Score (Uncensored Version) (1974)

Yowza! "Score" is a product of it's times, the early 1970's, and it explores the sexual freedom spreading through society during that period with great insight. But be forewarned, the uncensored version took me by surprise. Radley Metzger adapted a New York City stage play about multiple seductions and transposed it to a Mediterranean setting. The acting, the camera work, and the setting combine to make a great looking product, without a doubt the best 'sexploitation movie' I have ever seen, and I've seen a bunch.

"Score" is a fast paced comedy about the interactions between two couples, and things eventually get pretty down and dirty without ever being X rated. Even better, the Blu-Ray looks magnificent, and there is a long interview with actress Lynn Lowry, behind the scenes footage featuring Radley Metzger in action on the set, and best yet an audio commentary by the reclusive director, all items alone worth the price. But the icing on the cake is that the movie is finally uncut for the first time in over 35 years.

I have seen the VHS of 'Score" and it was obviously the censored version. The interplay of dialogue and characters was there, but 15 minutes of man-on-man love making was missing. While not explicit, it is pretty graphic and I was shocked. If you are a homophobic male or think such images might upset you, STAY AWAY! However, if you truly want to see the 1970's swing in all directions, this is the best possible movie available in terms of acting, script, and direction.

Radley Metzger is generally considered the one true auteur of the sexploitation movies, and he consistently produced superior work even after drifting into porn. "Score" is perhaps his best work, literate, funny, and incredibly daring. Even 38 years after it was shot it still caught me off guard! If this sounds interesting, you can find no better document of the Sexual Revolution than 'Score".

Score is a bisexual delight. Based on a simple premise--a happily married swinging couple makes a bet that they can seduce a newly-wed couple--Score blurs the lines between established sexual norms and takes you to a moment in time where love and sex cross conventional boundaries. Based on a late 1960's play, Score is a microcosm that shows a world where the freedom to love or make love to whomever you want is the norm. With the onset of AIDS in the 1980's, however, the world in which Score depicts was forced to change. Viewing Score is the equivalent of going back in time to a much different place than the world is today where the prejudices that divide gay and straight were clearly dissipating.

Score should appeal not only to Radley Metzger and gay cinema fans, but to a wider audience who are looking for the interplay between saucily-written dialogue, clever cinematography, and on-screen chemistry between: men and women, women and women, and men and men. Score is a sexual banquet sure to satisfy almost every appetite.

The DVD transfer is fine albeit imperfect, the sound could be improved, and the special features are worth viewing, but the real reason to get this DVD is to enjoy the uncut version of Score for the first time since it originally played in a few cinemas in the 1970s.

Buy Score (Uncensored Version) (1974) Now

It shouldn't be bought, not because is bad but because is heavily censored some 30 min missing and because those people they beleive they have the right to treat the customer like an ignorant and immature child should take a message. It is offending to our intelingence and dignity to be supervised by an invisible censor who desides before us , for us what is good to see and what is not. Myself i don't accept to be treated like that and i encourage everybody to avoid buying censored products as offencive to our intelingence and that of the creator artist. Is a phaenomenon that should be eliminated and it will be if our behaviour as customers is sensitive. Apart from that is of a little importance if the film is good or not. Yes it is ! so what?

Read Best Reviews of Score (Uncensored Version) (1974) Here

***This is a review of the uncut, uncensored blu-ray.

I've been a fan of this film for a while. In the previous video releases, there have always been awkward cuts where the music is horribly out of sync. This new blu-ray release seems to indicate that it is now "uncut and uncensored." I can't vouch for its completeness, but the music cues now seem in check, and there are several "new" scenes that were not present in previous video versions. The new hardcore gay and lesbian scenes are graphic but are not anything that I have not seen in other "mainstream" releases (although mostly independents). The best thing, though, is that the film now "flows" better. The blu-ray does not feature a good print; it's scratched and full of dirt and debris. Colors are good; one of the male characters wears a red handkerchief which pops on screen. The audio is a disappointing Dolby Digital 2.0 mono; early news reported a DTS-HD MA 2.0, but that is not present here. Audio is below average, and sometimes seem out of sync, but that is probably inherent to the original print and not necessarily a flaw of the blu-ray. There are several bonus features that showcase original footage from the filming but the best feature is an interview with Lynn Lowry; she is 60+ years old but looks amazingly like she did when the film was made. The included trailer is great but it's too long and should not be reviewed before watching the main feature.

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SCORE

(USA/Yugoslavia 1972)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Theatrical soundtrack: Mono

Having explored familiar heterosexual obsessions in well-regarded softcore dramas like CAMILLE 2000 (1969) and THE LICKERISH QUARTET (1969), director Radley Metzger upped the sexual ante with SCORE, a good-natured bisexual romp which crosses the boundary into hardcore territory, recently poularized in US theaters by the likes of DEEP THROAT and THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES (both 1972). Based on a play by screenwriter Jerry Douglas, SCORE tells the tale of swinging couple Claire Wilbur and Gerald Grant, who make a bet that they can seduce freshly-scrubbed newlyweds Lynn Lowry and Calvin Culver during a weekend get-together at their luxury Riviera villa. Having plied the hapless duo with drink nd soft drugs ("I'm not a very good junkie!" Lowry complains) and dressed them in costumes which tally with their sexual fantasies (cowboy, nun, sailor, etc.), Wilbur and Lowry pair off for a lesbian encounter, while Grant and Culver descend into the basement bedroom for a full-blown gay seduction.

Artfully photographed by Metzger himself and veteran cinematographer Franjo Vodopivec on location in Yugosalvia, and framed as an adult fairy tale (the delightful opening narration locates the action "...in the lush little land of Plenty, in the enviable state of Affluence... deep within the Erogenous Zone"!), the movie is distinguished by clever dialogue which removes outmoded notions of sexual parameters from the outset. When asked how she differentiates between sexes during the orgies she's attended in the past, Wilbur replies: "First you don't know, then you can't tell, then you don't care!"

The plot is wafer-thin, and the acting is merely OK (the women fare best in this regard), but Douglas' script played out for the most part in a single interior set, with only a handful of outdoor sequences allows Metzger to build slowly and surely to the climactic double seduction, using reflective surfaces (amongst other devices) to convey sexual dualities within the characters. Viewers hoping for a non-stop flesh-fest may be irritated by the long narrative preamble (punctuated by Wilbur's rough-house tumble with studly repairman Carl Parker), but there's still plenty of uncompromising nudity, and the film manages to stimulate the brain whilst simultaneously tickling your, er... fancy. Great music, too, including an ultra-groovy (and uncredited) theme song!

Unfortunately, the most widely-circulated print which bears a 1976 copyright is the softcore version. Metzger reportedly prefers this cut of the film, but the all-important sex scenes are seriously compromised by jarring edits and obvious gaps in the soundtrack. The film remains a worthwhile curio, but its erotic potency has been severely blunted by unnecessary censorship.

Fascinating trivia: 'Calvin Culver' is actually gay porn star Casey Donovan, who made his name in groundbreaking titles like BOYS IN THE SAND (1971) and THE OTHER SIDE OF ASPEN (1978), though he later re-temaed with Metzger for the director's hardcore masterpiece THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN (1976). Co-star Gerald Grant only appeared in two other films (Metzger's NAKED CAME THE STRANGER [1975] and Umberto Lenzi's EATEN ALIVE [1980]), and it's sad to report that both he and Donovan have since passed away. Claire Wilbur featured in the original stage version of SCORE, but her only other screen acting credit appears to be TEENAGE HITCH-HIKERS (1974), while the beautiful Lynn Lowry has since pursued a career in mainstream movies, including THE CRAZIES (1973), SHIVERS (1975) and CAT PEOPLE (1982). Writer Jerry Douglas adopted the pseudonym 'Doug Richards' and made a name for himself in gay porn, writing and directing a number of celebrated productions, including THE BACK ROW (1973), BOTH WAYS (1976) and MORE OF A MAN (1991), the latter featuring Joey Stefano and Chi Chi LaRue, while SCORE's production manager Branko Lustig has since become a major Hollywood producer, with titles like SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993) and GLADIATOR (2000) to his credit!

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