Directed by:
Howard Avedis
Private Lessons (1981), which centered around a naive teenage boy (Eric Brown) from a well-to-do family being seduced by his sexy, live-in French maid (Emmanuelle series star Sylvia Kristel) and becoming involved in a blackmail scheme in the process, ended up becoming one of the big surprise hits of its year, grossing over 26 million dollars on a 2.8 million budget on its initial U.S. theatrical release. The film not only helped kick-start the popular teen sex comedy craze of the decade, which would hit its peak in popularity with the 100+ million grossing Porky's (1982), but also led the way for a lot of movies featuring experienced older women seducing nubile teenage boys or much-younger men. Even the most innocuous of male coming of age films of the 80s couldn't seem to resist throwing in an enticing, mature, aggressive older woman into the mix to confound the male protagonist. After Lessons hit, we soon got a wave of similarly-themed films like Homework (1982), Class (1983) and My Tutor (1983). Back in the day, these were sometimes called May-December films or romances, which makes them sound pretty classy. Nowadays these would probably be called either MILF Movies or Cougar Movies. They're Playing with Fire fits that mold, but it was also actually a rather ingenious idea, at least in concept., as it melds the lucrative older seductress movie with the lucrative slasher flick / murder mystery. Had this film dropped just a few years earlier when both of those subgenres were just a little hotter, perhaps it would have done a bit better in theaters. Then again, maybe not.
The very voluptuous and sexy Sybil Danning is the star of this one, so they at least got that much right. Born in Austria some time between 1947 and 1952 (dates fluctuate depending on one's source), Danning's perfect 36-24-36 measurements had previously been seen in a number of Euro exploitation films throughout the early 70s; primarily sex comedies with such bawdy titles as Loves of a French Pussycat and Naughty Nymphs. She eventually moved up the ranks to more mainstream films throughout the decade, often in supporting roles. After migrating to Hollywood and landing a lead role as a courageous Valkyrie warrior in the Roger Corman production Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), Danning then tried to re-brand herself as a tough action heroine. Entertainment Weekly dubbed her "The World's Number One Female Action Star," she hosted her own line of Adventure Videos and tried her best to cultivate a powerful female image, but some naysayers attempted to undermine her by claiming this was at odds with all of her nude film and print work. After being criticized for her 10-page pictorial in Playboy magazine, Sybil silenced critics by stating "It wasn't a passive layout. There is a big difference between projecting a come-n-get-it attitude and an attitude that makes demands. Besides, I work hard on my body and, if I want to exploit it, that's my right. I'm in charge!"
Personally I'm with Sybil on this one and don't at all agree with the sentiment that a woman cannot be both confident in her body / sexuality and believable in an action movie. Mainstream audiences, on the other hand, just weren't ready for it. Even someone like Cynthia Rothrock, a real-life martial arts champ with more certifiable ass-kicking credentials than just about any major male movie hero of the past 40 years, was never able to rise in the ranks in Hollywood either. The moral of the story seemed to be that male action heroes starred in big budget blockbusters while female action heroines starred in low-budget (and usually low-grade) B movies. If Rothrock (who's not a great actress but certainly no worse than the majority of male action stars) couldn't headline major movies, there was no way Sybil could have really pulled it off either, though both ladies deserve a lot of credit for at least trying.
Danning's is also unfortunately a career pockmarked by bad breaks, including losing out on playing the female lead in the James Bond flick Octopussy (1983) when the producer deemed her too tough for the part and then losing the "Vazquez" role in the box-office smash hit Aliens (1986) thanks to British Equity rules. Instead, Sybil ended up mostly in poor B films that came and went with little attention. In between, she kept herself afloat by making the best of what was offered. Even in the world of sexploitation, you don't have to play the roles on your back, so to speak. There are usually assertive and strong female roles in these films as well and, as far as I can tell, Danning attempted to find these parts in the meantime.
