The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet

This loose adaptation of Shakespeare's work is another costumer from exploitation magnate Harry Novak. Juliet is far from a blushing virgin, and wants to get together with that hot stud Romeo, but their parents are feuding. Everyone has sex with everyone.

Novak's formula includes naked redheads and a Laugh-in approach, with lines like "beautiful downtown Verona", "sock it to me", and "here come da prince".

NUDITY REPORT

Full nudity from:

Diedre Nelson, who plays Juliet
Karen Thomas, Antoinette Maynard and Dorthea Cristie, as maids
Mickey Jines, who plays Lady Capulet.
Various others

DVD info from Amazon.

The Notorious Cleopatra is also on the DVD
The transfer is beautiful, this time with a Widescreen transfer, and a feature length commentary from a whole crowd, including Novak.

The film was a pure delight in the drive-ins when it was released, and is still seeing distribution to this day. Asked if he would make a sequel, Novak said it would be too expensive to do nowadays. The film was made in three to four weeks in a one room studio. Each wall was turned into a different setup. The total budget was about $200K, and Novak claimed that it grossed millions.

The film included some interesting cast members, including cult director William Rotsler, and director Bethel G. Buckalew (who is actually named John Cole), as well as Jay Fineberg and Jimmy Johnson, who owned and managed the Pussycat Theaters.

The Critics Vote

no reviews online

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 4.5/10

with their dollars: made for $200,000, it grossed millions (reportedly)

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+. It is a late 60's skin flick, suitable as a date film, and is well photographed, well acted, and full of good looking women and hot sex scenes.