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As the winter holidays approach, I can’t help but get nostalgic as I find myself re-watching movies from the past that I desperately want to see again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen All About Eve (1950), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Francis (1982), for Jessica Lange’s performance alone, and even Carrie (1976), to name a few. There’s something about watching a movie that you love that transports you back to the time when you first viewed it. I’m starting a new recurring blog called “I Just Watched.” At first it was going to be a one-off, but then I started thinking about all of the movies I love and want to re-watch, as well as the movies I remember seeing advertised but never got a chance to see.

In addition to all the great remastered DVDs for sale through BijouWorld, Bijou's VOD website streams more content than you could ever watch in a lifetime! They have an amazing library of movies, and when I breezed through the movies, I found myself drawn to those from director Steve Scott. During the 2+ decades I worked at Catalina Video, I found myself as a young director influenced by my mentor John Travis. In hindsight, I wish I would have also looked upon the work of directors from previous generations to inspire me, as well. It’s not like I didn’t have access; the Bijou Video Catalog (Bijou's print catalog in the '80s/'90s) was always a staple in the Catalina offices, and I would frequently breeze through it to get information on new releases, check out the new and seasoned models on the scene and read the write ups on all the movies. Recently, I just so happened to find a copy of the Fall/Winter ’88-’89 catalog for sale online, so I quickly purchased it. Director Steve Scott was featured in, what one might call, the “full color centerfold” of this edition, and was the subject of a special dedication:

“This catalog is in memory of STEVE SCOTT, a great filmmaker and friend and STANLEY SARGOY, a great friend. At peace and with God.”

This passage confirmed to me that choosing a Steve Scott film for the first viewing in this series is more than appropriate. Steve Scott’s movie Screenplay, currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, won the Best Gay Film Award in 1984 from the Gay Critics Association, and even though I’d never seen it, I will treat myself by streaming it now.

The opening titles incorporate the same design as was used on the original VHS box cover, which I thought was cool. It then fades into a stagnate shot of Lee Ryder walking down a desert road towards the camera, free balling in a pair of gray sweat short-shorts. It appears as though it was shot in Joshua Tree National Park. Harmonica music is playing as he sits roadside to take a rest, as the camera peeks in to see his large endowment hanging out of both sides of his shorts, balls one side, schlong the other. The music stops when the movie cuts to Robert Vega and Danny Combs having sex in a movie studio’s grip truck, parked somewhere out in the desert. In fact, there will be no further music until the closing credits, which really helps to make this movie feel very realistic. It has the look of a major motion picture in regard to lighting, camera work and style. The harsh desert light and shadows are always perfectly blended for a fantastic viewing experience, and the restoration is second to none. Lee Ryder walks up on the pair and befriends Vega, who is a production assistant on the Western-themed porno movie that is being shot. Vega also doubles as a limousine driver for the lead actor in the movie, Cody Jackson, played perfectly by Eric Ryan. We now realize that the production team and actors are staying at The New Lost World Resort, which the movie also acknowledges was shot there.

***Side Note*** The Lost World Resort was originally homesteaded as a guest ranch in 1925. After major additions, it became the White Sun Ranch in the 1940’s, whose visitors over the years included Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. In 1981, it officially became a gay resort and was renamed “The New Lost World Country Club and Resort.” Many guests described it as run-down with cloudy pools. The resort had several news-worthy events: a guest setting himself on fire, another male guest found drowned in one of the pools and a fire that broke out in the parking lot, engulfing ten cars. The resort closed its doors in 1986 and, after getting condemned by the city, it was sold to a developer in 1988. I became slightly obsessed with it, so I tracked down the exact location through LGBTQ+ Desert Archives and took a drive to find it. In the photo below, I stand in the exact spot Lee Ryder was, just outside the gates, forty years later. The property is now a gated community called the White Sun Estates. ***

The movie treats us to some amazing rural and picturesque shots of the Rancho Mirage area near Palm Springs in the early 1980’s. The film cuts to Eric Ryan’s room at the resort as the wardrobe stylist played by Jon King enters to show the actor his costumes. Ryan takes no time in getting King on his knees worshiping his fat cock and eventually switches places. Both are rock hard throughout and director Steve Scott shoots some perfectly framed shots, including King puckering his butthole just before Ryan inserts into him. The two have some great chemistry as Ryan lays on top of King who is on his stomach and really drives it home, eventually shooting his load smack dab on that puckering butthole.

We then join Lee Ryder and Robert Vega, who is on his knees working Ryder’s giant piece. When Vega pops his own uncut dick out of his 501’s while sucking off Ryder, the pre-cum is already dripping and director Scott covers that nicely. Ryder unloads on Vega’s tongue, Vega blows a super-sized load and then licks up every drop of Ryder’s cum.

They then go to pick up Cody Jackson from the set, and it is at this point where Lee Ryder meets Eric Ryan (Cody Jackson). The two are smitten from the word go, and Ryan arranges with his PA to have Lee Ryder sent to his suite. Ryder, still in those gray sexy short-shorts, is looking so fine that Eric Ryan is literally pulling his dick out of them seconds after he enters the room. You can tell that Eric Ryan was totally into Ryder, because when he is sucking him he looks totally mesmerized by his dick. Yet again, rock hard madness ensues in this scorching scene where Eric Ryan gets plowed by Lee Ryder and again with just the real sound and no music you can see that Ryan is having a hard time taking the giant piece. You can hear Eric whispering to Lee to take it easy; Lee tells him to just relax then picks up the speed of the fucking before he shoots on Eric’s bubble butt. Some great camerawork with Eric still on his stomach blowing his load, yet the camera has just enough space to get in there and catch it beautifully. Eric invites Lee to stay with him and the drifter agrees.

The next day, the two are having breakfast at Sebastian’s, the Lost World Resort’s restaurant. Here, we see a packed room with many other actors and crew members enjoying breakfast. Included in that room are crew members Champ Larue and super-duper cutie-pie Michael Carr. They both are eating breakfast when they notice Eric Ryan jerking off Lee Ryder under the table next to them, a scene that is very sexy and well shot.

