KILLERS and this time Ezra has Stephanie Swift in a near-identical role. She narrates the familiar tale, loyal to her boyfriend Randy Spears, whose run-ins with the law (in particular Sheriff Herschel Savage, very effective in a character role) land him in jail.
He's broken out while being transported by fellow inmate Julian, who has the lovely (then and now) Julia Ann as his accomplice. What would normally lead Spears and Swift to a tragic THEY LIVE BY NIGHT noir ending is twisted into a quickie happy ending which is utterly unconvincing.
That's the problem with ROADBLOCK - shooting on video in what amounts to a 5-day wonder Ezra was blessed with a superstar cast but opted for basically nonsensical sex scenes that subvert what might have been an interesting story line. He's made all sorts of videos over the years, generally well-shot and designed (by him) but this one takes the path of least resistance.
A very informative interview with Red (giving biographical info I appreciated) plus a "Making of" short subject on the DVD emerge as more interesting than the feature itself. For sexual content it has an outdoor (on the hood of their police cruiser) anal sex scene in 20 degree weather executed to perfection (and sloppy facial climax) by Fred Olen Ray's favorite team of Voodoo and Nicole Sheridan; Julia Ann memorably nude walking down the highway with hidden gun (pasted to her chest out of view) to distract the cops, later getting humped by Julian's massive dick; Swift masturbating with a product-plug dildo while watching a video of herself and b.f. Spears humping on a sex tape (yes, VHS); fellow waitress Asia Carrera (post- boobs enlargement surgery) humping Savage in the backseat of a cherry Red 1959 Caddy; lesbian action for Asia and Stephanie; guest star Kylie Ireland nearly unrecognizable wearing glasses as a newscaster blowing Savage; and a completely extraneous sex scene of lovely hotel maid Isabella Camille masturbating.
The setting is the same, small-town America that's unchanged by modernity. Jessica Drake was the hapless waitress hoping to leave her diner job forever in Raven's take on NATURAL BORN KILLERS and this time Ezra has Stephanie Swift in a near-identical role. She narrates the familiar tale, loyal to her boyfriend Randy Spears, whose run-ins with the law (in particular Sheriff Herschel Savage, very effective in a character role) land him in jail.
He's broken out while being transported by fellow inmate Julian, who has the lovely (then and now) Julia Ann as his accomplice. What would normally lead Spears and Swift to a tragic THEY LIVE BY NIGHT noir ending is twisted into a quickie happy ending which is utterly unconvincing.
That's the problem with ROADBLOCK - shooting on video in what amounts to a 5-day wonder Ezra was blessed with a superstar cast but opted for basically nonsensical sex scenes that subvert what might have been an interesting story line. He's made all sorts of videos over the years, generally well-shot and designed (by him) but this one takes the path of least resistance.
A very informative interview with Red (giving biographical info I appreciated) plus a "Making of" short subject on the DVD emerge as more interesting than the feature itself. For sexual content it has an outdoor (on the hood of their police cruiser) anal sex scene in 20 degree weather executed to perfection (and sloppy facial climax) by Fred Olen Ray's favorite team of Voodoo and Nicole Sheridan; Julia Ann memorably nude walking down the highway with hidden gun (pasted to her chest out of view) to distract the cops, later getting humped by Julian's massive dick; Swift masturbating with a product-plug dildo while watching a video of herself and b.f. Spears humping on a sex tape (yes, VHS); fellow waitress Asia Carrera (post- boobs enlargement surgery) humping Savage in the backseat of a cherry Red 1959 Caddy; lesbian action for Asia and Stephanie; guest star Kylie Ireland nearly unrecognizable wearing glasses as a newscaster blowing Savage; and a completely extraneous sex scene of lovely hotel maid Isabella Camille masturbating.