I always like seeing the husband/wife team of Pete Dawson and Jan Davis, ever since I saw them in an interview short subject talking about their (then-current) career performing together, in anything "except bestiality". HARD KNOCKS is a fine example of their work, paired with the inimitable young thing Suzanne Fields.
Film opens with Fields humping in many positions, with varied lousy music on the soundtrack. Her feet are dirty, a bad omen for the movie, and it's strictly soft-core, early in her career.
Jan shows hubby Pete a sex book displaying different positions, and they improvise dialog, stimulated by the illustrations to make love. We see Jan in a split-beaver closeup and Pete nearly goes hardcore, but no such luck.
The next day when Pete comes home from work they try out more positions from the book, with the camera focused on Jan's nice breasts (another indicator that this is not a hardcore project).
Her sister June (Fields) is coming to visit them but Pete objects at first. Suzanne is introduced wearing headphones as a college student, planning to stay 2 weeks on Easter vacation. She sleeps all alone on a couch, masturbating, inter-cut with the married couple humping in their bedroom.
Switch is that Pete has trouble performing with his sister-in-law present in the house (not too credible, especially since the fans have seen Aussie Pete Dawson deliver many a money shot on screen, but I guess that's hindsight). He asks Jan to "do it quietly"; meanwhile the closeups of Fields' wide-open vagina as she masturbates constitute pretty strong content for soft-core.
Pete comes home for lunch while his wife's away, and Fields seduces him in a surprisingly romantic sequence - replete with waves crashing on the rocks outside, and the duo framed in silhouette in front of a picture window with a blow job that looks real but you can't actually see the payoff. Their doggy-style sex is also in silhouette, with impressive panoramas of the cliff-side mansion location.
Fields' boyfriend Frank visits, to take her to a movie, and Pete discusses the success of a sex movie named "Pink Elephant". When they return home a drunken Laura (Jan Davis) comes on to Frank (who she calls by the wrong name at one point) and succeeds in seducing him.
They hump right in front of the others, so Pete has sex with Suzanne again. Frank joins in for a threesome. Jan starts masturbating and complains, so Suzanne joins her for incestuous lesbian sex. This mini-orgy ends cornily with those waves gothically crashing against the rocks outside.
Film's coda has Jan at her mirror overdosing on pills, passing out in the bathroom. Pete embraces his dying wife and there is pretentious narration ending the film morbidly.
Quite an odd concoction, mixing pure amateurism with some artistry. As a curio of the era when soft-core was morphing into hardcore it merits viewing.
Film opens with Fields humping in many positions, with varied lousy music on the soundtrack. Her feet are dirty, a bad omen for the movie, and it's strictly soft-core, early in her career.
Jan shows hubby Pete a sex book displaying different positions, and they improvise dialog, stimulated by the illustrations to make love. We see Jan in a split-beaver closeup and Pete nearly goes hardcore, but no such luck.
The next day when Pete comes home from work they try out more positions from the book, with the camera focused on Jan's nice breasts (another indicator that this is not a hardcore project).
Her sister June (Fields) is coming to visit them but Pete objects at first. Suzanne is introduced wearing headphones as a college student, planning to stay 2 weeks on Easter vacation. She sleeps all alone on a couch, masturbating, inter-cut with the married couple humping in their bedroom.
Switch is that Pete has trouble performing with his sister-in-law present in the house (not too credible, especially since the fans have seen Aussie Pete Dawson deliver many a money shot on screen, but I guess that's hindsight). He asks Jan to "do it quietly"; meanwhile the closeups of Fields' wide-open vagina as she masturbates constitute pretty strong content for soft-core.
Pete comes home for lunch while his wife's away, and Fields seduces him in a surprisingly romantic sequence - replete with waves crashing on the rocks outside, and the duo framed in silhouette in front of a picture window with a blow job that looks real but you can't actually see the payoff. Their doggy-style sex is also in silhouette, with impressive panoramas of the cliff-side mansion location.
Fields' boyfriend Frank visits, to take her to a movie, and Pete discusses the success of a sex movie named "Pink Elephant". When they return home a drunken Laura (Jan Davis) comes on to Frank (who she calls by the wrong name at one point) and succeeds in seducing him.
They hump right in front of the others, so Pete has sex with Suzanne again. Frank joins in for a threesome. Jan starts masturbating and complains, so Suzanne joins her for incestuous lesbian sex. This mini-orgy ends cornily with those waves gothically crashing against the rocks outside.
Film's coda has Jan at her mirror overdosing on pills, passing out in the bathroom. Pete embraces his dying wife and there is pretentious narration ending the film morbidly.
Quite an odd concoction, mixing pure amateurism with some artistry. As a curio of the era when soft-core was morphing into hardcore it merits viewing.
