The best known film from AIPs are things like I was a Teenage Werewolf, their 50s sci fi efforts, the Roger Corman Poe pictures, blaxploitation efforts. This sex comedy isn't as famous but it outgrossed all of them, becoming the studio's biggest hit of the sixties. And this must have come down to its concept - a man is locked in an attic by three women who force him to have sex with them.
That section doesn't happen until the last third. Up until then we get a character study of Paxton Quigley, who is the guy - a womaniser on campus. Casting is crucial for this sort of role and AIP were lucky enough to get Christopher Jones, a James Dean type who was a hot item in the 60s, with rising popularity and a lively romantic life (his real life conquests including Susan Strasberg, Susan George, Olivia Hussey and Sharon Tate), and who retired from acting after Ryan's Daughter. Jones is the sort of guy who in real life most men want to punch out - moody, slim, good looking, very attractive to women - but he's got charm, charisma and looks and is perfect for the role. You believe he could score these women.
And they are attractive women too. Yvette Mimieux may have been a little old to play a co-ed by this time but her juvenile quality (which never really left her) suits the part; Judy Pace is a black artist (it's a terrible performance though Pace isn't helped by having to refer to the fact that she's black every second line); Maggie Thrett is a hippy type. It's quite sexy to watch them all get it on, even before the attic marathon love making session, which is meant to make Jones see the error of his ways or something (the film avoids tackling the issue of whether they rape him at all).
The core story is believe it or not a love tale between Jones and Mimieux, the one he really likes. It ends with them getting together (even though she's organised the marathon sex session and is hostile towards him... she tries to understand why he cheated, as if that's hard). You wonder how long Jones will go before he cheats on her again.
This has a lot of period peace charm - some genuinely groovy opening credits and camera work, a catchy theme song "Paxton Quigley's Had the Course" by Chas and Dave, the fashions and performances.
Some of it isn't so crash hot eg Jones getting Thrett to sleep with him by pretending he's "a fag" and commenting that "fags must get so many women". There is some satire at the expense of hippies, students and the 60s sexual revolution - and an ending credit sequence which mocks the elder generation (a cartoon of a sexually frustrated man and his won't-put-out wife coming come after the film and not having sex) - but it's not a comedy, more a straight drama. Still, I'm surprised it's not better remembered.
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