William Higgins' BIG GUNS Is Turning 40!

By Josh Eliot

A few weeks ago, I happened to come across a VHS copy of the William Higgins classic Big Guns on a re-sale site online. My mini collection of VHS tapes already includes a copy of my very first movie for Catalina Video, Runaways, as well as VHS copies of Valley of the Bi Dolls and Revenge of the Bi Dolls. When I saw that a copy of Big Guns, in pristine condition, was up for sale at only $20, I just had to have it. It seems that among the younger generation, VHS collecting is back in vogue, and I was thrilled to see Bijou World's website offering vintage tapes for sale, as well. What I really want to find is the original printing of Hot Rods: The Young and The Hung 2, which is the official sequel to Big Guns. The VHS box for Hot Rods, in its original printing, had a cranberry-colored, embossed foil coloring to it for the words Hot Rods. Later versions were just a flat box without the protruding title. That foil-embossed box would be the crown jewel in any collection, as there where only 2000 originally printed that way, and all other printings where pale in comparison. The sick thing is that I had a VHS of every single movie Catalina distributed, back in the day, as we could buy a copy for $5 each as employees. I foolishly sold them at a yard sale many years later, not realizing their value, and they jumped off the table at 2 for $1. Okay, I’m an idiot!

What I loved about my purchase of the Big Guns VHS is that, in addition to being in the original aspect ratio, I could tell that it was created from a 1” original master, which kept the quality amazing even while losing a generation of picture quality when transferring it to VHS. Back when we were making movies, it was always a bummer that you would have generation loss from when you shot the movie on ¾” to when it came out in stores on ½” VHS or BETA. Once digital video came along, there was no longer “generational loss,” so what was shot on the set looked exactly the same once it was released on DVD. Because of the generational loss with movies from the 1980s and early 1990s, there is a major variation from movie to movie as far as the quality. For many years, we would duplicate the movies from a 1” master to VHS, and the quality held its own, pretty much. But in later years, to save money, an S-VHS master or ¾ master was used to duplicate, and a lot of the time the picture looked muddy. This was not the case with the Big Guns VHS I purchased, and I was just thrilled to be able to use it to create a tribute for its upcoming anniversary on social media. The movie was shot in 1986 but released on video in early 1987.

I mentioned that Hot Rods was the official sequel to Big Guns, which came about in a not so ordinary way. William Higgins' original vision for Big Guns was to have it end with the Rocky Armano, Mike Henson and Jeff Quinn scene. In that scene, the three guys, in military garb, have a paintball battle in the countryside where the loser (Rocky Armano) gets tied to a rope and stripped to his undies. Higgins' intent was to continue the scene into their tent, where a highly charged threeway ensues. The problem that came about was the fact that either the VHS tapes' running time was limited or theater owners wanted to have as many showings per day as possible, and that final scene would have put the running time over what they considered suitable. I’ve heard both stories, so I’m not sure which one was the real reason, but in any case a decision was made to end the movie with a cliffhanger. The final scene of Big Guns plays to the point where Rocky Armano is tied up and hanging from a tree in his undies. The shot freezes and a title card comes across the screen stating that this scene would be continued in Hot Rods: The Young and The Hung 2. Because Big Guns was such a massive hit for Higgins, it left audiences salivating for the release of Hot Rods to see Rocky Armano, Henson and Quinn finish what they started. Hot Rods, in turn, became an even bigger hit, not only for the fact that it included the threeway, but also thanks to the Kevin Williams scene on the horizontal rotisserie, where his hot ass is spun in a circle for an array of leather dudes to penetrate.

Twenty years ago, I worked on remastering William Higgins' Big Guns for its 20th anniversary on DVD. Now, mind you, twenty years ago we did not have the technology that companies like Bijou have today to properly remaster the movies with enhanced picture, white balancing, sharpening, etc., but we did have an ace up our sleeves to promote the sales of it. It was decided to restore the movie to its original running time and to include the full threeway sex scene that was originally cut out of the movie to please theater owners. We removed the cliffhanger and let the scene continue naturally to where the movie ended as intended, extending the running time by about seventeen minutes. If you are in the market to own this little treasure of a film, I would suggest looking for the 20th anniversary edition, as it contains more bang for your buck! Oh, how I wish that the current owners of the Catalina Video library of movies would release a 40th anniversary edition of this classic, with all the bells and whistles of enhancement, but DVD versions of these movies are harder and harder to find, as more companies opt to only stream them instead of offering physical copies. Melusine.com (check them out) is doing amazing work on restoring and repackaging “straight” adult classics in limited edition pimped out packaging for movies like Behind The Green Door! They include many “on set” photographs, in book form, and bonus footage. Most sell out, and these limited editions will one day be collectors’ items, like my fabulous copy of Big Guns!

Here I am chatting away, and I haven’t even gotten into the “meat and potatoes” of the movie Big Guns, itself, or it’s incredible cast, which includes Mike Henson, Jeff Quinn, John Davenport, Chris Gray, John Rocklin, Jeff Boote, Kevin Wiles, Chad Douglas, Mike Ryan, Rocky Armano and a super young Kevin Williams! Well, I guess you know what that means! Yes, in Part 2 of the Big Guns 40th anniversary celebratory blog I will talk about the boys, and that very, very famous Chad Douglas/Kevin Wiles scene that was burned into my brain as a young 24-year-old when I first saw it. Not to mention the John Davenport/Chris Gray scene on the firing range, which I will go out on a limb to say was one of the sexiest seduction scenes ever in a gay adult film, past or present! It really is a “dream cast” who worked in this movie, and I’m looking forward to highlighting and honoring all of them! Like the original version of the movie, Big Guns, I am ending this blog with a “cliffhanger,” as the real payoff will be in the sequel!

Watch Josh Eliot's trailers for the following classics:

Big Guns, Runaways, Valley of the Bi Dolls, Revenge of the Bi Dolls

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.