Rated X [DVD]

Ok film

Great buy

Firstly read the US more positive reviews of this movie , for this is great slice of 70s fun and an entertaining movie about how 2 brothers end up making it big in porn . yes it has been done many times before [ boogie nights is ofcourse far better as is People vs Larry Flynt ] but it is always enjoyable to see another fall from glory story . The sets may be a little wooden and its all a little showtime channel but that not to say that I wasnt hooked [ even Sheen and Estevez were good although their hair wasnt] . If you are a fan of this era and Marilyn Chambers and all the other characters yes this is a great treat for you . And you also get to see that guy who played John Locke in Lost in another great part . A forgotten gem , a guilty pleasure . I wonder if it got buried because of its subject matter and also as its quite graphic . Cheap night in . In a year where we have biopics of Paul Raymond and Linda Lovelace coming out , watch this first .

Emilio Estavez directed this, but one wonders why. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a movie about two porn movie directors is not going to win any Academy Awards. What was Emilio thinking? You can play it as tragedy. You certainly can't make heroes of these guys. I guess what he was thinking was this was a part of America from the sixties to the nineties in the twentieth century--this was the reality and let's tell the truth. but somebody else might say, why bother?Most critics and viewers would call this a prize turkey, but...but is there some redeeming social value? Charlie Sheen and Estavez star as the brothers Mitchell, two entrepreneurial guys who stumble from the free love scene of the sixties in San Francisco to the cash cow of the first widely distributed porn movies, including the infamous "Behind the Green Door." Maybe there is a kind of free speech angle here, with the [...] boys fighting the good fight against censorship and Big Brother. On the other hand, there is a didactic tale here about how success corrupts and how [...], drugs and rock and roll--forget the rock and roll; this is almost pure [...] and drugs--how [...] and drugs may lead you to make a movie called "Sodom and Gomorrah" which may suggest that you ought to be starring it in.Charlie Sheen is very good and so is Estavez. His direction is also not bad. The movie moves right along and the degeneration of the brothers is well expressed. Megan Ward had a chance in a supporting role here, but she failed miserably, possibly because how could she feel any connection with a role that made her the quasi-tolerant, quasi-suffering wife of a man who makes his living pandering to lust (and indulging his own) while smoking, drinking and snorting anything he can get his hands on?Not pretty. However, I wouldn't be surprised if someday in the distant future, long after I am gone, that in some social science class at say Cal Berkeley this movie is played as augmenting an anthropological study of a certain segment of our population in the later part of the 20th century. The students can see this as a film documenting the moral corruption of a nation following Vietnam and the Nixon administration, perhaps even anticipating the moral corruption we see today.But I would advise you to skip this unless you are a big Emilio Estavez fan, in which case this is a must see, or if you are a Charlie Sheen fan, and then it is worth seeing because this is one of his better performances, and you've got to see these guys in their bald domes and their side burns and authentic seventies attire. To be honest, I've seen people win Academy Awards who weren't half as good as Sheen was. Naturally this won nothing.

not bad

thank you

Jim Mitchell's whole life, he has rescured his baby brother, Artie. Artie misbehaves in school around age 12, and Jim runs to save him from a paddling. He tells the princable dad does not beleive in violence.Artie needs a lot of help, because dad is a vengeful man. He gives Artie the belt. Days after, dad takes both boys on a collection run, with a shot gun.Jim had the edge over Artie, and in the late 1960s, he is in UCLA film school, learning to make avant-gaurde films. Artie wonders the country, looking for industrial jobs.Being tight, big brother invites little brother to join his film crew. Alligned with the times, Jim has big, artsy ambitions. Problem is, no money.To solve this, the Mitchell brothers decide, over a joint, to make skin filcks to finanace the art films. The art films, of course, never materialize. The porn does, and the boys soon find themselves getting arrested.This is all great fun. This is the era of Lenny Bruce, key parties. Playboy was showing the stuff downstairs. Bill Kunzler was defending Jim Morrison. Oh! Calcutta and Hair were big hits. Mainstreem hits. Hell, Midnight Cowboy just won best picutre with an X.Artie has an idea: why not make a nudie art film--something that will make money and suit Jims avant gaurde ambitions. Behind The Green Door was born, and Artie was directing. But Artie does not know his lence from his wine bottle, so Jim has to start from scratch.Dispite another arrest in trial, Green Door his a smash, and soon, that's millionaire Mitchel to you. Both Mitchels marry their sweathearts and start work on an even bigger project: a porn bible epic.Trouble is, the 60s joints have become 70s cocaine. Every day. With morning eggs bacon OJ and coffee. With the white powder magic, any idea you have is brillant: opening a pepsi, eating mounds of food, or spending millions on a Cecil B. Damille skinfest.Sodom and Gamhora bombs. But the brothers still have their mansions, theatre, prodcution company, and drugs. By now, the 70s is turning to the 80s, both guys are too strung out to make films. The 60s art venue becomes the 80s strip joint.Jim can handle coke, and eventually, quits, with no help. Artie can't, and he gets incresingly viloent. He takes up his father's love for guns, and beats his wife when she shakes hands with her tennis teacher. He also has the bright idea to drag his kids deep into the ocean on a platic raft, and almost kills them. Guess who saves the three.Artie tries to stop with Jims loving help, but can't. He is GONE! He walks , a beast in a death fog: rants and raves, points his guns at family, frineds, anyone who impeedes his own destruction. Soon, he gets the idea that Jim his a worse addict than he is--Jim still smokes Morlboros. He calls his ex, his mom, and Jim, ranting that Jim must die.Jim walks into Arties house, shooting and killing Artie.The Sheen brothers are perfect at capturing the dynamics at work. Artie resents Jim's help and compadence, and Jim can't help but making a life of saving Artie. They are so emeshed, it is any wonder one killed the other?The period set design is spectacular: 60s and 70s interiors are exactly what I remember houses looking like when I was tiny. There is hot orange in 1968 and cool blue in 1974. There are no larva lamps or stereotypical devices to hammer you that this is the time period. Everything is organic: you are THERE.Emelio Evestazes directed this. He uses artsey tricks, but keeps them to a minimum, and only uses them when they fit: a shaking camera at the end to convey Artie's coke-induced mental break. They work well. He has a feel for time, people and place, and nails it.I wonder why Martin did not play dad. Too busy being president?

I really enjoyed this film. Enough to watch it again immediately after finishing it, this time with the commentary on. Would definitely recommend doing this, as both Estevez and Sheen have interesting things to say, and are both very wholesome at times, despite the subject matter of the film.

Love this movie, Emilio Estevez is brilliant. Both him and Charlie Sheen put on a great movie. Love the time era as well.

Good movie