I Just Watched CRUISIN’ THE CASTRO (1981)

By Josh Eliot

[Originally published 01/31/25]

It might seem odd for me to pick Cruisin’ the Castro as my second choice in the “I Just Watched” series of blogs, but you’ll discover, as I did, that there is much more to this movie than meets the eye. Certainly Cruisin’ did not have the polish, notoriety or deeply layered storyline of Steve Scott’s Screenplay, my first blog in the series, but it did have a desirability factor for me, so I chose to view it. After all, I did live in the heart of the Castro from 1983 - 1988 on the corner of Castro & 19th, a mere block away from the epicenter. So when I stumbled upon it while scanning through the Bijou Video On Demand list of titles, I was sold even before looking at one frame of the movie, and that was for a couple of reasons. The first of which was that I saw Dick Fisk’s name in the partial credits listed on the page. The second was when I started thinking about the joint venture Will Seagers and I worked on together where we each contributed three blogs about the Castro District in San Francisco during the 1970’s and 1980’s. I’ll link those blogs at the end of this one, just in case you want to read them.

I have to admit, I never met Dick Fisk or even remembered, until researching for this blog, that I saw him in the movie Spokes. My 1980’s San Francisco friend Fred Fazzina from the blog "Everybody’s Free to Feel Good!" would always talk about “little Dickie Fisk,” a good friend of his and his partner. He often told stories about the group of friends which included Fisk, the shit they would get into and just how much they all missed him. Seeing his name in the credits sparked my interest to watch Cruisin’. I wouldn’t exactly refer to Dick Fisk as Little Dickie Fisk, girth-wise - maybe height-wise, but that’s how he was endeared to Fred. In a tragic turn of events, on Halloween evening 1983, Dick Fisk (Frank Ricky Fitts, 28 years old) lost his life along with that of his lover, Joe Howard, in a car accident. He is best known for gracing the cover of Falcon Studio’s The Other Side of Aspen alongside Al Parker and Casey Donovan, an iconic photo for sure.

Before landing upon Cruisin’ the Castro, I was leaning toward something from NOVA Studio directed by my previous producer, Robert Walters (Scott Masters). I thought it would be a challenge to pick something that was more music-enhanced and in line with the Brentwood/John Travis movies, to switch things up from my first blog in the series, where Steve Scott’s Screenplay had a heavy script and character development. Cruisin’ has a combination of both music-enhanced scenes and live action sound. All that was left now was to get comfortable, so I sat my butt down and started streaming, noticing a few things that stood out to me right away. First and foremost was the title itself, which was the same image as on the movie poster I remembered seeing, probably at the Screening Room Theater back when I worked there in the early 1980’s. The title was written alongside a Victorian building, as is reflected in the original movie poster. The second was the cast; I was like, really? The cast was very impressive. What was this movie I never saw that had all these headliners? Stars include Richard Locke, Will Seagers, Dick Fisk and Johnny Harden, who honestly looks the best he’s ever looked in this film and graces the newer DVD box cover on the Bijou restored version. Supporting cast includes Don Talon, Jack Holtz, Mark Majors, Tom Manley and Tony Natali.

Before getting into it, I’ll just say one thing: the guys in this movie all have big fat rock hard pieces and they all seem to be very cock-hungry and overly horned up. Granted, it has a paper-thin storyline connecting all the scenes, but this is one of those movies that makes you not care, because of the quality of the good looking, well-built and toned cast. They are hot, handsome, hung and hungry. They are into it and it shows, thanks to the direction of Michael R. Newman. Who? Has anyone heard of Michael R. Newman? IMDB shows Mr. Newman as only having one directorial credit to his name, and that is for Cruisin’. When coming across this information regarding the director, I emailed co-blogger Will Seagers to see if he had any more information about this guy. A stage-name, for sure, but could he be someone who didn’t want to be known? Well, get this, even more interesting is the fact that this movie was credited as a CinArt production. CinArt is the production company of the notorious Mitchell Brothers, who broke box office records with Marilyn Chambers in Behind the Green Door (1972). Was this them dipping their feet in the all-male market? Was Michael R. Newman a Mitchell Brother? The chances of that being reality are probably a million to one; it’s more likely the fact that CinArt simply produced and distributed this movie. CinArt and the Mitchell Brothers had never released an all-male movie before or after this one. By emailing Will, I was hoping to see if he remembered shooting his scene with Don Talon and Richard Locke, and more importantly, who directed them? There is no actual shoot date information, but evidently it was shot in the late 1970’s and released in 1981. Why the hold up? More questions than answers, for sure.

The first scene with Mark Majors and Tony Natali is, in my opinion, the very best. The two guys, virtual unknowns, meet on the street and end up climbing through a rooftop enclosure. Rock hard fat pieces from both, and they are all over each other, adding to the sexiness of it. Not to mention they both have great bodies and are really handsome. In scene two, the Tom Manley (aka Chad Scott, the scene-stealer from NOVA's Little Brother’s Coming Out) again commands the audience with his good looks and hungry boy sexiness with co-star Jack Holtz. Jack Holtz, in the one and only “live-sound” scene of his career, brings his crazy-hick energy, especially when eating handsome Tom Manley’s cum-covered ass. In scene number three, Johnny Harden, looking G-G-G-Great, performs what I think is one of his very best signature load-on-the-face J/Os, keeping it interesting to watch the entire time. Not-so-little Dick Fisk is paired with Mark Majors (from scene one) and gives a great performance, both topping and bottoming for his well-hung co-star. Mark does feel the burn when taking Fisk’s fat dick up the ass moments after finishing up topping.

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.