Accept the fact from the start that no one is intentionally viewing the Porky's films for scintillating social commentary and high art, but rather for cheap low-brow humor and titillation and you may actually end up enjoying this guilty pleasure. Porky's pretty much came out of no where in the early 1980s and became a surprise smash hit - largely due to its imaginative ad campaign, but also because the film delivers on exactly what it promises.
Set in the early 1950s at a Florida high school, the film follows the mischievous adventures of a gang of high school students on the hunt to lose their virginity, with various obstacles thrown in their path. Porky's is the name of a legendary strip joint where the gang is thrown out of and humiliated at in the beginning. Porky's is owned by the titular character - a Boss Hog-type involved in various shady activities whose brother, the sheriff, aids and abets. The gang agrees to set aside personal differences to pool resources and get some revenge on Porky and his pals.
Dissed by the critics who could not understand the film's popularity, the film is really like American Graffiti with nudity on Viagra. The success of the film as a sex comedy is not hard to understand. First, the guys that comprise the gang are distinctive enough and well-played enough to engage the viewer. A number of familiar faces and character actors pop up. It is not a stretch to wonder whether Kim Cattrall's performance as a sexy gym teacher nicknamed Lassie did not help influence her casting in her ideal role years later on Sex and the City. Solid actors like Alex Karras, Susan Clark and Boyd Gaines show up in various roles. Nancy Parsons is pretty hilarious as the nightmarish gym teacher Ms. Balbricker, who becomes a thorn in the side of the guys. The sequence where she tries to convince the principal to have a line-up of the male students' privates so that she can identify which private she caught in the girl's shower room, while her fellow gym teachers snigger away behind her is worth the price of admission. Of the guys, Don Monahan is probably the most memorable as the eternally luckless Pee Wee, who forever manages to get humiliated in some fashion. Kaki Hunter is also pretty good as the lead girl, delivering a healthy dose of no-bull bluntness.
The film has a good share of belly laughs and is not afraid to push buttons. It even manages to sneak in an anti-bigotry message. It also succeeds because it is actually able to appeal across the genders. While the search for guys to lose their virginity was recycled over and over again in other films, few had the success of Porky's and its sequels. This is for several reasons. First, while the guys are not above leering at naked girls, the girls are not afraid to give back as good as they get and are oftentimes in on the joke. The film's matter-of-fact, unguilty embrace of sex and nudity is a plus. The notorious scene with the guys spying on the girls in the shower becomes far less exploitive when the girls discover the perpetrators and start antagonizing them. On a side note, what a refreshing twist it would be to have a scene like this with the genders reversed - do filmmakers not think that young girls have any sexual curiosity? Additionally, while the film has a healthy dose of female nudity, it is also refreshingly awash in male nudity - including surprising frontals - so that the girls dragged along to this by their significant others at least have some eye candy of their own to enjoy. This is something other films of this ilk more often than not failed to get.
In the end, for low-brow laughs, nudity and titillation, it is simply hard to find another sex comedy - then or now - that delivers it better than Porky's. The fact that this remains true nearly 30 years later must count for something.
Set in the early 1950s at a Florida high school, the film follows the mischievous adventures of a gang of high school students on the hunt to lose their virginity, with various obstacles thrown in their path. Porky's is the name of a legendary strip joint where the gang is thrown out of and humiliated at in the beginning. Porky's is owned by the titular character - a Boss Hog-type involved in various shady activities whose brother, the sheriff, aids and abets. The gang agrees to set aside personal differences to pool resources and get some revenge on Porky and his pals.
Dissed by the critics who could not understand the film's popularity, the film is really like American Graffiti with nudity on Viagra. The success of the film as a sex comedy is not hard to understand. First, the guys that comprise the gang are distinctive enough and well-played enough to engage the viewer. A number of familiar faces and character actors pop up. It is not a stretch to wonder whether Kim Cattrall's performance as a sexy gym teacher nicknamed Lassie did not help influence her casting in her ideal role years later on Sex and the City. Solid actors like Alex Karras, Susan Clark and Boyd Gaines show up in various roles. Nancy Parsons is pretty hilarious as the nightmarish gym teacher Ms. Balbricker, who becomes a thorn in the side of the guys. The sequence where she tries to convince the principal to have a line-up of the male students' privates so that she can identify which private she caught in the girl's shower room, while her fellow gym teachers snigger away behind her is worth the price of admission. Of the guys, Don Monahan is probably the most memorable as the eternally luckless Pee Wee, who forever manages to get humiliated in some fashion. Kaki Hunter is also pretty good as the lead girl, delivering a healthy dose of no-bull bluntness.
The film has a good share of belly laughs and is not afraid to push buttons. It even manages to sneak in an anti-bigotry message. It also succeeds because it is actually able to appeal across the genders. While the search for guys to lose their virginity was recycled over and over again in other films, few had the success of Porky's and its sequels. This is for several reasons. First, while the guys are not above leering at naked girls, the girls are not afraid to give back as good as they get and are oftentimes in on the joke. The film's matter-of-fact, unguilty embrace of sex and nudity is a plus. The notorious scene with the guys spying on the girls in the shower becomes far less exploitive when the girls discover the perpetrators and start antagonizing them. On a side note, what a refreshing twist it would be to have a scene like this with the genders reversed - do filmmakers not think that young girls have any sexual curiosity? Additionally, while the film has a healthy dose of female nudity, it is also refreshingly awash in male nudity - including surprising frontals - so that the girls dragged along to this by their significant others at least have some eye candy of their own to enjoy. This is something other films of this ilk more often than not failed to get.
In the end, for low-brow laughs, nudity and titillation, it is simply hard to find another sex comedy - then or now - that delivers it better than Porky's. The fact that this remains true nearly 30 years later must count for something.