Funnily enough, when compared to many other dubious sex comedies of the decade, the Porky’s films end up looking pretty tasteful. They did just enough to appeal to both adults and the horny teens they were depicting onscreen. The eighties was a strange time for sex in the movies, a time when a number of films gained mainstream success that you just can’t imagine making the cut in this day and age. Films like Angel, My Tutor and Private Lessons, as well as a few others, all mixed sex with a younger and younger set of central characters. Cinematically, the ’60s may have been all about free love, the ’70s continued that free love and showed a wider range of sexuality, but in the ’80s it was time for everyone to realise that, yep, the kids were in on the act too. It was a far more innocent time, despite, paradoxically, becoming more explicit when allowed. And ruling the roost were those Porky’s movies.
Porky’s (1982)
I remember when I first saw Porky’s, I was over the moon. It was probably the sauciest film I’d seen at that point in my life (I can’t remember what age I was but I was pretty young) but it was also a movie that became something that everyone had to see. Male, female, adult, youth, you just had to see Porky’s when it became available on home video. Rewatching the movie today, it’s not THAT great. But it’s enjoyable enough. I suspect, however, that the timing was perfect for Porky’s. Just as the home video boon led to people being able to watch the likes of An American Werewolf In London and Scanners in all their glory, so it also allowed people to ogle pretty, nekkid girls and chuckle at teenagers playing juvenile pranks on one another.
The Porky’s of the title is a spit ‘n’ sawdust bar that a bunch of high school lads are desperate to visit. Because you can see women dancing there, and you can spend some time with them, for the right price. Unfortunately, it’s situated in the next county so when the lads find themselves stiffed, in entirely the wrong way, they quickly realise that they’re out of their depth. But how will they strike back at Porky (Chuck Mitchell)? And how will they do it while also keeping enough time free for fights, pranks and attempts to get laid?
Porky’s is a bunch of bawdy set-pieces thrown together with a bit more gratuitous nudity than usual. High art it ain’t. Fortunately, the set-pieces hold up as memorable movie moments, and the gratuitous nudity often goes hand in hand with the comedy, as opposed to seeming consistently lecherous. I know, I know, there will be people reading this who can’t believe I just said that, but this is more cheeky peepshow stuff than time spent in the champagne room, as it were.
Writer-director Bob Clark spent a lot of time gathering tales of teenage antics to put into the movie, leaving the whole thing feeling surprisingly authentic at times, despite the more ridiculous moments. In fact, even the more ridiculous moments either seem to be rooted in urban legends or derived from that particular time of life when hormones are flying around everywhere and the most important aim in life, for many young men, is to find a partner willing to help you get rid of your virginity.
It’s just a shame that the cast a) don’t make much of an impression – a few main characters stand out but it’s very hard to remember many of the individuals once the end credits have rolled – and b) look far too old to still be at high school. Most of them look older than I do, and I think I look every one of my 37 years nowadays. Dan Monahan is amusing enough as the permanently horny Pee Wee, Kim Cattrall makes quite an impression as Honeywell AKA Lassie, Chuck Mitchell is easy to hate as Porky, Nancy Parsons is equally easy to hate as Ballbricker and Art Hindle is a welcome presence as Ted Jarvis, a local law enforcement member on the side of the boys. Kaki Hunter does well in the role of Wendy, despite the fact that her character deserved better treatment from the script.
I could happily get through my life without ever seeing Porky’s again (it’s been superceded, for one thing, by American Pie, in my opinion), but I’ll also admit that if it was on TV and I was in an easily distracted mood I could keep it on and be entertained. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and I’m sure that any teenagers discovering it for the first time nowadays will still find plenty to like.
WRITER/DIRECTOR: BOB CLARK
STARS: DAN MONAHAN, MARK HERRIER, WYATT KNIGHT, ROGER WILSON, CYRIL O’REILLY, TONY GANIOS, KAKI HUNTER, KIM CATTRALL, NANCY PARSONS, SCOTT COLOMBY, ART HINDLE, WAYNE MAUNDER, ALEX KARRAS, CHUCK MITCHELL
RUNTIME: 94 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: CANADA/USA
Film Rating: 
Porky’s II: The Next Day (1983)
Doing exactly what it says on the tin, this sequel to Porky’s starts off the day after the events of the first movie. Well, actually, it starts off by recapping the events of the first movie, but then we quickly get to the next day and it soon becomes apparent that the more things change the more they stay the same.
Pee Wee (Dan Monahan) is a very happy young man. So happy that he starts bragging to the other boys about just how great a lover he is and how many women he has fooled around with. His friends know not to believe him, of course, but they challenge him to hook them up with a willing sexual partner for a night. Pee Wee thinks he might, finally, get to play a great trick on the guys. Unfortunately, whenever he asks around at school about who would be the most willing girl to have fun with a bunch of guys for the night he keeps getting the same answer. Wendy (Kaki Hunter). Meanwhile, there’s a bit of Shakespeare in the air as the kids all get involved with some theatre that ends up causing tension in the community. A bunch of rednecks are upset by the ethnicity of the young man playing Romeo, while Reverend Flavel (Bill Wiley) is upset by everything else onstage. The kids, and the school, may have an ally in the form of Commissioner Gebhardt. Or they may have to take matters into their own hands. Again.
Like many sequels, this movie repeats a lot of the beats from the first outing. There are pranks, there’s some nudity and there’s a main villain or two to be defeated in between the fun and anarchism. None of the characters have changed, in essence, from the first movie and anyone who enjoyed spending time in their company the first time around will be easily amused by their continuing adventures.
Bob Clark is back as director, and also writer (although he’s gained Roger Swaybill and Alan Ormsby as co-writers this time), and most of the cast reprise their roles from the first film. Wiley is a lot of fun as the mean reverend out to ruin everyone’s fun, but the big plus here is seeing Kaki Hunter get more screentime as her character is treated slightly better than she was in the first film.
Kudos to Clark for mixing in a number of different issues once again (there’s a strong story strand that has the kids battling racist Klan members), and there’s one scene featuring a battle of quotations, one from the bible and one from Shakespeare, between the headmaster and the reverend that impresses beyond anything else in all three movies, but it still doesn’t quite do enough to shake off that feeling of having been there and done that. And the first movie did most of it better.
DIRECTOR: BOB CLARK
WRITER: ROGER SWAYBILL, ALAN ORMSBY, BOB CLARK
STARS: DAN MONAHAN, WYATT KNIGHT, MARK HERRIER, KAKI HUNTER, NANCY PARSONS, BILL WILEY, CISSE CAMERON, EDWARD WINTER
RUNTIME: 98 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: CANADA/USA
Film Rating:
Porky’s Revenge (1985)
With graduation just around the corner, it’s time for young, horny teenagers to shape up and prepare for adulthood. Or, alternatively, it’s time to cram in more of the saucy adventures that already made for two popular teen comedies. Pee Wee (Dan Monahan) and co. find themselves in a bit of a pickle when they run into their old nemesis, Porky (Chuck Mitchell back in the role), while trying to find some way to clear the gambling debt of their basketball coach. Porky, understandably, initially wants them dead, but the boys convince him that they will throw the big basketball game, allowing him to win a lot of money if he bets against them. Of course, they have no intention of throwing the basketball game. They want to win, they want to be heroes, and they want to get one over on old Porky again. But that all looks to be in jeopardy when ‘Meat’ (Tony Ganios) is told by Miss Webster (Rose McVeigh) that he must pass his upcoming test to stay on the team.
James Komack is the director this time, and Ziggy Steinberg is the man responsible for the script, but it’s all the same faces onscreen. If you thought Monahan, Ganios, Wyatt Knight, Mark Herrier, Kaki Hunter, and the rest of the gang, looked too old to be at high school in the first movie then you’ll be wondering how many of them are, at this point, older than the average teacher. It’s not bad, of course, to allow fans to spend time with the gang again. It’s just ever so slightly sad to see them all still pretending to be so young, as the script demands.
Falling perfectly in line with the law of diminishing returns, this third mix of sex, pranks and revenge starts to feel a little tired within the first few scenes. There is still some fun to be had, and viewers may be surprised to see a story strand that seems to have been a major influence on the “Bart The Lover” episode of The Simpsons, but it’s never as funny, or even just rude, as it could be.
Porky’s Revenge is an excuse to spend one more movie with gang. There’s nothing more to it, but that won’t be a major problem for anyone who wants just that.
DIRECTOR: JAMES KOMACK
WRITER: ZIGGY STEINBERG
STARS: DAN MONAHAN, WYATT KNIGHT, MARK HERRIER, KAKI HUNTER, NANCY PARSONS, TONY GANIOS, CHUCK MITCHELL, ROSE MCVEIGH, WENDY FEIGN
RUNTIME: 92 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: CANADA/USA
Film Rating:
