Barbara Broadcast

1977 film by Radley Metzger

Barbara Broadcast

DVD cover

Directed by| Radley Metzger
(as "Henry Paris")
Written by| Radley Metzger
(as "Jake Barnes")
Produced by| Ava Leighton
Starring|

* Annette Haven
* Bobby Astyr
* C. J. Laing
* Constance Money
* Jamie Gillis
* Michael Gaunt
* Sharon Mitchell
* Suzanne McBain
* Wade Nichols
* Zebedy Colt

Cinematography| Chico Carter
Larry Revene (uncredited)
Edited by| Gene Perry
Music by| various (uncredited)
Distributed by| Audubon Films (USA)
VCA Pictures (USA)
Distribpix (USA)

Release date

* October 27, 1977 (1977-10-27)

Running time

| 82 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Barbara Broadcast is an American adult erotic film released in 1977. The film was directed by Radley Metzger (as "Henry Paris")[1][2] and filmed in several elaborate locations in New York City, including the Olympia ballroom and restaurant in the Royal Manhattan Hotel.[3][4]

## Plot

[edit]

Barbara Broadcast, a world-famous liberated woman and best-selling author, is interviewed by a journalist about her successful career in an elegant Manhattan hotel restaurant, where gourmet food and erotic activities are on the menu:[5][6] a surrealistic "Buñuelian" atmosphere, according to one film reviewer.[7] Afterwards, other Manhattan moments in New York City are featured, including a corporate office encounter and a casual meeting in a busy night club.[5][6]

## Cast

[edit]

* Annette Haven as Barbara Broadcast[8]
* Bobby Astyr as the Maitre d'
* C. J. Laing as Roberta, the interviewer
* Constance Money as a Slave
* Jamie Gillis as Curley
* Michael Gaunt as a Client
* Sharon Mitchell as a Waitress
* Susan McBain as a Diner
* Wade Nichols as a Cook
* Zebedy Colt as a Diner

## Reception

[edit]

According to an X-Critic film reviewer, Barbara Broadcast is "... a playful, funny and beautifully made film for grownups, a celebration of carnality and earthly delights shot with an artist’s eye for composition and set to an excellent [music] score ...".[9] Barbara Broadcast, according to another reviewer, "... is a fun, witty, and charming film ...".[10] Another reviewer notes, " ... [the film has] plenty of electric atmosphere and [music] ... This is porno chic! ..."[11] Paracinema film critic Heather Drain writes, "Metzger’s work is known for its eye candy and this film is no exception, with every frame looking like a perfectly composed piece of art ... Barbara Broadcast may not be heavy on plot, but is an exquisitely crafted film from one of the best American directors to have emerged [since the 1970s] ... Radley Metzger is truly one of a kind."[4]

## History

[edit]

Barbara Broadcast was released during the Golden Age of Porn (inaugurated by the 1969 release of Andy Warhol's Blue Movie) in the United States, at a time of "porno chic",[12][13] in which adult erotic films were just beginning to be widely released, publicly discussed by celebrities (like Johnny Carson and Bob Hope)[14] and taken seriously by film critics (like Roger Ebert).[15][16]

## Notes

[edit]

According to one film reviewer, Radley Metzger's films, including those made during the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984), are noted for their "lavish design, witty screenplays, and a penchant for the unusual camera angle".[17] Another reviewer noted that his films were "highly artistic — and often cerebral ... and often featured gorgeous cinematography".[18] Film and audio works by Metzger have been added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.[19][20][21][22]

## Restoration

[edit]

On July 4, 2013, DistribPix released a restoration of the film, with the cooperation of the director.[7] The result had a limited exhibition in theaters, but the main outcome of the project was the first official DVD and Blu-ray versions.[5] A listing of the music on the film soundtrack was released earlier.[23][24]

## Awards

[edit]

* Winner 1989 – Member of XRCO Hall of Fame.[25][26]
* Nominee 2014 – AVN Award (Best DVD Extras).[8]
* Winner 2015 – X-Rated: Greatest Adult Movies of All Time.[8]

## Music soundtrack

[edit]

No.| Title| Artist| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Azure Blue[23][24]"| Simon Benson| 3:50
2.| "Before Summer Ends"| Keith Mansfield| 3:51
3.| "Big Haul"| Brian Bennett| 2:52
4.| "Dossier"| Brian Bennett| 2:42
5.| "Flying High"| Stefano Torossi| 3:36
6.| "Getaway"| Alan Hawkshaw| 2:37
7.| "Glittering Mud"| Steve Gray| 3:54
8.| "Merry Go Round"| Alan Hawkshaw| 2:05

No.| Title| Artist| Length

|
|
|

9.| "Reflections Misty Morning"| Brian Bennett| 3:40
10.| "Tales from Vienna Woods"| Johann Strauss II| 10:54
11.| "The Big One"| Alan Tew| 4:05
12.| "The Blue Danube Waltz"| Johann Strauss II| 10:33
13.| "The Double Take"| Steve Gray| 3:47
14.| "Wallop"| Brian Bennett| 3:25
15.| "White Elephant Walk"| Alan Tew| 1:30
16.| "You've Got What It Takes"| Madeline Bell| 3:39

## See also

[edit]

* Andy Warhol filmography
* Erotic art
* Erotic films in the United States
* Erotic photography
* Golden Age of Porn
* List of American films of 1977
* Sex in film
* Unsimulated sex

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Bentley, Toni (June 2014). "The Legend of Henry Paris". Playboy. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
2. ^ Bentley, Toni (June 2014). "The Legend of Henry Paris" (PDF). ToniBentley.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
3. ^ "Barbara Broadcast (1977)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
4. ^ a b Drain, Heather (October 21, 2016). "Radley Metzger's Barbara Broadcast - Notes From The Backroom". Paracinema.com. Archived from the original on April 8, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
5. ^ a b c Staff (2013). "Barbara Broadcast Blu Ray Plus 2 DVD Combo Pack (2013)". Distribpix.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
6. ^ a b Staff (2013). "Barbara Broadcast (1977) - Summary". Sexgoremutants.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
7. ^ a b Staff (August 27, 2013). "Barbara Broadcast - BluRay DVD Review". Mondo-digital.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
8. ^ a b c Staff (2016). "Barbara Broadcast (1977) - Awards, Performers and Reviews". IAFD. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
9. ^ Staff (September 16, 2013). "Barbara Broadcast (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) - Review". X-Critic. Archived from the original on February 21, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
10. ^ Thomas, Corey (December 7, 2015). "Barbara Broadcast - Film Review". Adultdvdtalk.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
11. ^ Staff. "Barbara Broadcast (DVD) - Review". YourChoice.co.uk. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
12. ^ Blumenthal, Ralph (January 21, 1973). "Porno chic; 'Hard-core' grows fashionable-and very profitable". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
13. ^ "Porno Chic (Jahsonic.com)". Archived from the original on July 19, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
14. ^ Corliss, Richard (March 29, 2005). "That Old Feeling: When Porno Was Chic". Time. Archived from the original on February 24, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
15. ^ Ebert, Roger (June 13, 1973). "The Devil In Miss Jones - Film Review". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2019. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
16. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 24, 1976). "Alice in Wonderland:An X-Rated Musical Fantasy". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
17. ^ Gallagher, Steve (August 7, 2014). ""This is Softcore": The History of Radley Metzger". Filmmaker Magazine. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
18. ^ Simpson, Claire (October 2, 2013). "Adults Only: 5 Films By Radley Metzger". WhatCulture.com. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
19. ^ Rist, Ray C. (January 4, 1974). Book - The Pornography Controversy: Changing Moral Standards in American Life. Transaction Publishers. p. 124\. ISBN 9781412838467. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
20. ^ Lehman, Peter (2006). Book - Pornography: Film and Culture. Rutgers University Press. p. 9\. ISBN 9780813538716. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
21. ^ Staff (2016). "Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) - DadaBase Search Results - Radley Metzger". Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
22. ^ Staff (March 4, 2017). "Obituary Of The Righteous - The Porn Of The Fabulous 60s And 70s Loses One Of Its Pioneers And Masters: Radley Metzger - Photographer Of War, The MOMA Presents A Retrospective: His Erotic Films Made History - Video: 'Score', On The Relationships Of Couples Of The 70s, In An Uncensored Version". DagoSpia.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
23. ^ a b Staff (2016). "Barbara Broadcast - Original Soundtrack Music listing". IMDb. Archived from the original on September 8, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
24. ^ a b Staff (2013). "Barbara Broadcast (1977) - OST Music Soundtrack". Ringostrack.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
25. ^ Stone, Jeremy, "Heart-ons in Hollywood: The 5th Annual XRCO Adult Film & Video Awards", Adam Film World, September 1989, Vol. 13, No. 1, p. 10–11, 54.
26. ^ Staff, "The XRCO Hall of Fame", Adam Film World Guide 1990 Directory of Adult Films, 1990, p. 17.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Cook, David A. (2002). History of the American cinema. Vol. 9\. University of California Press. pp. 274–275\. ISBN 0-520-23265-8.
* Heffernan, Kevin, "A social poetics of pornography", Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Volume 15, Issue 3, December 1994, pp. 77–83. doi:10.1080/10509209409361441.
* Lehman, Peter, Pornography: film and culture, Rutgers depth of field series, Rutgers University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8135-3871-8.
* Williams, Linda, Hard core: power, pleasure, and the "frenzy of the visible", University of California Press, 1999, ISBN 0-520-21943-0.

