Walnut Creek (1996) is an erotic thriller for the couples market.
As the film opens, a woman issues a verbal put-down to some punks that want
to pick her up, and is about to be beaten for her trouble when a very tough
hombre rescues her.
Cut to different characters, three years later. The Styles family has lots of
advantages, including the huge Walnut Creek Ranch and a successful development
business, but everything is not rosy. David Christensen and wife Rochelle
Swanson have grown apart, largely due to his tendency to be a workaholic.
Daughter Renee Weldon doesn't like her stepmother, and makes no bones about it.
She seems to be an equal opportunity hater, except when it comes to the hired
hand, Alton Butler.
It is into this mix that the woman from the opening scene arrives as the new
ranch manager. It seems that the ranch has always been a tax write-off, but now
they need it in the black, and Kate Rodger, with the perfect resume, has
been hired. This resume seems unlikely from someone who was a heroin junky
living on the streets only three years before. We fairly quickly learn that the
nasty man who saved her has groomed her for this job because Styles once put him
in jail with some testimony. Kate's assignment is to get dirt on Mr. Styles so
her benefactor can crush him and his new business venture. Rodger soon
discovers that she likes Walnut Creek, and likes Mr. Styles, so she pursues her
own personal agenda, but there are many loose ends to tie up, like her
benefactor, her intended's wife, the hired hand, and the daughter.
This is an adequate example of couples erotica
- - moderately erotic;
barely thrilling - made more desirable by the nude appearance of Kate Rodger, veteran of General
Hospital and others.
If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to
read the
explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by
our definition, a
C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs
and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:
