Inserts ** (1975, Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Veronica Cartwright, Bob Hoskins, Stephen Davies) – Classic Movie Review 10,045

John Byrum’s 1975 daring comedy drama Inserts is ‘an erotic adventure in sex and cinema’ and stars Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Veronica Cartwright, Bob Hoskins and Stephen Davies. It was a critical and commercial failure, despite its strong nudity and sexual content, and being a bit of a shocker in its day.

Between the huge hits of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Dreyfuss went into this box-office flop as The Boy Wonder, a floundering once-great silent film director now moonlighting in the 1930s as a porn director of cheap, silent sex films in his decaying mansion of a Hollywood home, where he lives like Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. Along comes his His producer and his producer’s girlfriend to check up on him.

American writer-director Byrum flounders a bit himself (the storyline wobbles, the Hollywood atmosphere seems askew) and there is a deliberate artificiality about the piece that is off-putting. The theatricality of having five people on a single set also irritates, so it runs as a stage play rather than a movie.

But Inserts is intriguing nonetheless for the detail and acting – and as usual there is a sparky, appealing performance by the star.

It is made in Britain by Film and General Productions at Lee International Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, on a tiny (£500,000) budget as a personal project for Dreyfuss, who co-produces.

It runs 117 minutes or 99 minutes cut.

It was originally cut by 18 minutes for America; and it was re-rated NC-17 in 1991.

It was originally cut for an X rating in the UK and now has an 18 cert.

The end credits are in black and white against a backdrop of a silk cloth.

The cast are Richard Dreyfuss as Boy Wonder, Jessica Harper as Cathy Cake, Veronica Cartwright as Harlene, Bob Hoskins as Big Mac and Stephen Davies as Rex, the Wonder Dog.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,045

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