With the advent of home video in the 1980s, numerous studios started making compilation tapes using obscure movie footage. Some notable examples include Terror in the Aisles, Coming Soon, and It Came from Hollywood. There was Film House Fever, Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell, and the Wizard Video comp tapes on the low-budget side. In 1982, Charles Band and Ken Dixon created The Best of Sex and Violence, a compilation of obscure movie trailers. The appeal of these comp tapes was that they were relatively easy to make, cost very little, and provided content. With the first comp tape being such a hit, Band and Dixon put together a more titillating tape. They hired B-movie queen Sybil Danning to host this collection of clips featuring name actresses getting nude. Released in 1982, Famous T & A tried to recapture the magic that Band and Dixon struck before.
%
Rating
Synopsis
After strapping on her outfit for one of her big projects, Sybil Danning introduces these scintillating scenes. First up, we have revealing moments of actress Phyllis Davis on the set of the survival film Terminal Island. Next, Ornella Muti, best known as Princess Aura from Flash Gordon, bears all in the obscure 70s film Summer Affair. We also get the original Bond girl, Ursula Andress, paraded around in the cannibal film Slave of the Cannibal God. There’s also international superstar Jacqueline Bisset, fresh off of her roles in Bullitt and Airport, in 1971’s Secrets. We even get scenes from Charles Band’s earlier works, featuring Idy Tripodi from Auditions and Angela Aames from Fairy Tales. A pre-Elvira Cassandra Peterson shakes it in The Working Girls, and Vanity hooks up with a gorilla on Tanya’s Island. This and more can be found in the bizarre 74-minute collection Famous T & A.
Review
Despite my criticisms of its non-existent production values, I thought The Best of Sex and Violence was a fun treat. It had a good selection of trailers, each divided into individual segments, with a fun host delivering snappy comebacks. With Famous T & A, not even Sybil Danning’s presence can save this poor excuse for a compilation. Unlike Sex and Violence, this movie has no structure, going from one clip to another with no rhyme or reason. It doesn’t help that many clips are of inferior quality and choppily edited, making them nearly impossible to watch. Plus, for a movie claiming to feature now-famous actresses baring it all, only a few are what I’d consider “stars.” Besides Ursula Andress and Jacqueline Bissett, anyone unfamiliar with cult films won’t know Phyllis Davis, Laura Gemser, or Ornella Muti. Also, despite being listed on the poster, Nastassja Kinski is nowhere to be seen.
Granted, in a pre-internet age, this movie certainly had its place for those looking for gratuitous sex and nudity. Back in the day, it was harder for people to find this stuff outside scuzzy movie theaters on 42nd Street. Comp tapes like this were an excellent way for people to access instant content years before the internet. This movie has its place in obscure film history, even if the final product isn’t great. After this, Ken Dixon would make two more compilation movies for Wizard Video: Filmgore and Zombiethon. His last credit was the cheesy space movie Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, starring Elizabeth Kaitan, who makes everything better. As for this compilation, unless you want to see grainy footage of actresses stripping and screwing, there are better choices. Overall, Famous T & A isn’t awful, but you could spend 74 minutes doing something better.
Buy Famous T & A on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3H7hXJd.
Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, which means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