Next, we are treated to Larue and Carr in their room later that evening. Carr is naked on his stomach, sound asleep, while Larue is drinking beer in the bed next to him. Larue starts jacking off while slowly walking over and hovering over different parts of Carr’s hot body, inches away from his balls, then sniffing his pits and eventually blowing his load once Carr, still sleeping, rolls over, exposing his dick. This scene is very cool and so interestingly shot; I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. My only disappointment is that hot little fucker Michael Carr does not have sex in this one. I guess I’ll have to watch him in Tony’s Initiation.

Back in Hollywood, the producer/partner of Eric Ryan gets a phone call from PA Vega letting him know that Ryan is getting pretty serious with the hot and horny young drifter. Before we know it, the pissed off partner, played by Michael Braun, arrives at the resort and has a bit of a tit for tat with Ryan. Braun, questionably one of the best blowjob performers of that time, tries to reason with Ryan by working his magic on him with his mouth. Ryan prematurely ejaculates and pisses off Braun, but impresses the audience with a really thick and creamy load.

To release his anger, Braun leaves the room and heads out to the courtyard, jumping in the pool. It doesn’t take long before he notices resort guest Brian Palmer stripping down in front of the window of his poolside suite. As the two lock eyes and start masturbating, we are treated to some cool underwater shots of Braun’s dick that shoots streams of seamen floating in the water while fat-dicked, handsome blond Palmer leaves his load of cream dripping down the picture window.

Braun has a brainstorm and arranges for wardrobe manager Jon King to get naked with the pesky drifter in order to show Eric Ryan that he is just being played. In what turns out to be the hottest scene in the movie, the chemistry that follows between Lee Ryder and Jon King is just sick! Jon King is hungry as hell once he gets Ryder's long fat mega bone in his mouth, and Lee is all about it! Again, cocks so hard it looks like they hurt. Jon sits on Ryder’s dick and is obviously in pain, yet ride up and down he does. Doggystyle is even more of a treat, and Ryder is rock hard and loving the fact he is inflicting this hot sexy pain upon Jon. At one point, you even hear Jon say, “Oh Lee,” which makes it feel even more real between them! Lee pulls out and blows his biggest and best load in the whole movie. Did I mention that during that terrific sex scene, Michael Braun escorts Eric Ryan up to their window, with a partially opened curtain, to witness it?

Harmonica music begins to play again, signaling the end of the movie, which I’ll leave as a mystery for you, because I’m sure you’ll want to stream it or buy it. This one is the real deal, with a cast I grew up with and fantasized about (Eric Ryan) in the 80’s, showcased in a great film. Will Cody Jackson, played by Eric Ryan dump the drifter Lee Ryder after seeing him boning wardrobe stylist Jon King? Or will the film’s star Eric Ryan blow off his boyfriend Michael Braun and choose to leave with the drifter? This Steve Scott movie is defiantly worthy of it’s Best Picture Award and your time. I’m no film critic, but I do know a hot fucking movie when I see one, and that movie is Screenplay!

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.

Model Mike Radcliffe was on his knees getting hungry for anyone wanting to stick their dick into his mouth. This college professor and somewhat of a “Midnight Cowboy” would be the first to tell anyone that he was cock hungry. He wore it as a badge of honor, and when he starred in the movie The Slutty Professor it couldn’t be any closer to the actual truth. Mike came to us in 1999 and I’m not exactly sure, but I think he “cold-called” us and I just so happened to pick up the phone at the Catalina offices. He only had very minimal experience in front of the camera in a movie for BG Enterprises in 1997 called Private Punishments 7. He is a big guy with a “Herculean” body and a personality that is completely unintimidating.

When we met and took pictures, I knew right away that I could get him in front of the camera within a very short time. I told him about a movie that I was currently shooting called Score, starring Ray Harley and about eighteen other stars of the era. With the big budget movies, I was always afraid to take a risk on what I considered a video virgin. However, I had a role - still un-cast - for someone to play a cop who, while patrolling a local cruising area, throws himself into the action. With his build and stature, I instantly knew that I wanted him in that part. When I told him about it, he got very excited and I think I remember him saying that he wanted to be in the movie so badly that he would even do it for free. Although his mentioning that intrigued the “producer” in me, there was no way I was going to let that happen. Since it was only an oral scene, I felt that hiring him was a risk I was willing to take. He wanted to get into the business so badly that I wouldn’t have had the heart to turn him down.

We shot the park scene on the large property of a rural estate in the Laurel Canyon, above Hollywood. The cruisers in the park were seasoned stars Andrew Lennox, Tuck Johnson, Leo Masters and Scott Davis. The cop, Mike Radcliffe, jacked off while watching Andrew, Leo and Tuck working each other’s dicks with their mouths. Unexpectedly, Scott Davis walked up behind the horned up officer and, before I could even say “action,” Radcliffe was down on his knees sucking his dick like a mad man. I had to yell cut and school him on the fact that we actually needed to be rolling the cameras to shoot the transition and he had to wait until I called “action” - he couldn’t just “jump on it!” We had a good laugh about it.

Once we covered the oral, he politely asked me if it would be okay if Scott Davis shot his load all over his face. I said, “Oh, would you like that?” He told me he would, and that he would really love it if all the guys in the scene did, as well. I hadn’t really thought of that scenario when planning out the scene, but suddenly I realized that having this cop totally give into the moment would really make this scene shine. “Okay, but you can’t be a hungry guzzler, you have to keep your mouth shut when they blow their load on you.” He said, “Whatever you say, I’m just excited about having them all shoot on my face.”

Who was this hungry cum receptacle I just hired? The crew was like, “Is this that guy’s first movie?” His naivety was actually kind of cute when he came up to me at one point to say that it was okay if I wanted to have the guys fuck him. I explained that it was an oral scene, but he didn’t really get it and replied, “That’s okay, I don’t mind, I would really like them to fuck me.” Once I told him that Catalina was only paying everyone to do oral, but not oral and anal, he finally understood.

As expected, he worked every last one of them right up to their explosive loads, which naturally landed all over his face. For some reason, Andrew Lennox shot a load from hell, and as you might imagine I had to keep repeating to Mike, “Close your mouth!” Lennox’s load was going on and on and on and I felt like I was getting laryngitis repeating to “Hungry Hilda” to shut her fucking mouth. It was actually pretty impressive to see this new model give 110% and still ask for more! It was after shooting this scene and when I got through paying everyone that I got an idea that came to me out of the blue, obviously from what we just shot. I went to the still photographer to tell him about the idea I had and he was up for it. I then walked over to Mike Radcliffe who, believe it or not, was helping the crew pack up the equipment and load it into the van. I asked him if he would like to make another $100 by posing for some still photos that we would use for an ad to promote the movie. He said yes, so we stopped loading the van and set up for it.

I envisioned an ad for the gay porn magazines that might tease the imagination and be a little jarring at the same time. At home I had (and still have) the original movie posters for Mark of the Devil and Last House on the Left. These two 1970’s posters were made for shock value, piqued your imagination and demanded your attention. The Mark of the Devil movie poster shows a girl with her tongue being pulled out. I obviously couldn’t emulate that one, even though I wanted to pull out Mike Radcliffe’s tongue every time it popped out of his mouth looking to lick up a drop or two during the cum shots. The Last House on the Left poster, however, had had some potential. A girl slouched over, against a tree, obviously distraught from being put through the mill by a bunch of guys in the park. The poster featured a warning line that said, “To Avoid Fainting, Keep Repeating: It’s Only A Movie … Only A Movie” - written over and over.

Having that image in my mind, I propped Mike Radcliffe, in full cop uniform, up against a tree and we dripped soft soap all over his uniform and chest to appear like loads of cum. In hindsight, I should have slouched him over in the photo as well, looking exhausted like he had just been worked over. It would have worked better with my tag line that would say something about “sucking everybody off.” But instead, we had to make it a wee bit more sexy. I left the set a happy camper, knowing this would be a cool ad that would make the viewer’s imagination run wild and hopefully hook them into purchasing the movie. We went back and forth at the offices and settled on the slogan. A few weeks later, the art department had the ad completed and I thought it looked great.

Unfortunately, not one magazine would accept the ad with the fake cum all over him - not one of them! I was very disappointed, and we had to re-design the ad with a photograph in his clean, “un-seasoned” uniform. I’d say that Mike Radcliffe’s performance in Score opened the doors for him to have a pretty damned good career shooting fourteen more movies somewhat exclusively for Catalina Video from 1999 and 2002. Some movies include: Walk on the Wild Side (1999), Day Trade (1999), Escape to Echo Beach (2000), Voyager (2000), The Slutty Professor (2000) and Ride ‘Em Cowboy (2002). The Slutty Professor was, in fact, written by Mike Radcliffe, as he based the movie on actual sexual “experimental research” he did with his real-life students. Once he finished his tenure with Catalina, he went on to work for All Worlds, Oh Man! Studios and Pacific Sun, and performed in what I believe was his last movie for Bacchus Releasing in 2011. I hear that he is well and living in New York City; I wish him the best and loved the period of time that we worked together.

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.

I spent a couple of years working in the San Francisco Catalina studio, which was like living in a dream! With taking over as studio manager after Dan Allman (Cameron Leight) left and getting to direct my first two movies, all looked bright for the future. I can’t remember what scene we shot back then, in December of 1989, but Scott Masters and John Travis were both on set when it all went down. We wrapped the scene and the models were showering off while the crew and I started breaking everything down. The crew was Dan Ross as second videographer, Buddy Jones as the make-up man and my best friend Brian Wayne as the lighting and sound grip. We all knew we would be off for the holidays and everyone was in high spirits... until.

Scott Masters called me into the office, and when I arrived I saw John Travis sitting there, puffing away on one of his Benson and Hedges 100s. I could tell from the instant I locked eyes with him that something was up. They explained to me that they were shutting down the San Francisco studio permanently as it was getting too expensive, and due to the fact that a court ruling was in their favor - shooting XXX in the Los Angeles city limits was viable again. I was shocked - it literally came out of nowhere. They were quick to mention that they wanted me to relocate to Los Angeles and continue on as head of production. However, they were not extending the invitation to any of the crew members or the part time carpenter we had on staff. It was devastating to hear and painful when the three of us broke the news to the crew. Everyone always gave 100% and for them to lose their jobs like this with absolutely no warning and just before Christmas was unbelievable. Scott, John and the models hightailed it quickly after the news dropped, while the crew and I stayed back to try and make sense of it all. It sucked.

About a month after arriving in West Hollywood, I was settled into my one-bedroom condo rental a couple of blocks from Scott Masters' house. I was still in the process of interviewing applicants for my new crew. We needed a second videographer, a still photographer, a grip and a make-up man. My first hire was Reinaldo (Orlando Bello); he was a video production student from Venezuela, and though he lacked experience, I was confident enough to hire him in the position of grip. Warren was a New Yorker with some amazing photos of his make-up work, so he filled that position. Michael Wynter was a very cute James Dean look-alike, a still photographer who I immediately hired even though his book of photos was just okay.

Scott Masters was quick to schedule my first Los Angeles project: Hard To Be Good, a college-based story that we would shoot in Los Angeles and Arrowhead Lake. The cast of ten consisted of Tim Hunter, Mark Robinson, Neil Thomas, Alan Lambert, Charlie Stone, Rick Sands, Tony Davis, Sparky O’Toole, Mitch Cooke and Les Stine as the pledge master. Hunter, Robinson and Cooke, along with myself and the new crew, all headed up to our lake house rental. The house was nice and roomy and we set up in the basement for the opening scene where Hunter and Robinson are going through photo albums as they reminisce about their first time together.

I wasn’t fully prepared to direct a movie and train this new crew at the same time. There were a lot of “deer in the headlights” eyes from the new crew members who didn’t really know how to perform their jobs yet. Hands-on training for three people at the same time as directing was a bit much. I wished Scott or John had broken in the new crew on one of their movies first. Something must have happened when we shipped the equipment from San Francisco to L.A., because the second camera was showing a yellow hue on the monitor that we tried over and over to white balance, but it wouldn’t hold. I truly thought that they could fix it in post-production, so we shot the scenes using both cameras. I would lock Camera 2 on a tripod while I shot most of the assorted angles on Camera 1. Still photographer Michael Wynter jumped in and shot the second angle cum shots using the “yellow” camera. He actually proved himself to be a big help to me on that movie, but his stint with us was short-lived, as he and Scott Masters had an altercation with each other on the next movie we shot, Head of the Class 2. It was unfortunate losing our eye candy James Dean, but it worked out in the end because I then hired Jeff Burton as still photographer, who stayed with us for over a decade. (Read “DREAMLAND: The Other Place” for more on renowned photographer Jeff Burton.)

As things would have it, the yellow shots from Camera 2 were never able to be fixed because, like I said before, we didn’t have great technology back then. Even to this day, the DVD and streaming version still have every other shot with a distracting yellow hue. So fucking annoying. Another scene we shot was with models Mark Robinson and Mitch Cooke in a tried and true scenario of the hot plumber fixing the young boy's clogged sink. What made this one great was that the plumber had a big fat pipe that got rock hard and Robinson knew exactly how to handle it.

Back in Los Angeles, reality set in when we shot the dorm room scene and the fraternity brothers scene. We were shooting in a stark white, typically tacky valley-girl home. It was the complete opposite of working in those fabulous sound stage sets that I was used to. The dorm room scene with Rick Sands and Charlie Stone was cramped and nondescript; in addition, I now knew that we couldn’t fix the yellow hue from Camera 2, so we were down to shooting the rest of the movie on one camera while we put the other in the shop for repair. I then shot another oral scene in that damned 10’ x 10’ white bedroom with Sparky O’Toole and Tim Hunter swapping blow jobs. Sparky, the original valley-boy, like totally, was the only familiar face from our San Francisco days, and I was happy to have him back on set. He was so great as the farmer’s son in Top Man, which we shot in San Francisco shortly before closing the studio, so having him back for our first L.A. movie was comforting to me.

Even though the location was boring, the best scene, for me, with the hottest cast was Les Stine as the pledge-master with Tim Hunter and Tony Davis as the pledges. I remember thinking Stine and Davis were the hottest members of the movie and I can’t believe that we never cast Tony Davis again even though he performed in like 75 movies over that period. What happened? Regarding Stine, he worked in Head of the Class 2 for us and then never again. What’s up with that? He did probably double the amount of movies that Tony Davis performed in. I can only assume that Masters, who was doing all the casting at that time, must have thought them to be over exposed. The only models I ended up casting again for future movies from Hard to be Good were Sparky (of course) as well as Alan Lambert and Mark Robinson, who were both in Brother Trouble and Brother Trouble 2. Those two movies were eventually re-cut into one complete movie for the DVD release. The lead, Tim Hunter, only ever worked in Hard to be Good and, again, I’m not quite sure why. There is another Tim Hunter currently acting in Raw movies, but I’ve researched and it’s not the same guy.

After the Head of the Class 2 fall out with Michael Wynter, I promoted Orlando Bello from grip to second videographer, and he worked with us for a very long time. At some point, years later, Orlando became sick with the virus. Having refused to try any of the medications that were available to help, he succumbed to the disease. When Orlando left the crew for health reasons, I then hired Brad Austin as main videographer and I (mostly) retired from doing camerawork and focused on producing and directing. Brad Austin became one of our top directors with such hits as Cockpit, Hung Riders and Sunsex Blvd. Fun fact: Brad Austin was actually Gloria Swanson’s personal secretary, for years! Some great stories he told us!

I remember not really connecting with Hard to be Good - maybe because of the yellow distracting shots or the college jock storyline forced on me. Whatever it was, Hard to be Good was one of those movies I always tried to forget about. Revisiting it now, I think I was wrong to dismiss it.

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.

By Josh Eliot

The GM at Catalina Video kind of just rolled his eyes when I told him the title of the latest movie I intended on making. It was going to be a movie solely focusing on a day and a night in the life of the boys in blue. “I hate that title,” he chirped and I came back with, “I love the title! Can’t you just picture it? Some hot stud in uniform bursting out of a box of movie theater popcorn!?” Let’s face it, the title in hindsight is kind of cheesy and lame, but that’s not how I felt back then.

The official title of the movie was Hot Buttered Cop Porn (2006) and the DVD did have a hot stud bursting out of the popcorn box. It just wasn’t the same ol' hot stud I intended to grace the cover. Edu Boxer, a hot European model and a worthy choice, was the star that made the cut. I originally cast another European export, Tamas Eszterhazy, as the actual lead of the movie and cover boy. Tamas is extremely sexy and had a body to die for, but the decision to replace Tamas with Edu on the box was the GM’s. It’s all good, they both are hot, but I felt bad because we specifically shot special glamour layouts of Tamas for the cover, and I’m sure he wasn’t thrilled to see that he was bumped. I guess it was probably the Catalina GM’s way of getting me back for insisting on a crappy title. Very much like the same shit he pulled one year earlier with my movie Menace, a sci-fi sexual thriller, which he re-titled as Cute Enough to Eat (2005). “Cute enough to fucking eat,” are you kidding me! I was not happy about a title so sweet on a movie so dark, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the script’s theme. It really aggravated me, but I just bit my tongue. I was also annoyed because we had some great shots of Arpad Miklos looking “stellar” for the box cover of Menace, but the GM made us re-shoot it with “hot bubble-butt boy” Zachary Pierce squatting over a table of fruit and vegetables. Thank goodness whoever designed the newest DVD cover had the insight to put Arpad back on it. Cute Enough to Eat did well upon release because it was a solid movie, despite its ridiculous title. On YouTube, thanks to The Catalina Collection Channel, it found a bit of a cult following and the team at Red Bubble are still selling a faux movie poster they designed of it featuring Steve Rambo.

But that’s another movie for another blog; here we are focusing in on Hot Buttered Cop Porn.

The movie is strong, damn strong, as proven in the opening scene with super handsome Marcos Pirelli and ultra-hung Mike Power. Officer Pirelli responds to a silent house alarm, discovering Power, who broke into the place. He is coming out of the shower and when asked to “put your hands up,” his towel drops, exposing his larger-than-large cock. Like any good cop, Pirelli cross examines the naked, semi-hard suspect, who agrees to pay the fee for staying at the house with his giant dick. Great sucking, fucking and all that goes with it as the scene unfolds. We shot this scene at cameraman Brad Austin’s house and the rest of the movie at locations throughout Palm Springs and Palm Desert. I even cast my neighbor down the street, Tess Kirby, to play the foul-mouthed female cop in a non-sexual role; Kirby was the name of her cat.

Box cover boy Edu Boxer worked with his real-life lover Manu Maltes in a super-hot scene between these two hairy and handsome studs. What I didn’t count on was Edu’s accent and language barrier, so I threw out the script for their scene and, on the fly, rewrote it while they were in make-up. Manu spoke English very well so I gave him all the lines, while I had Edu play a wounded officer whose vocal cords were damaged, so he needed to respond to Officer Maltes with hand-written notes. If was different, that’s for sure, but actually worked and was a charming way for one officer to seduce another. The scene was hot, but I had to keep yelling at my production assistant because he kept sneaking off, sucking on Manu Maltes every chance he got. That was the same PA from my blog “Ball Broth,” who drank the ball broth! A leopard can’t change his spots!

We went to our old standby gay resort - the INNduldge, Palm Springs - to shoot the bicycle cop scene with Nick Capra, Dario Ventura and Ben Damon. Nick plays the cop busting cruisers on the infamous Warm Sands Drive, but he ends up busting a nut instead of writing tickets. One of those three guys claimed to be the secret lover of a “famous cable newsman” (I’m sure you can guess who he is) and he told us some fun stories about their escapades. The newsman would get off on telling the model to, “Get over here and fuck my pink hole.” Charming. Lots of other fun things, too, and we loved how graphic the stories were! We shot two outdoor nighttime scenes: the first with Sebastian Rio and Scott Spears. Rio is apprehended as he tries to escape a home with stolen goods. Officer Spears tackles him to the ground, only to find out that the suspect is his supervisor's son. The son is a brat and torments the officer, asking him to let him go in exchange for sexual favors. The officer at first declines, but once he realizes that it’s past midnight and young Rios has just turned eighteen years old, he reconsiders.

The real scene-stealer of the movie, in our second nighttime scene, was Marco Montana in his scene with Mike Grant. Montana played a drunk man who gets busted while skinny dipping in someone’s pool in the upper class Rancho Las Palmas neighborhood. His performance prior to the sex scene had all of us in stitches, as he tries to tell the officer that he is the vacant home owner's gardener and agrees to be the officers bitch for the night as long as it will help “Mi Familia.” Great nighttime fucking, poolside, and the two were really into each other, just like one other pair that were red-hot together. That was in a main scene with lead Tamas Eszterhazy and a new discovery for us named Cameron Steele. Tamas, with his rocking, absolutely perfect body, and Cameron could not keep their hands off each other even before we got to the sex. Cameron surprised all of us with his super fat cock. It was so fat, I was concerned that slim and trim Tamas would not be able to take it up the butt. I’m happy to say I was wrong, and he swallowed that thing in an instant! I wish we had discovered Cameron sooner because I would have cast him a lot more!

As it turned out, even though I didn’t know at the time, Hot Buttered Cop Porn would be the last movie I would ever make in my career in the adult industry. If I had known then that it would be my last, I might have reconsidered and maybe done something with a little more punch, storyline-speaking. What it does have, however, is really strong sex scenes, beautiful cinematography and top notch production values, which, to me, was always my top priority. So if I was to go out on this movie, at least it was one I can say I am proud of. Except the music - I have no idea what happened with the music in the movie, because it totally sucks. What was I thinking with the music?

Shortly after making this movie, our GM came to visit me in the desert and dropped the bomb that he was selling Catalina Video to Channel One Releasing. It all happened so quickly, I didn’t really stop to think that I could have possibly brokered a deal to keep the rights to some of the movies I directed. My one regret to this day. That was very naïve on my part.

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.

Here's the continuation of Joseph W Bean's interview with legendary S/M filmmaker Roger Earl, this installment pulled from the Dec '97-Jan '98 issue of International Leatherman magazine. Earl and his collaborative partner Terry LeGrand were behind many of the most influential classic gay S/M films and videos, including Born to Raise Hell (discussed at length in the first installment) and their later Marathon Films releases, including the Dungeons of Europe and Bound for Europe series.

We hope you enjoy this wrap-up of the reprint! (Click here to read Part 1 first.)

Joseph W. Bean: When you went to Europe, were you still shooting on film or were you using videotape?

Roger Earl: I was on tape at that time. But I like shooting with two cameras because I can get through with people a lot quicker and save their energy. You lose the energy when you drag a scene out for three or four hours. When you are using two cameras, it's so easy to just get all of the action, and you don't have to drag them out and keep it on and on.

JWB: In Europe, one camera was Palm Drive Video's Jack Fritscher. Who's the other?

RE: Mark Henry was the other one. Together, Jack and Mark did a great job. I was very pleased with it. On the first three European films, the Dungeons of Europe series. I used one cameraman, a kid from San Francisco. He was someone I met through a woman who did gay porno films. Rumpelstiltskin [editor's correction: R. Stilskin] was her screen name on all these porno films. He turned out to be a dynamite cameraman. He was really a performer; she used him as a model, but he was a cameraman for me.

JWB: When you went to Europe to do that first series, did you know you were shooting for three films from the start or were you just... shooting?

RE: I was shooting everything I could. Then, when I got home, l divided it up into three different films. I was just shooting scenes. I did the same with the other, later ones. I just shot scenes and edited them together.

JWB: So it was two shooting trips, and the first three videos came out of one?

RE: Yes, then we came home and Dungeons of Europe - which includes Pictures From the Black Dance, Like Moths to a Flame, and Men With No Name - was a success. Then, when I was in London on television business, I called Terry [LeGrand, Earl's partner in Marathon] and said, "You should really come over here. There are dynamite people here, it can be a great place to shoot." And he said, ''I'll do it. I'll come over. I'll bring money and a camera. And we'll have to pick up the other people for the crew there." I was sure we could do that, so I told the television star I was working with that I'd really like to stay over for a while. He said that would be fine, and he'd make sure the hotel took care of me. What could I say but, "Great, thank you." Terry did arrive with the camera, but no money. "Well," I thought, "we'll figure out something with Terry. Tomorrow is another day, and something will happen. You know... it will be a miracle." Well, the only miracle was that I called the man I was working for when he got home and said, ''I'm desperate. I need some money. I need about twenty grand." And he said, "The theater owes me that much. Just go over to the theater and pick it up. Tell them I said it's okay. You can have it." I went to the theater, they got on the phone with him, and the next thing... I had twenty thousand dollars in my hand. It was all in pounds, but it was twenty thousand dollars. So I was very grateful to the star I worked with, and promised I'd give it back to him within a year. Terry said all the money that came in would be mine to pay the loan back. But I had to take out a bank loan to pay back the loan I'd taken. I am a man of my word, and he got his money back in a year. Then I also had the bank loan to pay off... It was all interesting. Anyway, I can't talk about Europe without talking about mentioning Christian Dreeson, who was really my Val Martin of the European Films.

JWB: How did you find him?

RE: In Europe, they have this funny little SM magazine...

JWB: Mr. SM?

RE: Yes, it was Toy or Mr. SM, but I can't tell you which one it was. Anyway, there was an ad in the magazine for him, with his beautiful ass... showing just this beautiful ass in the ad.

JWB: He was just advertising for people to play with?

RE: Yes, and I said, "This is somebody I have got to have." It was all in German. I had no idea what the ad said. I really didn't research what the ad said, but there was this ad with Christian in it showing this pretty butt and... I think he was looking over his shoulder. I didn't know how we were going to find him. We were going to have to get an interpreter to see if we could track him down. There wasn't a phone number, you had to write a letter. Anyway, we were working in London, shooting the London segment, and we had this guy as our still photographer, David. I think we found him through Jim Stewart of Fetters. I was still carrying on about this picture of the German boy's butt, and David wanted to see it. He looked and said, "I know him. I took that picture. He comes here all the time. He's a good friend." Of course I said, "Get me this man." David got on the phone, and I had Christian. That's how I got Christian: all my moaning and groaning, and having the stars working right or whatever... putting me together with David who knew Christian. So Christian was a great asset to the European shoot, as you know.

And I care so much for him. As you know, we flew him to the United States, and had a lot of other people were wanting to use him, but Christian was very loyal. He said to me, "I would not do that to you. I would not do that for him." And these other jobs were possible money in his pocket, but he would not do it out of loyalty to us. Now, you have to respect that a lot, Joseph. Things like that mean a lot to me.

So when I went back for the second shoot, I wanted to use Christian again. Of course, I talked to him through an interrupter. I could never speak German, and he wasn't that good with English. I told him I really wanted to use him, and he said I'd have to pay him ten times what we paid before. I told the interpreter, “I'm sorry, but I really can't afford to pay Christian ten times what we paid before, and it's going to be a very sad shame that we come over here to shoot these other films, and he's not going to be a part of it." And Christian said, "You don't know when I'm kidding, Roger. What's wrong with you? I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He was so cute. So everything worked out fine and Christian did Knast.

RE: Christian was certainly easy to work with, just a treat, and then, you know, we were friends and family and all that stuff. But the kid that worked with him, Michael, became a difficult proposition, only because Michael was hooked up with some hairdresser that was ready to ruin everything. Michael was dying to do this film, and he was a sweet, lovely, dear man... with this hairdresser out to put the kibosh on it all. He was going to call the police, have the shoot raided. Anyway, I said, "Terry, deal with this hairdresser. I don't want to know what's happening. You deal with it." And Terry dealt with it, and we had no more problems. I had enough to worry about without some crazy hairdresser having me arrested in Germany. So that got solved, thanks to my friend Terry. I don't know what Terry did, sent the German Mafia after him or what-the-fuck, but I never had a problem with it afterward.

In Dusseldorf, where we did Fit To Be Tied, we had an interesting situation. We went down to this bar - that's where we got a lot of our people, in bars - and there was this hot bartender, a really hunky guy that I wanted to use. So, finally, we talked him into it. He really wanted to do the film. I must say that Terry was wonderful about this. Before we even arrived, he had set up things with people over there. He had three or four actors already hired before we got there, but I wanted this guy. Of course, Terry talked him into it. He explained to Terry that he had a lover. You know, we would really have to be careful... as long as we were not showing the film in Germany... so on and so forth. So fine, we start shooting the next day, and shoot with him. He was in one of the first scenes we did, and he was giving us a wonderful performance. We were almost through, and my actors for the second scene started coming in, and - one of them is his lover. Yes, an actor who walked in for the second scene was his lover. It was mind-boggling for the two of them. It was unbelievable, but we finally got it. The lover did the second scene. He was the one that was in the cage. It was just one of those things that happen on a shoot.

RE: Then when we were in Amsterdam, of course Rob of Amsterdam was very instrumental in helping us and couldn't do enough for us, introducing us to people, and letting us use his facility, and...

JWB: This was after Rob himself was gone, though, right?

RE: Rob and Dai [his lover] were both there, but Dai was not well at the time, and Rob talked to us about how they'd set the date [for Dai's suicide] and so forth, which turned Terry on. That is why he wanted to become a citizen of Amsterdam, so he can be euthanized or whatever. But Rob was so helpful, so wonderful, even though Dai was very sick at the time. We went to the hospital to see Dai. He couldn't have been better to us. Then, while we were talking to Rob in his store, talking to him about what I wanted to do, what I could use and so forth... well, we were downstairs, and this guy kept following us around; everywhere we'd go, this guy would be hovering around us. Well, pretty soon my camera man came over to me and said, "Roger, this guy wants to be in your film." I said, "Oh, well, I'll be happy to talk to him." I talked to him for a couple minutes, told him we hadn't set everything up yet, asked for his number so I could him when I was able to give him the date, place, and time where we could use him. And he said, "Fine, fine. I really want to do this." I asked if he understood what this film would be, real SM and all. "Yeah," he said, "whatever you want."

Later, I called him and his wife answered. She said he wasn't in. I said I'd call back, and she asked if I was with the film company from the United States. I said I was. And she said, "Oh, my husband wants to do your film, anything you want him to do. He'll do anything you want. He's dying to do your film. You just tell me when you need him and he'll be there. I told her when I needed him, and he was there. I made damn sure he sucked dick and did it all. And he did it willingly and happily. These interesting things just happen when you're shooting.

You know, besides these SM films, I've shot what we call vanilla films too. One that comes to mind that was kind of interesting is Fade In, where I put Jon King in a spider web and all this shit. While I was shooting this one scene, with this very young good-looking kid... he looked like one of those wonderful Iowa farm boys with this slim body, but he was all muscle, every part of his body was muscle. He had this beautiful alabaster skin and was just a cute, cute kid with an ass to die for. And I had this big burly type guy that was fucking him, 'cause this wasn't an SM film. You know, the big guy was doing all the fucking, We had this kid just spread out and the guy was going at it. I'm sitting at the monitor, and we're on a close-up of this big guy pounding the hell out of the kid's butt, pounding him hard, which was so wonderful. All of a sudden, I hear snoring. I turned around and the kid is sound asleep and snoring. I got up, went over and tapped him on the shoulder and said "I've got to get a little more reaction out of you." I couldn't believe it. I mean he was snoring at the top of his lungs. So these are some of the experiences of a pornographer.

There's another thing I wanted to bring up: the Southern California Drummer Contest. I got to be a part of that, and it was a wonderful experience for me because I got to produce and do some creative work in a live aspect. One of the most memorable and wonderful parts of it for me was Jeff Snyder, who had been in contests all over the country - New Orleans, New York, everywhere - and had always come in second, always the runner-up. He did a fantasy with Sky [Renfro], who took off her shirt and did this whole wonderful thing... It was magic, it was wonderful. They came to me and said that Sky wanted to do this topless, and I said, "Fine, do it anyway she wants. I don't care." Of course, Jeff came in first place. He won Mr. Southern California Drummer and deserved to. He was so thrilled, I can't tell you. He was so happy, so elated... but three weeks later was dead and never got to come to San Francisco [for the Mr. Drummer finals]. I think it meant so much to him to have won, and everybody was so all over him because the fantasy was just so great. I was a part of this thing that meant so much to this kid just before he died. That, to me, was a nice part of my life. I was so happy to be a part of that.

Anyway, Joseph, those are the things that I kind of thought about and wanted to mention.

JWB: I have a few more questions I think people would like to hear you answer. Okay?

RE: Absolutely.

JWB: Before you got into making porn, I assume you were doing something at NBC that was related to making film, like directing or something like that. If not, how did anyone get the idea of you doing an SM film?

RE: I started working in the wardrobe department at NBC twenty-five years ago or more. I was working in wardrobe and I was kind of a pushy motherfucker at the time, just as I am today. I started telling the production office they shouldn't be shooting this here, they should shoot it there, otherwise you're going to have to wait for these... You've scheduled this all wrong, do it this way. So they ended up asking me to be a production manager and the director of the show; that was The Dean Martin Show. The director of the show was a really scary tyrant. He was also an incredible genius, a genius director, and just being around him really taught me so much. I learned daily from him: directing, editing, how to handle stars, etc. And George [the friend who talked Roger into making Born to Raise Hell] knew what I was learning. I had talked to him about it, and that's why he pushed me into it. He said he knew I could do it.

JWB: He was right, absolutely right. It's a long way from Born to Raise Hell to the beginning of the European videos. Obviously, you did a lot of older films and videos in that time, and some of it must have been satisfying. Still, if I were in your shoes, I would have been sort of hungry all that time, waiting for this next big beast, the next SM hit.

RE: Oh no, I did like Fade In and Fade Out, and Men of the Midway, which was a fun film to do. Tim Kramer was in that, and he was in Gayracula and in New Zealand Under Covers - a wonderful kid to work with. He was originally a Falcon star - Falcon's the one that really gave him his break - and he was one of the ones that I made [Names Project] quilt panels for. I mean, I really enjoyed working with people like that. It was in that period that I made Chain Reactions, too. That one was bought by HIS, and they edited it because they panicked; they thought they were going to get in trouble for what I did. But, yes, I did a lot of films in between.

JWB: Sounds like you were just as satisfied by the vanilla films as the SM ones.

RE: Yes. Everything I did, Joseph, I tried to do as a creative thing. For me, any film that I've ever done is... well, it's not erotic for me. It's not a turn-on or anything like that, as you well know, having done videos yourself. There's nothing erotic about it. Everybody says, "Oh god, I'd love to do that. It's so erotic." But it's not. Your mind is working a thousand miles a minute trying to make sure you'll be able to edit this tape, checking that you've got all the shots you need. And you've got people coming to you from here, there, and yon with problems. There's nothing erotic about it.

JWB: No, a shoot is ruined if too many people on the set are thinking it's sexy.

RE: Well, I keep my set as minimal as possible. I mean, there are absolutely no guests on the set. There is no way a performer can perform with guests. I try to keep as few people on the set as possible. I don't even allow a make-up man on the set. When I need a make-up man, he's called in, but he's not allowed to stay on the set. I have even decided I want to shoot without a still photographer. Instead, I'll have the photographer come in, and we'll pose in positions for him before the shoot. I'll do it again after we shoot the scene if I need to, but it costs a day and a half of work to take all the fucking camera clicks out of the picture, and that's a lot of money. Anyway, I'll tell you, Joseph, nine times out of ten, most of the pictures taken during a shoot aren't used, and I can pose pictures that will be used. We're better off to pose it. So that's my feeling. I've never done that before, but that's how I would like to work.

JWB: When did you finish shooting the last of the European SM scenes? I know the last one - Loose Ends of the Rope - was just released.

RE: It's been about four or five years since we shot that. It was lying around in the can for that long.

JWB: And you haven't shot anything since?

RE: No, there's nothing in the can. It's all done. Everything is done, over, finished.

JWB: Does that get you crazy, not shooting?

RE: It does and it doesn't. Terry keeps saying we've got to do this again, we've got to make some more product. He is so incredibly tied up with the AIDS services work that he's doing, that I don't know how he could make time to shoot more films. He can't even take time to have lunch with me, so I don't know how the hell he thinks he's going to have the time to shoot a film. You know what I'm saying. He's so busy that I don't see how he can be a part of any more filming, and that breaks my heart because he's been such a integral part of this whole thing for me. As I told you before, he's important to this work, with all his chutzpah and shit. He's the best at what he does, he's absolutely the best.

JWB: I'm still wondering about a question I asked you before you even came in for this interview: Where does the vision or genius or whatever it is come from? For me, the difference between a Roger Earl SM film and most of the stuff that's supposed to be SM is a kind of vision that gets off of the screen and into the viewer's groin.

RE: I don't know. I can't answer that. All I can do is just tell you the way I work. I get the guys together and tell them I do not intend to interfere with them unless they get in trouble, or I need something from them so I can get a shot, or if they' re going someplace that is worthless to me. I tell them I want them to follow their own feelings and do their own thing. Then, if I feel that they are getting too heavy, going too light, too this or that, I will stop them. But, other than that, I just tell them to get into each other and pay no attention to any of the other people on the set. “Just forget that we're here,” I say, “and give me a scene between you two hot guys.” Now, I want them to realize I'm putting this on film, that this is forever, so therefore, they should go as far as they can, understanding they'll never have to do this again. I tell the performers, "I mean, it's not like you're home playing with some guy and tomorrow you may be out playing with somebody else. Beat the shit out of his ass so it's bright red. He'll have two, three weeks to heal up before he goes again. Just go as far as you can go, because this is forever." And I usually get good performances out of the guys that way. I have had to stop people for one reason or the other and say, "Well, this really isn't working, guys. Now, let's talk about it. Let me give you some suggestions and see what you think..." That's the way I work with them. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I don't take my eyes off the monitor all the time I'm shooting, because I'm editing in my mind as I shoot. I'm picturing the whole film and always checking whether it's going to have that kind of electricity, that kind of going-to-the-groin thing. I mean, it's got to get me going, looking in that monitor and picturing my editing; otherwise, it ain't working and that's when I stop it and try to figure out what's wrong. So I don't call it genius. It's just a feeling that I have. It's just a feel that I seem to have with it. I like SM. I like pornography. I like nudity. I like all of these things. And I do not like to watch a film where the guys don't strip down naked. I want to see nudity. I love nudity. I love the human body. These things are very important. I want to see that asshole spread wide. I think an asshole is a beautiful thing. I want to get down there and kiss it. I try to think... because I'm such a connoisseur of porn, I try to watch every film that I can. I waste so much time watching porno films and I try to use all of this as an education for myself. What are the hot things that people are doing? My god, look what he did there! That was dynamite! These are the things that I try to keep in mind, things that make my blood churn.

JWB: Apart from your own, what are the great porn films?

RE: I think many films, not all films, but many films have little pieces of genius and little pieces of magic in them. I can't say that the magic or genius in any film - including my own - extends through the entire film.

JWB: A couple of yours stay magical for me throughout.

RE: Not in my mind. But that's wonderful. I'm glad to hear it.

JWB: For me, the genius is ever-present in Born To Raise Hell and Marks of Pleasure, end to end in both of them. And my all-time favorite scene is the slapping scene in Marks of Pleasure.

RE: I love both of them, myself, I really do. I think that there are so many films that have that little spot·of genius, that little spot of magic. That's what I call it. It's absolute magic that makes the blood boil, and it's heaven, but it's hard... To me, it's really impossible to sustain that through a whole film. You know, you get as close as you can, but you can't sustain that through an entire film. I agree with you that the slapping scene is really the best piece of Marks. That's the little bit of magic for me.

JWB: Can you give me Roger Earl in twenty-five words or less?

RE: Small town guy from the Mojave desert, population of thirty-five people. That little town is gone now. A freeway bypassed it and it no longer exists. My mom and dad were like the Grapes of Wrath, the Pikes coming from Arkansas to California. Their car broke down in Ludlow and they never left. My dad ended up buying a garage/motel...

JWB: The whole town, in effect?

RE: It was basically the town. I went to school fifty miles one way and fifty miles back on the school bus. Totally small town, and the only child in the town of thirty-five people. Since I was the only child, I could do no wrong, was spoiled rotten. Absolutely spoiled rotten by everyone in town. I used to carry on with hitchhikers. I could have gotten out in the middle of the street and sucked somebody off, and nobody would have believed it, because I was the kid that could do no wrong. My dad used to lease land out to the Marine Corps for desert maneuvers, and I got thrown off the base because I was "interfering with the Marines.” It was just an interesting, wonderful life.

JWB: Then, was it in your teens that you moved to L.A.?

RE: I moved to San Bernardino, went to a junior college there, then I moved again and went to college in Los Angeles. I graduated with a Bachelor of Professional Arts degree. Then went to work at NBC.

JWB: So you actually went to school with some idea of doing what you ended up doing.

RE: No, I was going to be an interior decorator. I never became an interior decorator. I ended up, right after I got out of school, going to work in television.

JWB: And your two careers started almost simultaneously right there.

RE: Right. When I got out of school, opportunity kind of knocked and fell in my lap, and I took it. And I never became a decorator, which was fine with me.

JWB: I think we're all lucky that you didn't become a decorator; everything you decorated would have been redecorated by now, but the tapes don't change.