In a January 1986 interview with Roger Ebert, Danning briefly discussed her image and career intent and was very conscious at how Fire was perhaps at odds with the new direction she was then trying to take her career: "I made a movie called 'Playing with Fire,' catering to the young audience. I was a high-school teacher who seduced my student as part of a murder plot. I thought it would pay my bills while we worked on what we really wanted to do. The picture played one week. I called the exhibitors. They said it opened great and then it died. They said the audience came to see me kick ass, and they were disappointed." I too was disappointed, but not because Sybil didn't kick ass in it. It's just not a very good movie.
At Oceanview College, student Jay Roberts (boyish-looking Private Lessons star Eric Brown... yet again), like every other guy in his class, understandably has a huge crush on his sexy literature professor Diane Stevens (Danning). Imagine Jay's surprise when she offers him a side job helping to paint her yacht, where he can ogle her lounging around in a very revealing little bikini. And imagine his surprise when she coerces him inside the cabin, whips off her top and has sex with him, coyly confiding that “no one will ever know.” And to top that off, she even offers to lend him the money he needs to fix his car. Too good to be true? Yeah... pretty much. It turns out that Diane is actually married to Michael (a clean-cut Andrew Prine), who was her teacher at one point in time, and the upper middle class lifestyle they're currently living just ain't for her. Prior to marriage, Michael promised to show her the world, but they haven't actually gone anywhere and the two haven't even made love in a year. The problem? Michael's elitist, bitchy mother Lillian (K.T. Stevens) and senile, wheelchair-bound grandmother Lettie (Margaret Wheeler) both hate Diane with a passion because they perceive her as a gold-digger and threaten to write Michael out of the will if he doesn't divorce her.
Diane and Michael enlist the annoyingly naïve collegian's help in breaking into the family mansion just to scare the two greedy old biddies so they'll be deemed mentally incompetent. Instead, things don't go as planned after Jay is discovered and chased out and then a masked psycho sneaks in and murders both women with a shotgun. These killings are just the first in a series of murders to erupt around campus and there are a variety of suspects. Aside from Diane and Michael and their big inheritance scheme, there's pretty blonde Cynthia (Beth Scheffell), who was recently dumped by Jay and decides to attempt blackmail him about his affair with Diane, and there's Jay's roommate Martin (Paul Clemens), who has the hots for Cynthia but keeps getting rejected. And let us not forget creepy gardener George (Gene Bicknell), who was having an affair with the dead mother which may, in fact, have been an incestuous one.
I wish I could say this was a good, lively, sleazy 80s guilty pleasure but it's not. While many things go wrong here it's made with enough general competence to avoid being unintentionally funny and just comes off as bland in the process. The acting is pretty bad at times and none of the characters are likable. There's lots of needless time padding, usually centering around Jay's dumb college buddies. The score, a mix of generic TV movie instrumentals and God awful pop-rock power ballads, sucks. The writing and structure of the whole mystery is poor; in fact, all of the suspects ultimately end up just being tossed to the side in favor of a completely out-of-left-field resolution. All this really has going for it are Danning's steamy nude scenes (which at least give us something nice to look at every 20 minutes or so) and some mild slasher violence. There's also one genuine WTF moment when the killer pops out of a closet dressed as Santa Claus (!) and proceeds to beat a girl to death with a baseball bat. The movie could have used more of that and less of everything else. Except Danning. She was good.
Gary Graver was the cinematographer, the title theme song is sung by Arnetia Walker and the cast includes Dominick Brascia (Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning) as fat guy comic relief, Alvy Moore as Jay's grumpy boss and Marlene Schmidt (the director's wife) in a cameo as a gas station customer. She and Avedis also produced and co-wrote the film, often pilfering from their previous screenplays for The Teacher (1974) and MORTUARY (1983) in process. The DVD is from Anchor Bay.
★1/2
11 comments:
No comment for They're Playing with Fire? Then I'll be your first one!
I have to start, though, by saying that this film disgusts me so much that I actually get an upset stomach when I think about the movie entirely. I hate the story because I think it’s absurd, uninteresting, and pointless with unlikable lead characters. I hate Diane because I think she is just a manipulative, unscrupulous tramp, and I hate her and Jay even more because they have an illicit affair that leads to a big mess in which innocent people get killed. While I dislike his character, I do like Eric Brown, but I don’t like Sybil Danning because I think she’s not a good actor and is far too buxom and voluptuous in her figure (including her breasts, which appear saggy in this film). I also have sheer contempt for her talking down about Eric (who actually seems and sounds like a nice person based on other sources I read about him) in interviews regarding his discomfort and hatred over doing the sex scenes with her.
Anyway, I saw They’re Playing with Fire after I saw Private Lessons last year, and while I don’t really like either movie, I will say that I prefer the latter over the former. Why? Because I feel that Philly and Nicole are decent, likable characters, largely based on their individual moralities, and their affair, which does blossom into a romance, does not involve adultery, nor does it lead to anyone else getting hurt. However, none of this applies to They’re Playing with Fire. Once Diane gets Jay into the bedroom of her yacht, she is very quick, forward, and open in seducing him. When he tries to leave, she grabs and forces kisses on him to keep him from leaving, against his protests, then she rapes him (and she said moments ago that she wouldn’t, the lying-ass bitch). This shows she truly has no respect for Jay’s personal boundaries, especially since she had come so close to getting him at her mercy and wanted to hurriedly finish what she started. While he briefly pipes up with worries that Michael might find out, Diane assures Jay she won’t tell Michael, and he unfortunately falls under her spell and succumbs to her advances. Of course, Diane then later lies to Michael that Jay wanted to make love to her.
From there and the remainder of the movie, I see Diane as nothing more than an unscrupulous, dishonest, greedy, immoral, manipulative woman who shows absolutely no remorse or morals when she lies to Michael and cheats on him with Jay, and simultaneously lies to Jay and takes advantage of his naïveté and crush on her just so she can get her in-laws’ money. But the big reason why I have so much despise for Diane is because she is a college teacher, and people like her are supposed to be responsible and teach others the importance of honesty, and how lying and cheating are wrong. But she acts completely unprofessional, irresponsible, immoral, and hypocritical in her career by secretly cheating on her husband with a student just so she can get something that she doesn’t really deserve. Overall, Diane’s character and her adulterous affair with Jay are the reasons why this movie disgusts me.
As far as the ending goes, Diane and Jay getting rewarded is something that I believe they didn’t even deserve in the first place since they got it through totally unscrupulous, dishonest means, and innocent lives were lost in all that mess. And while Diane may have gotten the money and now Jay by her side, this relationship emerged from adultery and dishonesty, so it was not a healthy one from the beginning. Because of that, I believe that one day, Diane will grow bored with Jay (since she grew bored with Michael), find a new lover, and then toss Jay aside like he is nothing. But he’s too stupid and enamored with Diane to realize it, the sucker
So yeah, I hate They’re Playing with Fire because I have sheer contempt for the actions of the lead characters, but I can tolerate Private Lessons because the lead characters have a healthier bond due to their moralities and decent treatment of one another.
I definitely agree that ALL of the characters in this film are really unlikeable. There's no one to ever root for which makes you completely withdraw from caring about what happens to any of them at any given time. The only type of finale that would have felt rewarding would be for everyone to receive some karma, which isn't what happens.
I haven't watched Private Lessons in forever but I remember My Tutor being one of the more palatable films of this type, though none of them are what I'd consider great. At least Caren Kaye gives a much better performance than Danning and Kristel in the older woman role.
Hey, thanks for responding to my comment!
