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The Porn Shop on 7th Avenue. aka 'Il Porno shop della settima strada' (1979)

Dir: Joe D'Amato

Two small time crooks rob a store under the protection of a local Mobster.

Fleeing they take the female manager (Anne Marie Clementi) of a Mob owned porn shop hostage and with a 3rd, Black, accomplice called Sammy hide out in a remote house.
The house though is inhabited by 3 squatters, 2 young Women, one of whom is still a virgin (played by the petit Brigitte Petronio) and a young man (Christian Borromeo, who Euro buffs will recognise from "Tenebre").

The robbers hold the squatter's hostage and soon all manner of sexual complications arise…

Scripted by his regular co-conspirator George Eastman (Luigi Montefiori) D'Amato's peculiar mixture of cheap 70's crime flick and porno scuzz is rather under-whelming and it's only the location shooting and the delightfully un-pc trappings that make it of interest.

This review is done off the original 'soft' version of the film. As with many of his movies Joe D'Amato shot 3 or 4 hardcore sex inserts with body doubles to make the sex stronger for different markets.
These would indeed help peak the interest, but not much would be gained. Certainly not enough to make it a better film.

Anyway, the acting is actually pretty solid from all concerned, with special nods to Ms Clementi and Ms Petronio, but overall this is a slowly paced and rather lacklustre piece of filmmaking.
The sex is mildly erotic with plenty of full frontal female nudity and 2 pretty strong masturbation scenes with Petronio that certainly push into hardcore during several shots. The scene where she lies on a pool table and has balls lightly hit between her legs to strike her panties is also a highlight.
But mostly it's your typical bump 'n' grind with only an early lesbian 'peep' film really delivering with it's close-up mutual masturbation and more teasing oral.

As with most of his films D'Amato slows the film to a crawl too often and, like he did in "Absurd", stops the film dead in it's tracks to play a bit of Americana. In "Absurd" the film stopped for sports on TV, here it's an old cartoon that's either shown full screen on the TV or continually playing loudly in the background for no reason at all.

Of the robbers, one is hunky and handsome and soon gets to make the beast with two backs with their hostage, while the 'creepy' robber plays very much like the kind of weasel character John 'Radice' Morghen would essay in many films, and is given lines like "I like the blonde one. Let me do some dirty stuff to her and I'll be good, I promise".

But it's the Black accomplice that provides the real un-pc entertainment here.
Despite holding her hostage, and forcibly stripping and feeling her up at one point, Brigitte Petronio's character takes a liking to Sammy!
And after he has schooled her in the pleasures of receiving oral (keeping her virginity intact, but showing her that sex can still be groovy baby) and masturbated him (as she asks if it's okay and that she hopes she is not useless at it!) she actually thanks the guy for showing her the joys of sex, breaking her out of her frigid attitude to a man actually touching her and for giving her blessed relief!
An attitude that would never see the light of day in today's climate. But if that was not dodgy enough we have the dialogue when she actually thanks him. It's truly jaw dropping. Smiling, the blonde petit girl says, "You don't know how much I owe you. Nigger" (!)
Added to this the fact that Anne Marie Clementi's hostage also finds sweaty joy in the arms of her kidnapper and you have a film that is so much a product of the 70's you can't help but smile at its crude balls!

But the real reasons this film is a treat for Grindhouse fans are the New York location shots around 42nd Street at it's height of grime, as the 70's closed and the last breath of fetid air escaped it's lungs into the 80's as total self destruction led to the bulldozers moving in, and the 'Disney Store' and the posh restaurants taking over.

Here in all their 'end of days' splendour are various rundown Burlesque theatres, pawnshops and porn shops, gun stores and fast food joints…and of course the marquee Grindhouses and flea pits.
These cinema's also highlight the fascinating range and 'repeat' programming that made 42nd Street such a bizarre pick 'n' mix for any film fan brave enough to take a trip through it's neon and fluorescent light lit sidewalks..

"Porn Shop on 7th Avenue" was released in 1979, but most certainly seems to have been filmed during late 1978 as we have '78 Studio product like "Foul Play" and the John Carpenter scripted "The Eyes of Laura Mars" being screened.
But alongside these more mainstream titles (some on double bills with them) we find a veritable treasure trove of cult/trash and porn.
As the camera pans from a car around the streets we have such titles as Pekinpah's 1974's "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", 1976 hardcore porn flick "The Love Slaves", 1974 trashy killer shark soap opera "Tintorera", 1977's hardcore "7 into Snowy" and the Lee Van Cleef's 1974 Spaghetti Western/Martial Arts oddity "The Stranger and the Gunfighter". All along the same damn street!

Great times. And if the actual film is nothing much to write home about, the lovely footage of that bygone Grindhouse era most certainly is!