1981

This week we go back down memory lane to the year 1981. As we always do, we  take a look back thirty four years at what was taking place, what has changed and what the year brought all of us. If you were around then, how much do you remember? Let’s begin then, as we always do, with what the cost of living was like back in 1981.

The annual average income in the U.S. was only $21,000 a year, the average cost of a 3 bedroom new home was about $78,000 and if you rented, the average then  for a 2 bedroom apartment was $300 a month. The average price of new cars back then ranged anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000, with a Pontiac Sunbird at $5,100. The cost of a gallon of gas had jumped all the way to $1.25. Back then you could by a 19 inch color TV for $400. and an under the counter dishwasher for $250. For the kids the very popular Star Wars Figure set went for $30. (If you have any, imagine what they are worth today!) In the 1981 news headlines this was the first year the word Internet begins getting mentioned and MS-DOS was released by Microsoft along with the first IBM PC. Iran releases 52 American hostages, who had been held for 444 days. Air traffic controllers strike that creates chaos with air travel in the US and newly elected President Ronald Reagan fires them. The first flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia takes place. Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales and Sandra Day O’Connor is nominated to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. The first American test-tube baby is born in 1981. American Airlines becomes the first to introduce Frequent Flyer Miles called AAdvantage.

In the world of entertainment among the hit Hollywood films of 1981 were Raiders of the Lost Ark, Arthur, On Golden Pond, Chariots of Fire and For Your Eyes Only. In the world of pop music among the hit makers were Blondie, Dolly Parton, Lionel Ritchie & Diana Ross, Queen and John Lennon. TV’s big hit shows would include Dallas, Three’s Company, Alice, Hart to Hart, Dynasty and Happy Days. Among the celebrities we lost in 1981 were former heavyweight champion Joe Louis, singer Harry Chapin, actor William Holden,  actress Natalie Wood and rock and roller Bill Haley.

In porn the big shift to California was underway as more and more films were being done on the west coast. New technological advances for cameras and special effects helped make films better, with video on the horizon. Some excellent porn films came out in 1981 like “Bad Girls”, “Vista Valley PTA”, “Little Darlings”, “Amanda By Night” and the classic we look back at today, “Night Dreams”.

NightDreams 1

Night Dreams – Carribean Films – Director – Francis Delia – Cast – Dorothy LeMay, Loni Sanders, Jennifer West, Jaqueline Lorains, Danielle, Kevin James, Paul Berthell, Fast Steppin’ Freddie, Ken Starbuck, Andy Nichols.

This film was helmed by a director with a mainstream background and his first attempt at porn. Delia delivers a very surreal, erotic, nightmarish, psychological drama that really pushes the envelope with the scenes that are incorporated into the film. The storyline and plot are about Mrs. Van Houten (Dorothy LeMay), a mental patient who undergoes a series of experiments by a couple of doctors. These experiments are to discover her sexual feelings and what is imagined and what is real. They keep her in a padded cell as she screams to unseen jailers. She masturbates intensely and begins to imagine, or does she, about the sexual encounters she finds herself in. This is where the film takes on some very strange twists and turns with her warped thinking and the desperate wonder of what is really happening to her.

There are scenes that have her going to heaven and to hell in a way only porn could construct. There is a childhood nursery sequence where she becomes involved with a giant Jack in the Box. There is a threesome with Arab sheiks, a campfire cowgirl scene with Danielle that is one of the steamiest in the film. The encounter is made even more memorable by a psychedelic version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” playing throughout this sexually highly charged scene. In regards to the music there is also a kitchen scene that you have to see to understand it, but it will grab your attention. There is an unsettling bathroom scene, visits with demons and a lot more as these dreams continue to plague Mrs. Van Houten’s body and mind.

The scenes are well paced and put together extremely well and deliver plenty of erotic realism by LeMay and the rest of the solid cast. This is a film where the sex scenes, many of them very intense and somewhat strange in their surroundings, work well and provide the spark and electricity the director was seeking. The camera angles and the oddity of some sex scenes also make the entire production come together in a very well done tapestry throughout.

The settings, costuming and the use of music all help make this film stand out. The cast does a very credible job in their varied roles and Ms. LeMay, in a totally different character than she generally plays, handles the Mrs. Van Houten role in a very dramatic and believable way. Francis Delia’s direction and extraordinary cinematography really pulls the viewer into this bizarre world that you see taking place through the experiments and what the mind can really be capable of. It is a brilliantly conceived and put together piece of film art. While the subject matter may not be for everyone’s taste, it is an explosive and mind bending expression of what is real, what is imagined and how the mind can join both together in a freakish and often creepy way.

There were sequels to this film, however none of them came anywhere close to the original. “Night Dreams” has definitely earned its place among the great film classics from the golden age. I definitely recommend you find the re-mastered DVD of this outstanding and very different film.


Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN