Pornonomy Reviews: The Young Like It Hot

The Young Like It Hot (1983)

Directed by:
Bob Chinn

Starring:
Shauna Grant
Hyapatia Lee
Kay Parker
Lili Marlene
Linda Shaw
Laurie Smith
Pat Manning
Rosa Lee Kimball
Sarah Mills
Ray Wells
Bud Lee
Eric Edwards
Hershel Savage
Joey Silvera
Mike Horner
Paul Thomas
Bill Margold

By coincidence, this is the second film I've seen in as many days directed by Bob Chinn. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, chalk up another one for Bob Chinn. (Although, in this case you can't overlook the contribution of Gail Palmer's story and screenplay.)

In what should be square one for filmmakers, porn or otherwise, The Young Like It Hot has a simple, straightforward premise with dramatic tension: here a phone company is considering a switch to a computerized system which would put the operators out of work. In an effort to save their jobs, they decide to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get customers to contact their boss, proving computers can't replace people. At the same time, the operators conspire with the "pole men" to sabotage the computer system.

Much like in Pizza Girls, the main characters are varied and interesting, and right in the wheelhouse of the actors portraying them , and the "action" flows more or less organically within the construct of the plot.

Throughout the film there are moments of levity intentional (particularly involving Edwards as the boss, Mr. Fishbait: "And why is my chair moist?"; and the "help" "dizzy" operator Cindy - Shauna Grant - gives Jeff - Silvera - over the phone while he's attempting to finish an addition to his house) and unintentional (David - Bud Lee - talking Carla - Sharon Mills - through her first orgasm; if Mike Horner and Kevin James are neck and neck for porn's All-American Doofus, Lee may well be porn's Biggest Dweeb).

The main cast is rounded out by Loni (Hyapatia Lee), the operators' supervisor, Cheryl (Kay Parker, who seems more like a weirdo the more I see her in films), virgin-with-man-issues Marie (Lili Marlene, with the look and awkwardness of a fourth wife at Juniper Creek, who is still somehow supposed to be believable as the object of Mr. Fishbait's affection), Nancy (Rosa Lee Kimball) the operator that "talks off" "Big Dick" (Bill Margold, who must be a righty given his spastic left-handed technique while he's on the phone), and service men Jim (Ray Wells), Mr. Fishbait's brother, Cheryl's suitor, near genius and computer wizard, and character with perhaps the line of the film (to Cheryl: "I'm not gonna to fuck you. And I'm not gonna make love to you. I'm gonna do both at the same time."; man, that's a lot of descriptors for a dude that's in the movie for, like, four minutes), and Tom (Horner).

The only things that keep The Young Like It Hot (overlooking the fact that the name of the film seems to have been picked out of a hat...although it does have a pretty sweet theme song), are the trio of simultaneously occurring sex scenes that happen after the resolution of the plot (hence the aforementioned "more or less organically") and the obviously over-dubbed sounds in the first Grant/Silvera scene (I'd hazard a guess that they were deemed necessary given Shauna Grant's relative inability to emote...).

Still, overall a pretty top-notch picture. A-