The 1980s and its teen sex comedies had huge box office returns, yet they also had a sense of uniformity with the same highs and lows across the board. You could rinse and repeat our review of the Last American Virgin, only changing slight details and actors. Over the years, teen sex comedy has evolved to be indistinguishable from gross-out comedy. Heading back to the halcyon days, when these films exploded across the imaginations of teenagers and box offices, the one property that ruled the roost was Bob Clark’s Porky’s.
Set during the 1950s, Porky’s sees a group of Florida high schoolers help a friend, Pee Wee (Dan Monahan), lose his virginity – a trial that leads them to the titular club. After being kicked out and humiliated, Mickey (Roger Wilson) takes it upon himself to reap revenge on the sleazy nightclub owner and his redneck sheriff brother. The rest of the gang – Billy, Tommy, Tim and Meat – mill around town and campus.
Despite the loose narrative using revenge as its through-line, Porky’s does not have much of a story to tell. Instead, it feels closer to a TV spin-off than a movie; with its structure alike that of a TV show extended to feature length. The way the world works and the character’s relationship screams TV show. Bob Clark’s film feels as if it’s coasting on the success of an earlier iteration – the script implies that we should know these characters and their quirks. With this, the film moves from one comedic set-up to the next with next to no connective tissue. Now, being honest – people aren’t members of Porky’s cult because of the story (or lack thereof). What Porky’s is remembered for is that generation seeing copious amounts of female flesh at a very young impressionable age. The nudity on display is tamely confined only to one scene in the girl’s shower, a scene of sexual awakening for teenage boys across the Western world.
As a modern viewer, the film will fall on nonplussed eyes, but to those who first saw this in their teenage years, there is nothing I can say to take those rose-tinted glasses away.
Meanwhile, the comedy may be funny in short bursts, but those laughs are repeated over and over to the breaking point. Whether the prank call, the teachers’ meeting or lassie, every time a comedic foothold is found, Porky’s keeps on repeating the same punch lines over and over which ultimately begs the question – was it ever funny to begin with?
To repeat the same conclusion from The Last American Virgin: Porky’s is a film that can only exist within nostalgia. As a modern viewer, the film will fall on nonplussed eyes, but to those who first saw this in their teenage years, there is nothing I can say to take those rose-tinted glasses away.
To those who experienced Porky’s in the 80s, this will be the most important part of the review – the presentation and package. As has come to be the rule for Arrow Video and their restorations, the presentation of the film sees it look its best with clean lines and bleeding edge clarity. The extras aren’t as bounteous as the A-star Arrow production; instead, a degree of that budget has been spent on a rather polished Steelbook edition. All that remains for the extras is an interview with Bob Clark and an affectionate insight by Mr Skin into the heyday of the 80s teen sex comedy. But as is ever with titles like this, this has a ready-made audience waiting with bated breath to snap up titles like this, critical acclaim or not – it doesn’t make any difference.
PORKY’S IS OUT ON ARROW VIDEO BLU-RAY
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