This week we go back thirty seven years to 1984. How much do you remember from the mid 80’s and that year? Let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the year along with a great porn classic.
As always we’ll look back at the cost of living then. The average income was at $21,600 a year. The cost for a new 3 bedroom home averaged $86,700 and we paid $1.10 for a gallon of gas. If you wanted a truck fully equipped, a Dodge Ram 50 was $8,895 and for a gas guzzling Chrysler New Yorker the price tag was $13,500. When it came to food items, eggs were 99 cents a dozen, bacon 1.49 a pound and a 2 liter bottle of Coke 79 cents. Going to the movies cost you only 2.50 and could buy a stamp for just 20 cents. In some news headlines in the U.S. and around the world…….. 22 American prisoners freed when Jesse Jackson meets Castro. The Olympic Games are held in Los Angeles and boycotted by the USSR. Subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz shoots four black youths on a Manhattan subway. Challenger astronauts make two free-flying space walks. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated. A truck containing 500 kg of high explosives destroys the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon killing 12 people. Colonel Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to complete a solo transatlantic flight in a helium balloon. The movie rating “PG 13” is introduced. The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale. Sony and Philips introduce the first commercial CD players bringing an end to the popularity of cassette tapes.
In entertainment, the big films from Hollywood in 1984 would include Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Splash, Terms of Endearment and The Karate Kid. In the world of pop music some of the big hit makers were Billy Joel, Tina Turner, Wham!, Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder and Duran Duran. As for television in 1984, among the big hit shows were Magnum P.I., Dynasty, Hill Street Blues, Knight Rider, Cagney & Lacey,Cheers and The A Team. Among the celebrities who passed on were actors Richard Burton and Peter Lawford, comedian Andy Kauffman, McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, band leader Count Basie and singer Marvin Gaye.
As for the adult industry, just about everything was being shot on the west coast. Advances in technology made for sharper, cleaner camera images and better special effects. Many of the female stars were now sporting the shaved look. The AVN awards makes it’s debut and the year offered up some good adult films including the one we take a look back at today, “X-Factor”.
X-Factor – Filmco – Director – Hal Freeman – Cast – Pamela Mann, Kristara Barrington, Danica Rhea, Erica Boyer, Karen Summer, Eric Edwards, Paul Thomas, Rick Savage, Richard Stevens
This Hal Freeman production was probably his best effort during his years in the porn industry. As good as Freeman was as a director, he became more known for all his legal battles with the law in porn’s early days regarding “pandering” laws and such. Still, this film has charm, believability and realism thanks to a solid cast headed up by one of porn’s best actors, Eric Edwards, and a very solid turn by Pamela Mann. Ms Mann only did about twenty films, but this one was her crowning achievement in porn that would garner her an AVN Best Actress award, as well as Edwards getting the Best Actor award.
The film centers around Ted Palmer (Edwards) trying to find his way after a breakup with his slutty girlfriend Lila (Danica Rhea). Things begin to change when he meets up with Susan (Mann) who has just moved into the same apartment building. There is an immediate chemistry with these two. She is a total opposite to his ex but it is what happens when these two have sex that strange things, in a good way, begin to happen and take place. It is like they are sending out some kind of healing rays and vibes that changes things. Almost dead plants begin to grow and bloom, people feel a sense of good and even a next door neighbor in the building (Thomas) has broken bones healed.
This plays, thanks to a great script and cinematography, like a modern day fairy tale as these two continue to enjoy the intimacies they share with each other and what it brings elsewhere. While the concentration is on the Edwards-Mann connection in the film and it’s romantic, mystical, sensual sex scenes, there are several others that take on a rougher edge. There is Rhae’s off the chain threeway with Thomas and Kristara Barrington. There is also a hot scene with just Thomas and Barrington as well. As the viewer watches they become emotionally involved in everything that takes place. While there are some parts of the film that make you feel this will not end happily, you find yourself rooting for a happy ending to this well thought out artistic and sexually pleasing film. Does it have a happy ending? You’ll just have to find out for yourself.
The X-Factor is available on DVD and I recommend getting hold of this mystical sexual ride of pleasure. The performances are all top notch making this more believable and feeling that sex can be mystically healing as well as pleasurable and romantic. Buoyed by the award winning performances of Eric Edwards and Pamela Mann, “X-Factor” is a true classic of the golden age.
Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN
