Sassy Sue (2001) from Tuna

Sassy Sue (1972) is a near hard-core produced by the legendary Harry Novak,  the "King of Sleaze." He produced 18 of these films in several genres, this being the naive dumb hillbilly genre. While he was a contemporary of the great exploitation film makers, he took the nudity, and simulated sex farther. There was never any need for a "square reel" of nudist footage  after one of his films, as he had plenty of full frontal nudity, both male and female.

Sassy Sue takes place on a farm The father sells moonshine and gasoline, added by his rather backward son. Ma is a corncob smoking fat woman who is only there for comic relief. Pa wants junior to develop an interest in girls, and to marry him off, but Pa samples all of the prospects, and junior is in love with their cow, Sassy Sue, anyway.

NUDITY REPORT
  see the main commentary

There are 4 women who show breasts and buns in this film, and three of the four show bush and near gyno shots as well. Three of them have virtually no credits at IMDB, although they probably saw a lot of work in loops and underground films. They are:

  • Sandy Carey - all three B's
  • Karen Cooknell - breasts and buns
  • Talie Cockrane - all three B's.
  • The 4th woman, Sharon Kelly, looked very familiar, although I didn't know her name. Turns out that she made 60 films between 1970 and 1989, including hard core, soft core, and exploitation, under both Sharon Kelly and Colleen Brennan. Her films include two of the Ilsa films, Alice Goodbody, A Scream in the Streets, Taboo 3 and 5 and Vanessa: Maid In Manhattan. Some of you will recognize her flaming red hair (both above and below the belt, and her huge breasts. She even has some basic acting skills, although her roles seldom call for them. I will be doing several of her films over the next few weeks, as she is one of the few exploitation actresses who deserves to be remembered. Also, I am a sucker for bright red pubes.

DVD info from Amazon.

  • Widescreen letterbox, 1.85:1

  • no features
Were it not for the fact that the hard core market was launched the same year with Deep Throat, Novak would probably not have been able to go as far as he did. Not only are his films explicit, but they manage quite a bit of sexual energy, despite the cornball plots. The market for this type of  film was adult night at the drive-in, and it was intended for couples.

The Critics Vote

  • no reviews online

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: not enough IMDb voters to produce a score 
IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C+. As this is soft core, I am unable to award more than a C+, but it is a must  own for real fans of this vintage material. As a matter of fact, it is worth seeing for Sharon Kelly alone.

Return to the Movie House home page