Director: Radley Metzger

Cast: Clair Wilbur, Calvin Culver, Lynn Lowery, Gerald Grant, Carl Parker

Cult Epics / NTSC Region 1 / Unrated / 1.78:1 Widescreen / 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono / 92 minutes / PURCHASE

Blu-ray Extras: On The Set: 20 Minute Behind The Scenes Featurette / Keeping Score With Lynn Lowry / Audio Commentary Track By Radley Metzger / Trailers

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Fun- (and sex-) loving married swingers Elvira and Jack have a running game to see who can bed the most same-sex partners. Right now the score (hence the name of the movie) is Jack-2… Elvira-1, so to get even she has set her sights on sexually naive newlywed Betsy. In order to entice her, she freely admits to her and her husband’s free-loving lifestyle and tries to work her predatory magic. But when that doesn’t work, she seduces the telephone repair man right in front of Betsy and bones him on the living room floor. Of course this freaks the little lamb out and she runs home to hubby Eddie but forgets that they are supposed to have dinner and drinks with Jack and Elvira that night. She reluctantly joins the party after hearing that Eddie is already there and that’s when the real fun starts. The older, more experienced couple ply the youngsters with weed and finally get them loosened up. Before long the stakes change and the bet is if Elvira can get into Betsy’s little panties before midnight, she can also have Eddie; if not, Jack gets him. As the night progresses, both bend the rules and get what they want, and more.

American filmmaker Radley Metzger (aka Henry Paris in his hardcore porn career) is one of those directors that I have heard about a lot in the very knowledgable genre circles but never got to see any of his stuff. So when I heard that Cult Epics was going to put a few of his movies (the others being The Lickerish Quartet and Camille 2000) out on blu-ray, I got very excited. His reputation was of a very artistic and stylized director and after seeing Score, I would say that description is right on. His use of vivid colors (which really come through on the blu-ray disk), reflection and glass refraction is very interesting and aesthetically pleasing. A lot of the camera angles during the sex scenes (the women’s anyway) were reflections or shot through glass or water.

The story itself was very good and was told by a narrator (possibly Betsy?) in fairy tale style. All of the characters were very endearing and charming in their own way; Elvira is predatory and seductive, Jack is simple and sort of creepy in a fun way, Eddie is also kinda simple and easy to manipulate and Betsy was doe-eyed, repressed and ready to be let out of her sexual cage. The actors and actresses who portrayed them were all very likable and while not my usual cuppa, pretty easy on the eyes. The film is story and dialogue driven for the most part, with a little naughtiness sprinkled in here and there in the first two-thirds of the movie, but the last third is total debauchery. Oddly, the only explicit or hardcore sex is between the guys and it’s just oral fun. That is not to say that there is not lots of late-night Cinemax-style bumping and grinding, but it kinda throws you going from the ladies’ loving kissing to the dudes sucking a big dick.

I am skeptical when it comes to older films getting the high definition, blu-ray treatment because I have already seen some “what the fuck was the point of going through the HD remastering process for that?” releases. But luckily Score is not one of them. Does it look like it was shot in HD? Of course not, it looks like a pretty well preserved older movie that has been punched up to look beautiful, the way Metzger would have wanted it to be seen in your home. Cult Epics did a bang-up job with what they had to work with which was apparently a film that had been through the ringer with earlier releases from different companies. The sound doesn’t hold up quite as well but it is more than adequate to bring you the jazzy soundtrack and the ridiculously catchy theme song, which Metzger apparently heard in a hotel and hired the band on the spot.

Screencaps courtesy of Mondo Digital