69: Discover the Secret

By Josh Eliot

Hands down, for me, the least interesting sexual position, whether you are in a bed or behind a camera lens, is 69. It blows, literally. It’s a bitch to light if you are filming it, a pain in the ass to execute it if you are an actor performing the position and not the most pleasant of views for the guy on the bottom. Now granted, it’s a simultaneous blow job, or a blow and a rim, but I much prefer the guy on his knees looking up with his eyes as he works his partner off. Doesn’t that always look better in a movie or to the receiver? I made a movie called 69: Discover the Secret in 2004 and I’ll be more than surprised, when I go back to watch it, if the movie even features one short segment with the 69 sex position. The title was a play on words and 69 stood for the year 1969, not the sex position.

The movie opens to a glorious black-and white-shot of a secluded home in the mountains of Yucca Valley, California with a half-moon glowing above it. Inside the house, actors Rob Romoni and Andreas Stern play a closeted 1960’s couple watching television as the astronauts walk on the moon for the very first time. Later, Andreas goes out back into the tool shed and discovers a distressed, naked young man who collapses onto the floor. The couple brings the young man inside and discovers he has amnesia but remembers someone calling him by the name Skyler.

Skyler is the main character of the movie, and we follow his journey from young man to middle-aged adult, learning more and more about his existence along the way. Young Skyler is played by Chip Noll, then as the story progresses into the 1980’s, Cameron Fox takes over the role of Skyler. Finally, as we reach modern day in the early 2000’s, Steve Rambo assumes the role of older Skyler. The big names only start there, with sixteen more top stars all contributing their awesomeness to this major movie for Catalina Video! The supporting cast includes Ray Harley, Maxime Cannon, Jack van Dean, Bruno Storni (aka Bruno Storm), Andreas Stern, Alex Steele, Riley Porter, Rob Romoni, Mario Ortiz, Andy Hunter, Jonathan Gabriel, Jessie Cooper, Adriano and the award-winning trio who received the Best Group Scene Award from GayVN: Arpad Miklos, Brad Benton and Jack Ryan. I remember shooting that award-winning threeway with those guys and thinking to myself, “This is the 'scene stealer' of this entire movie.” It was hotter than hot - all three of those dudes had such an incredible sexual presence with each other. They were almost giddy to get each other stripped down and pounce on each other.

Young Skyler is introduced for the first time into the world of sexual pleasure when he witnesses the 1969 gay couple involved in some deep penetration. Shot beautifully in gorgeous black-and-white, this scene rates high among all of my very favorites. Andreas Stern never looked better, and that giant fat dick of his sliding into Rob Romoni’s throat and muscle ass opens the movie with a bang! The following morning, they wake up and realize Skyler has flown the coop. We next see Skyler wandering through the wilderness stopping along a river to rest. This is where the audience begins to see glimpses and flashes of Skyler’s memories in both black-and-white and in color. I was going for a memory montage that looked as though moments from history were implanted in his brain, and I achieved this by using purchased stock footage of major events in history cut to overly dramatic music. When Skyler falls asleep, the time lapses and we move from 1969 to 1992, converting into color along the way

In 1992, Cameron Fox takes over the role, and he is now making his way from the mountains to the desert floor in Palm Springs, California. Cameron Fox started his career in 1999 at the age of twenty-two under contract with Falcon Studios. His first three movies for director John Rutherford were Sting: A Taste of Leather, No Way Out and In Deep: Miles to Go. We were lucky enough to work with Cameron in 2003 for directer Brad Austin’s My Overstuffed Jeans and also his role in 69. Cameron unfortunately passed away at the young age of 36 on June 12, 2014. He will be remembered for his wonderful demeanor and professionality on the set, with award-winning performances highlighting his legacy. A fun, friendly Texas boy who, through our brief time working together, made such a positive impression on myself and the Catalina crew members. Cameron was the perfect choice for the thirty-ish Skyler who falls in love with Adriano when they meet accidentally one day in the desert. Skyler is mistaken for one of the “working boy hustlers” hired for a birthday party and, even though he is just in the wrong place at the wrong time, Skyler joins in on the erotic five-way with Adriano, Jonathan Gabriel, Riley Porter and Mario Ortiz. After the party, Skyler stays with Adriano and the pair forms a relationship. Suddenly and without warning, the threat of mysterious bounty hunters looking for Skyler is made known. Skyler’s fear for Adriano’s safety forces him to take off in the middle of the night, leaving his lover behind. He makes his way into the nearby mountains, where he lives off the land for a little over a decade.

In a fun and fabulous transition scene, Cameron Fox transforms into Steve Rambo, who takes over the final casting for the “older” Skyler. After living off the land for many years, he is captured by the bounty hunters as the audience learns more about who exactly Skyler is. In his very last movie for Catalina Video (his work with which included a brilliant eight-year career as an exclusive for the company), Ray Harley steps in to play the hero of the movie. He portrays the one person who knows everything about Skyler and wants to help free him from the hands of the military monster, played by Maxime Cannon, who now holds Skyler captive. Maxime Cannon and Ray both starred in His Terrible Twin, Stag Show and Junior's Nude Cleaning Service, but this is the first time they performed together in a sex scene. It was perfect casting for the hottest bottom in our stable of exclusives to be rammed by our biggest dick exclusive. Ray can usually take anyone, but he was definitely feeling it when Maxime’s giant schlong went to town on his ass. It is at this point that we all find out exactly who and what Skyler is and why he was created in the first place. Yes, I said created.

Skyler and the audience are transported inside a digital program, and are introduced to a stable of studs who happen to be the newest “version” of Skyler: newly built Skyler models 2.0 with modern technology preventing them from escaping the military and having to be hunted down, like our character was. The original Skyler is simply out of date. Ray Harley brokers a deal to let the original Skyler return to the desert to spend the rest of his existence with his true love, Adriano, but only after he shares all of the sexual experiences he had along the way with the new group of updated Skyler 2.0s... because you just can’t get that “mouth on cock,” “dick up the ass” or “load on the face” realistic experience from a computer program. Basically, an excuse for a big final orgy to close out the movie.

69: Discover the Secret was my opportunity to dip my toes into a little bit of sci-fi. I had a really good time creating the futuristic world and all the characters living in it. I have to say, the actors all did an awesome job with the outside-the-box personalities. I recently re-mastered a 32-minute “PG” version of the movie for my YouTube Channel and am linking it for you to watch here.

Bio of Josh Eliot:

At the age of 25 in 1987, Josh Eliot was hired by Catalina Video by John Travis (Brentwood Video) and Scott Masters (Nova Video). Travis trained Eliot on his style of videography and mentored him on the art of directing. Josh directed his first movie, Runaways, in 1987. By 2009 when Josh parted ways with Catalina Video, he'd produced and directed hundreds of features and won numerous awards for Best Screenplay, Videography, Editing, and Directing. He was entered into the GayVN Hall of fame in 2002.