User Reviews

I mentioned the video shoot on the Header line for this junker because star Kay Parker made great movies ("Taboo" the greatest) but when cheap video production came to the fore she was grinding out junk like everyone else. Poorly directed by erstwhile ace cameraman Jack Remy (that's the Peter Principle for you), "Lorelei" is typical crap from its producer L.M. Burton, who made many an all-Black-cast stinker back in the day.

Kay in the title role is a successful lingerie fashion designer, and the meager plot concerns industrial espionage, a topic far better covered in the hit porn series "United Colors of Ass". Billy Dee is to steal her designs at the best of his Gay partner, very poorly played by R. Bolla, in what I hoped (in vain) would be a NonSex role in the manner of latter-day Mike Horner appearances. Alas, after doing some clichéd effete stuff like keeping his pinky raised artificially while holding a coffee cup, Bolla unfortunately joins Dee in a threesome finale with Parker, in which following the custom of Adult Cinema the boys do not touch each other, Bolla instantly turning straight to help service the busty superstar.

Not much else happens here, and the big-deal poolside fashion show is merely a chance to inject several eye-candy soft-core models (Terri Morgan, Yolanda Green and Scarlet) into the cast. Their hardcore equivalents like Sondra Stillman/Lois Ayres have all been far better elsewhere.

It seems director Jack Remy and writer Patti Rhodes were trying to capitalize on their more successful Ladies in Lace. What worse could happen but everything! No stars are in the lead parts of the caliper of Eric Edwards, Traci Lords and Christy Canyon. All of the leads are supporting players with Kay Parker showing seniority and not in a good way. Billy Dee is usually a fast shot, but here, he drags his feet in slow motion along with Rikki Blake--the same for her. Editing and direction share some of the blame. Even worse is the horrible miscasting of Richard Bolla of Debbie Does Dallas fame as a queer fashion designer who wants to steal Lorelei's plans. In a threesome with Kay Parker the camera points up at Bolla and Dee way too often, barely managing to pull his oral scene off. Bolla had been trying to quit porn like Traci Lords did and find parts in popular TV shows with not much success. This might have been why he lost favor with the porn kings.

Kay Parker was one of the most beautiful women ever in adult film, and more beautiful than quite a few mainstream ladies. It feels wrong to see her in this grimy looking video format which barely bothers with flattering lighting or style. Even for the grotty VHS era, some of the shots, especially when she's emceeing a fashion show, are terrible. Her air in general doesn't feel right, probably because she knows what was a special time and place had come to a tacky end.

Beyond appreciating just how hard Billy Dee has to work to keep the movie pumping, the only other note of interest is R Bolla in the flaming gay role that repeatedly went to talent like Bobby Astyr. If Bobby had not been done, or just about done, with the industry, I wonder if he might have been brought in here.

There's something compelling about the very depressed, lethargic energy Bolla brings to the part, and what is clearly a transactional, one-sided relationship with Dee (who visibly recoils at his effeminate partner). Even if nothing is shown between the men beyond an arm touch, you rarely see a sexual relationship between two men in straight porn, even more rarely that it isn't played for laughs.

The scene where Parker struts in and converts Bolla while also servicing Dee should have been a fascinatingly camp turn on the idea of the '80s shoulder pad goddess having it all. Parker even has a great line when she says that she knows what men want, even when they don't know. That this type of fantasy seeing of the light happens not with the usual stud, but with a middle-aged man, is another element you won't see very often (if ever).

Unfortunately, the execution of the scene is extremely disappointing. Bolla spends the entire time with wood problems (I don't remember him having them in some of his other films by this late date, so I wonder if this shoot just wasn't great for anybody), leaving him to feel like a hanger-on and making Parker look foolish for even putting up with him.

There are one or two good moments when this awkward scene finally ends, seemingly with none of the three performers sure of where to go. Dee playfully punches Bolla on the arm and says "not bad." Bolla replies with, "Get out of my house," and everyone laughs. One of those pieces of porn where the setup is so poor you don't care about the actors breaking through.