The Midnight Hustler (1971) watch online HD

Early porn history stars take center stage in THE MIDNIGHT HUSTLER, with fan favorite Sandy Carey featured throughout. It's a shame the anonymous filmmakers didn't measure up to their acting talent.

We're in the "lower depths" here, limning the travails of Carey playing Gail, just off the bus, trying to scrape together an existence in L.A. Voice-over narration (as we watch tight closeups of intercourse and a stock footage bus ride) implies she's been stiffed out of $5 for a trick. Sitting on a bench, she's picked up by a guy (Norman Fields, a porn pioneer) who merely offers her some food.

Back at his pad she's outraged when he starts grabbing her while she's still eating her sandwich, and she slaps him down. But since this is a porn film, they're soon in the sack. Après sex he tells her "this is a jungle" and promises to help her meet people, suggesting they become partners (i.e., he'll be her pimp).

The IMDb mini-synopsis is off-base, as usual, in painting Fields' character (named Angie) as the bad guy. He takes her to a party where a guy usually entertains rich people, and she meets a familiar porn thesp playing Howard (Jim Frost). Howard hooks up with her, but before they can leave, the party-thrower Vince (popular soft & hard porn star Gerard Broulard) insists on a test run, taking Sandy into the bedroom and raping her while two cronies hold her down. Howard saves her, and she gets money from him after servicing him.

When Gail returns to Angie's pad, he's angry with her for leaving him at the party - he thought that marked the end of their relationship. They make up and after his money shot he plans a life for them together, perhaps relocating to a small town in Oklahoma where he's originally from. Oddly moody ending has the two of them wandering by a lake, facing an uncertain future. "THE END" is superimposed on screen, reading backwards, likely out of sloppiness.

Carey, as always, develops sympathy as a porn performer who seems like a real person -attractive, but not "Hollywood phony". She handles all the sex scenes, unusual for a feature-length film, and given the dominance of her role she deserved a more interesting script. Fields' method acting (and very bad rug) are disconcerting, but he still evidences one of the better acting talents among the unsung early XXX practitioners. Broulard is well-cast as the bad guy.

Very poor sound recording guarantees the THE MIDNIGHT HUSTLER will not make it onto anyone's Ten Best list.