This week we take you back to the final year of the wild and wooly decade of the 70’s and the year 1979. If you were around then, how much do you remember from thirty six years ago? What it was like, what events took place and who and what were the newsmakers that year? Let’s take a trip back down memory lane and begin as we always do with what the cost of living was back then.
To begin with the average income was a stupendous $17,500 a year and the average cost for a brand new 3 bedroom home was $58,000. You could buy a very fuel efficient Toyota Corolla for just $3,700 and at the gas pump you were paying only 86 cents for a gallon of gas. The popular Sony Walkman sold for $200 and the big floppy Bean Bag chairs were just $20. You could buy a box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes for 59 cents, a 6 pack of Pepsi for 88 cents and get yourself a McDonald’s cheeseburger for 38 cents. Women’s pant suits were in style at $22 and a man’s 3 piece dress suit was only $90. As for the headlines in 1979, Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime Minister of England, President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Vice President Saddam Hussein replaces him in Iraq. 63 Americans are taken hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran. In the U.S. the Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurs after a fire at a reactor in Pennsylvania. American Airlines Flight 191 crashed and exploded in a field near O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The first commercial Cellular Network NTT makes its debut as does the Sony Walkman. In the world of entertainment in 1979 among the big hit movies were, The Amityville Horror, Rocky II, The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs. Kramer. In the world of music the hit makers in ’79 included the Bee Gees, Donna Summer, The Commodores, Gloria Gaynor and Blondie. In the land of TV some of the year’s most popular shows included The Waltons, Happy Days, M*A*S*H, The Love Boat and Quincy M.E.
Among the celebrities we lost in 1979 were actor John Wayne, baseball player Thurman Munson, Ringling Brothers circus clown Emmett Kelly, former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, band leader Stan Kenton, actress Vivian Vance and Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler.
In the porn world in1979 much of the production base was beginning to migrate from New York to California. There were a few new technical improvements with cameras and video was on the horizon. The year brought new stars and some solid movies such as “Lust at First Bite”, Ecstasy Girls” and the classic we look back at today, “Babylon Pink”.
Babylon Pink – Command Video – Director – Henri Pachard – Cast – Arcadia Lake, Vanessa Del Rio, Samantha Fox, Georgette Saunders, Georgina Spelvin, Bobby Astyr, Eric Edwards, David Morris, Dave Ruby, Richard Bolla.
One of porn’s top directors back in the day was Henri Pachard. He always created films that not only had sizzling sex scenes, but solid story lines and plots that held your attention, made you think and could get into a person’s psyche. Pachard used the camera in an exquisite way to tell a story with the sex scenes well captured, portrayed and never getting in the way of the story. In “Babylon Pink” he brings all of those elements together in a film that certainly deserves the word “classic”.
The film is an exploration into the fantasies of several different women. These women are as different as night and day, but they are all tied together through a business run by the mysterious Mrs. McGuinness. The film takes place in just one twenty four hour period of these women. It begins as just another New York kind of day but you quickly see some are in a daydream mode. There is the housewife (Vanessa Del Rio) who fantasizes about doing the guy at the corner store (David Ruby), the businesswoman (Samantha Fox) who has thoughts of doing Vanessa’s husband (Bobby Astyr), the executive secretary (Merle Michaels) who has a secret thing for her roommate (Arcadia Lake). There is the upper class dinner party with guests (Georgina Spelvin, Richard Bolla, David Morris) all imagine getting it on with one of the present company (Debbie Savage) a sexy teen who has her own ideas. Then add to this mix even more like the husband, the tennis pro, the ladies man, the uncle and you have quite mix that brings this story full circle.
As you watch the film begin to unfold you can see right off the performers can act, deliver lines realistically, show emotion and character development. It is the kind of on screen presence that makes this story come across very real. With Pachard, having real acting chops was always a key element so the performers could bring out the true character of the role they were portraying. In this film you get to see this brought out as the dream sequences of these women all come alive. There are a couple weird sex scenes that come into play, but these are dream sequences after all. Arcadia Lake, whose career was way too short, as the roommate, is excellent in her scene, Samantha Fox shows off her talents extremely well as do the other ladies. However, it is the two scenes with Vanessa Del Rio that really put this film on the front burner. To say her scenes were steamy, hot and mesmerizing would be a big understatement. Her performance literally burns up the celluloid and shows why this lady became a porn legend and one of the most popular stars of the golden age.
This classic has been re mastered and available on DVD in a 2 disc set with lots of extras. The transfer was well done and the extras provide a deeper look into the film, the director and the stars. This is one classic that should be a must see and I very highly recommend getting this true golden age classic, “Babylon Pink”.
Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN
