Porky's (1981)

Horny teens in the Miami area and a redneck bar in the swamp

In 1954, several high schoolers in southeast Florida pursue sex while tangling with the owner of a sleazy nightclub in the Everglades and his sheriff brother.

"Porky's" (1981) is iconic in early 80's cinema, but it's a half good/half bad piece for me. It's too unpleasantly sleazy with corny sex-related jokes and the sexually "liberated" tone doesn't fit the mid-50s. I can't believe Susan Clark lowered herself to play the prostitute Cherry Forever; likewise, Kim Cattrall gets stuck with a (supposedly funny) humiliating scene. Furthermore, the young actors are clearly in the 24-30 range, not high schoolers. It would've made more sense to make this about college juniors/seniors.

But there are some good parts, like the 50's southeast Florida setting, the coming-of-age element, a few attractive females and an honest attempt to flesh out these youths with conflicts and so forth.

Unfortunately, the raunchiness leaves the viewer feeling dirty. For a much more palatable movie of this ilk check out the excellent "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," which came out five months later.

The movie runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot entirely in southeast Florida (Miami, Miami Beach, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and North Bay Village).

GRADE: C/C-

Really just a series of high school pranks, but the gags are still funny.

Set in 1950s Florida, this has to be one of the funniest movies about growing up ever made! Despite the lack of acclaimed actors in the cast, with perhaps the notable exception of a young Kim Cattrall, this movie simply makes you laugh. Its biggest selling point is that there is no underlying theme or political message. There is no moral of the story. It's simply made to make you laugh a lot, and it does exactly that. It also contains perhaps one of the most iconic shower scenes of all time, a lengthy nude scene in which Kaki Hunter's hairy vagina is clearly visible, as are those of another 5 women.