Porky's (1981)

_**Horny teens in the Miami area and a redneck bar in the swamp**_ In 1954, several high schoolers in southeast Florida pursue sex while tangling with the owner of a sleazy nightclub in the Everglades and his sheriff brother. "Porky's" (1981) is iconic in early 80's cinema, but it's a half good/half bad piece for me. It's too unpleasantly sleazy with corny sex-related jokes and the sexually "liberated" tone doesn't fit the mid-50s. I can't believe Susan Clark lowered herself to play the prostitute Cherry Forever; likewise, Kim Cattrall gets stuck with a (supposedly funny) humiliating scene. Furthermore, the young actors are clearly in the 24-30 range, not high schoolers. It would've made more sense to make this about college juniors/seniors. But there are some good parts, like the 50's southeast Florida setting, the coming-of-age element, a few attractive females and an honest attempt to flesh out these youths with conflicts and so forth. Unfortunately, the raunchiness leaves the viewer feeling dirty. For a much more palatable movie of this ilk check out the excellent "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," which came out five months later. The movie runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot entirely in southeast Florida (Miami, Miami Beach, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and North Bay Village). GRADE: C/C-