Taming of Rebecca
Reviewed by Willie D
Reprinted with Permission
Background:
To understand this film in its proper context, a few words before we view the sex firsthand…
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, two rather distinct genres of porno emerged: one was artistic and crafted, and sought to be accepted by the general public. Think of Behind the Green Door and Bill Osco’s
Alice in Wonderland–all primarily produced on the West Coast.
Meanwhile, Times Square completed its devolution from high-class vaudeville theaters into burlesque houses, grind theaters, finally winding up as the sleaze magnet of the East. Theaters that once showed chorus lines and Eric von Stroheim silent moves were now mere porn palaces. The live peep show replaced the chorus line.
On to this stage enter Chelly Wilson, a bisexual Greek immigrant. While her spouse lived in Puerto Rico, the money lived in New York, and as the burlesque owners were squeezed out of business, that money began the Avon theater chain–The Adonis, The Eros, and others including the Park Miller–the first theater to widely market Andy Warhol’s blatantly bisexual films. Their key to profitability was the extended leases (up to 20 years) her business manager took on these uwanted buildings.
By the mid 1970s, the Avon chain showed hardcore films exclusively. In addition to the “roughies,” they offered live sex shows that featured early porno notables like Jamie Gillis, Tina Russell and Vanessa del Rio. Avon assembled a kinky group of people who seemed to have a knack for making cheap, rough porn with performers who were into the scene and willing to work for peanuts–the “One Day Wonder.” The average One Day Wonder was made on 16mm film for $7,000 and turned a profit in two weeks. The films were then subleased to porn theaters around the country. The staff included office manager Stella Stevens, a former beefacake model from Florida; two sets of Puerto Rican brothers/projectionists who would phone Stella while a movie played and described the audience’s response live; director Joe Davian, a former concentration camp survivor who used his Israeli “right of return” to flee the country after killing an associate; a guy named Mr. Mustard, who specialized in rape films. And they had Phil Prince.
Though married, Phil Prince was an bisexual Irishman who lived in the Bronx. It is said he loved to crossdress and play the female role to his methadone addicted boyfriend Pat Rodgers. Phil and his wife got their porno starts in the Avon live sex shows. Phil used to shock the crowd by aiming his cumshot at people in the audience. Phil’s wife was murdered in the late 1970s, and he barely escaped prison before being cleared. He was stuck behind a desk for a while, and took an interest in Joe Davian’s perverted stories. It wasn’t long before he was making his own One Day Wonders.
Phil used many of the same players over and over, mainly for their willingness to do the kinds of things that the West Coast performers didn’t dream about. Velvet Summers had an extensive collection of piercings, leading to outrageous onscreen speculation (was the blood real or fake?). Annie Sprinkle did any disgusting sex act requested of her. Ditto Sharon Mitchell. Ambrosia Fox was a pixie who could play underaged roles before they were illegal. Phil’s male cast was even more creepy: George Payne, Ron Jeremy, David Christopher–the future “Pussyman.”
As your Luke Ford history lessons tell you, the early 1980s brought the MiPORN raids, which flushed out many of the performers in Times Square. By the time Mayor Guiliani started to “clean up” Times Square, many of the Jewish families who still owned the land were reneging on their long-term leases in favor of selling their land outright. The final Avon theater, the Eros, home to Phil’s most extreme films, was finally sold in 1997. Phil himself spent six years in prison for shooting a Baskin Robbins clerk in a botched robbery. Upon his release, it’s said he again murdered a business associate, and serving the rest of his life in prison. Rumors persist among the “classic” porn community that he’s due to be released soon, of course this can’t be verified yet.
“Taming of Rebecca” is pretty much a smorgasbord of depravity: topics covered include incest, pain, mental abuse, piercing, rape, murder, whipping, urination, etc.. It’s no wonder this film was one of the poster children of the Meese Commission hearings in the mid 1980s, served up as an example of porno’s most degrading, most abusive moments. The very degenerates (mobsters) who financed these films were em b
arrased by them; but they knew the public demand, and catered to it.
There’s a short 20-minute documentary by B-movie technician Brian O’Hara, called The Prince of Porn about Prince and Avon Films, made several years ago. You can download and watch it by clickying here.
Basics:
Title: The Taming of Rebecca
Year: 1982
Writer: Phil Prince
Director: Phil Prince
Studio: Avon Films
Dist: same
Runtime: 67 perverse minutes
You can buy the video as part of the Alpha Blue Archives box set. Included are other sadistic offerings from Phil and some of his cohorts Shaun Costello (Waterpower), Carter Stevens (Teenage Twins, Prisoner of Pleasure) and others. The box set will set you back about $150. Some video “clubs” also offer the film as a standalone DVD–check their reputability before ordering. As to the question of who actually owns the rights to these films–anyone’s guess. Rights changed hands quickly and shadily when they were spliced and redistributed for regional consumption. Who deserves to profit from this? Your guess is as good as mine.
Cast:
Sharon Mitchell…Rebecca
David Christopher…Rebecca’s Father
George Payne…Dean Mindinao
Niko[/url…Linda, the Dean’s secretary
Stella Stevens…Miss Zorda, the headmistress
the orgy people:
Velvet Summers…Sandra
ABbrosia Fox (as LoriAmbrosia)…Barbara
Cheri Champagne…Cindy
Ron Hudd…John
Tony Mansfield…Paul
Jamie St. James…Bob
Plot:
Rebecca escapes from the clutches of her abusive, incestuous father for the safety of a school for wayward teens, only to find the sadism there even more horrifying than her home life.
Scene 1. David Christopher, Sharon Mitchell
The film opens with Rebecca sneaking out of the house and stealing the family car. She is wearing a Catholic skirt and white shirt, with the obvious implication that she is underaged. She phones Miss Zorda to ask her if she can come to see her. While driving, single-framed snippets of her incestuous relationship with her Father play. After arriving at the reformatory, Rebecca gives Miss Zorda a recounting of her latest encounter with Dad, which involves him calling her into the john because he can’t get a boner, making his daughter suck his dick and ride her, forcing her to be painfully spanked and whipped, then mercifully being allowed to urinate on Dad’s member.
Scene 2. George Payne, Niko
Rebecca is introduced to the other school kids. Payne stole the Stray Cats’ music too. Among the introductees is the “Dean of Disipline, Mr. Mindeo. After some strong words from the obviously wayward youth, Mr. Mindeo requires Linda’s presence to finish some reports…on his dick.
Scene 3. 2 guys, Ambrosia Fox, Cheri Champagne, Sharon Mitchell, Velvet Summers
The wayward youth are sly to Mr. Mindeo’s sexual proclivities. They decide to have an orgy to protest such an unjust treatment. Mostly…the rest of the case fucks the other rest of the cast. While the Dean and Miss Zorda discuss the state of affairs, Ambrosia Fox is getting fisted in the dorm room, upon which Dean Mindeo and Miss Zorda emerged, shocked.
Scene 4. George Payne, Sharon Mitchell
Rebecca is the first in line for displine. Dean Mindeo is a fucking sociopath. he verbally abuses Rebecca, then physically, courtesy of a leather whip…or cat ‘o’ nine tails, whatever you want to call it.
Scene 5. George Payne, Ron Hudd Velvet Summers
The Dean commands Niko and Sandra into his office for punishment. He demands than Paul strip his girl down and pierce her nipple with a clothes pin…which he dutifully does, much to his coed’s discontent. The “pain” causes her to urinate all over the place. No, not “squirt.”
