Friday, December 1, 2017

The Telephone Book (1971)

Director: Nelson Lyon

Writer: Nelson Lyon

Composer: Nathan Sassover

Starring: Sarah Kennedy, Norman Rose, James Harder, Jill Clayburgh, Ondine, Barry Morse, Ultra Violet, Geri Miller, Roger C. Carmel, William Hickey, Matthew Tobin, Jan Farrand, David Dozer, Lucy Lee Flippin, Dolph Sweet, Joan Ziehl, Margaret Brewster, Captain Haggerty, Marlene Willoughby

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  The story of a girl who falls in love with the world's greatest obscene phone call.

Plot:  The story of a day in the life of a lonely, sensitive, exhuberent, attractive, young woman. Her exploits, encounters, and frustrations as she attempts to find a "special" someone, a caller who has "class", as she puts it.



My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

You need to see this.  It's bonkers in only a way that was of the time it was made.  It's hilarious arthouse perversion that probably exists for some higher purpose but for the viewer it doesn't matter.  The strangeness of the trailer is exactly what the film delivers.  It's almost a surreal meditation on the norms of sexuality.  It pokes fun at sex and has fun with it.  I'll never look at Barry Morse the same way again.  I didn't even recognize him as the world's greatest stag film star. 


That's position 72, by the way.  If you don't recognize the names Dolph Sweet, Roger C. Carmel and William Hickey then you'll surely recognize their faces instantly.  This is a well-made underground picture that knows exactly what its doing and it knows exactly where its tongue is.



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