Is There Sex After Death? is a 1971 mockumentary and mondo film.
| Is There Sex After Death? | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Alan Abel Jeanne Abel |
| Written by | Alan Abel Jeanne Abel Buck Henry |
| Produced by | Alan Abel Jeanne Abel Michael Rothschild |
| Starring | Buck Henry Robert Downey, Sr. Marshall Efron Holly Woodlawn Jim Moran Earle Doud Larry Wolf |
| Cinematography | Arthur Albert Gerald Cotts |
| Edited by | Jeanne Abel |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
editDriving through New York City in his Sexmobile, Dr. Harrison Rogers of the Bureau of Sexological Investigation searches out luminary figures in the world of sex. According to the movie, the answer to the title question is: "No, only affection".
Cast
edit- Alan Abel as Dr. Rogers
- Buck Henry as Dr. Louise Manos
- Marshall Efron as Vince Domino
- Holly Woodlawn as herself
- Robert Downey Sr. as himself
- Jim Moran as Dr. Elevenike
- James Randi as Seance Medium
- Earle Doud as Merkin
- Larry Wolf as Sexbowl Announcer/Seance Spirit
- Mink Stole as Dominatrix
- James Dixon as Richard Nixon
- Kathie Fitch as Clinic Patient (credited as Kathy Everett)
Reception
editFilm critic Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised the film: "The movie, is critically speaking, anarchic, superficially dirty, often crude, and so exuberant that it sometimes doesn't know when to stop. It is also, more than half of the time, very, very funny."[1] In a positive review for San Antonio Express-News, Ron White highlights the comedy, writing that the film "is funny for true comedic reasons—satire, the juxtaposition of the incongruous, and dead-pan treatments of the ridiculous."[2] Writer Mary Rita Kurycki of Democrat and Chronicle praised the satirical and comedic elements but wrote that parts of the film are a "bore."[3] Similarly, Martin Malina of the Montreal Star wrote that it is "so outrageously funny that I cannot help but recommend it."[4]
Controversy
editOn March 12, 1980, the ON TV pay channel aired the film on WXON (channel 20, now WMYD) in Detroit. It was scheduled to air again ten days later, but it did not. WXON station manager Aben Johnson, who was alerted to the film's content (including sex and nudity) by a station employee during its original airing, decided against showing it again, substituting Saturday Night Fever instead. ON TV's policy at the time forbade showing any films with an X rating, for adults only; Is There Sex After Death? was apparently not given a rating by the Motion Picture Association of America at all until 1975, when it was granted an 'R' certificate, making the movie seemingly within ON's standards. Still, WXON never showed the film again on its ON TV affiliate, which closed in 1983.[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Canby, Vincent (June 11, 1972). "Sex After Death?". Quad-City Times. p. 55. Retrieved June 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ White, Ron (June 13, 1972). "'Is There Sex After Death?' Is Good Sex Comedy". San Antonio Express-News. p. 18. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ Kurycki, Mary Rita (April 23, 1976). "'Sex After Death' a 'dirty' satire". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 21. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ Malina, Martin (May 5, 1973). "Is There Sex After Death?". Montreal Star. p. 35. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ Stoehr, Chris (March 26, 1980). "The movie was too sexy for Channel 20". Detroit Free Press. p. 8D. Retrieved January 24, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.