## External links

[edit]

* Barbara Broadcast at MUBI (related to The Criterion Collection)
* Barbara Broadcast at IMDb.
* Barbara Broadcast at the Adult Film Database
* Barbara Broadcast on the Amazon WebSite.
* Barbara Broadcast − behind the scenes
* Barbara Broadcast − 2013 restoration at DistribPix Archived February 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
* Barbara Broadcast (Trailer-1; 04:09); (Trailer-2; 10:04).

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Radley Metzger

* Dark Odyssey (1961)
* La baie du désir (1964)
* Dictionary of Sex (1964)
* The Dirty Girls (1965)
* The Alley Cats (1966)
* Carmen, Baby (1967)
* Thérèse and Isabelle (1968)
* Camille 2000 (1969)
* The Lickerish Quartet (1970)
* Little Mother (1973)
* Score (1974)
* The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann (1975)
* Naked Came the Stranger (1975)
* The Image (1975)
* The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1975)
* Barbara Broadcast (1977)
* Maraschino Cherry (1978)
* The Cat and the Canary (1978)
* The Tale of Tiffany Lust (1979)
* The World of Henry Paris (1981)
* Aphrodesia's Diary (1983)
* The Princess and the Call Girl (1984)
* The Sins of Ilsa (1985) (unreleased)

* v
* t
* e

Sexual revolution

Main topics|

* Birth control
* Male contraceptive
* Free love
* Gay liberation
* Die Sexualität im Kulturkampf

Milestones|

* Abortion law
* Boys in the Sand
* Blue Movie
* Myra Breckinridge
* Deep Throat
* Divorce law by country
* Freedom of speech
* Freedom of the press
* Golden Age of Porn
* Loving v. Virginia
* Miller Test
* Obergefell v. Hodges
* "Porno chic"
* Pornography
* Pornography in the United States
* Swinging
* The Pill (1965)

Slogans|

* "Make love, not war"
* "The personal is political"

Events|

* AIDS epidemic
* Kinsey Reports
* Masters and Johnson Institute
* Playboy
* Protests of 1968
* Stonewall riots
* Summer of Love

People|

* Pat Califia
* Marilyn Chambers
* Aleister Crowley
* Gerard Damiano
* Betty Dodson
* Larry Flynt
* Sigmund Freud
* Ralph Ginzburg
* Al Goldstein
* Bob Guccione
* Terri Hall
* Fred Halsted
* Nina Hartley
* Hugh Hefner
* Magnus Hirschfeld
* David Hurles
* Virginia Johnson
* Alfred Kinsey
* Linda Lovelace
* Robert Mapplethorpe
* William Margold
* William Masters
* Radley Metzger
* Bettie Page
* Wilhelm Reich
* Marquis de Sade
* Margaret Sanger
* Annie Sprinkle
* Andy Warhol
* Ruth Westheimer
* Oscar Wilde

Places|

* 55th Street Playhouse
* Caldron (sex club)
* Catacombs (sex club)
* Club Baths
* The Factory
* Gay bathhouse
* LGBT culture
* Dallas-Fort Worth
* Houston
* Miami
* New York City
* San Francisco
* Mineshaft (gay club)
* New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre
* Plato's Retreat
* Sandstone retreat
* South of Market

Related|

* Counterculture of the 1960s
* Feminist views of pornography
* Freudo-Marxism
* Hippie
* Inside Deep Throat (2005 film)
* Kinsey (2004 film)
* LGBT
* Lust
* Lovelace (2013 film)
* Make Love, Not War: The Sexual Revolution: An Unfettered History (2001 book)
* The Notorious Bettie Page (2005 film)
* Peace movement
* Slut-shaming
* Whatever (1994 novel)

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* Film
* Society
* United States

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