I haven't seen My Tutor or any of the other 80s films where a young man has an affair with an older woman, but I respect your opinion on Sylvia if you can respect mine on why I say I prefer Private Lessons over They're Playing with Fire. I do agree that none of the characters in this movie are likable, but I just especially don't condone Diane cheating on Michael just because they haven't gone anywhere or made love in a year. She never paints herself as anything other than a promiscuous, brazen, manipulative, immoral, greedy gold-digger who wants her in-laws’ money. She may not be wanting to kill for it, but she’s still greedy and that’s enough of a reason to make me not like her. I know I already said those above adjectives to describe her, but I just see so many negative things about Diane during the movie that she’s the real reason why I have contempt for the movie.
You see, I feel this way about Diane and what she does throughout the movie because I'm a person with very strong morals myself. I don't believe lying and cheating gets you ahead in life, and I feel that academic professors particularly should exercise that to their students. But the things Diane does are a violation of her career, so that's primarily why I have such utter hatred for her and her cheating on Michael and using Jay to get the Stevens fortune. I wish she was killed in the end because she didn’t deserve to get the inheritance after all that she did to get it. And you’re right; it would have been rewarding for everyone to get some karma, which didn’t happen.
One other thing I wanted to add in my first comment, but couldn't because I was over the character limit, is that I initially saw Jay as being like a butterfly caught in a spider’s web when he is seduced by Diane, then talked into scaring the Stevens’ at their home, even though he initially said he didn’t want to go through with it, and then he ends up being blamed for the murders by Michael. He tries to be assertive in his reasoning, but he just lets Diane have final say since he’s too smitten with her to say no. As the movie rolled on, however, I lost my sympathy for Jay because his own morality, judgement, and even common sense appear to vanish when he sleeps with Diane again behind Michael’s back, even though is clearly aware of the risks of doing so since Michael still thinks he is responsible for the murders. Jay went from saying he shouldn’t have sex with Diane, being worried about Michael discovering it, not wanting to scare the Stevens’ from their home, and voicing to Diane his realization that she was only using him to ultimately continuing his affair with her and refusing to end it against Bird’s advice because he claims to be in love with Diane. I mean, just how STUPID is he, really??? Jay may have briefly come to his senses when he said he didn’t want to scare the women, then again when he told Diane he realized she was using him and rebuffed her when she tried to kiss him after he said those words, but then he allowed himself to be swayed and manipulated by her! Diane was not in love with Jay; she was only using him from day one, and I think largely it’s because she knew his naïveté would make him a perfect scapegoat! Hell, it’s even truly because of Jay and Diane’s affair that Cynthia (who was a completely innocent bystander) and even Michael get killed.
On the side, I feel sorry that Eric had to work with Sybil because being an American like him, I understand why he hated doing the sex scenes, and she didn’t just understand because she was more comfortable with it as a European. I hope he had a more pleasant experience working with Sylvia on Private Lessons, and I hope he’s had a good life since leaving the acting business.
So again, this movie makes me sick and I hate it because of the lead characters. I actually don't even like horror movies, though I have some exceptions, but that isn't even among the reasons why I detest They're Playing with Fire.
All good points you've made. It's too bad the people who made this didn't put as much thought into the script / characters as you have here!
I found an online bio for Eric. Looks like he is actually doing very well...
"Eric is the principal of Brownbridge Strategies, a strategy and communications consulting firm that works with nonprofit organizations and charitable foundations. His clients include the Rockefeller Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Irvine Foundation, and the San Francisco Foundation. Previously, he was the communications director for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park, California. In Washington DC, he was press secretary and speechwriter for Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez, a Member of Congress from New York City. His work has given him the opportunity to help nonprofit organizations in China, India, Africa, and Europe. As an actor in New York and Los Angeles, his credits include the Broadway production and national tour of On Golden Pond, the national tour of Pippin, a series regular gig on NBC’s Mama’s Family, and the lead in the feature film Private Lessons. Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master of Liberal Arts from Stanford University."
You can tell from that he holds Private Lessons in higher regard than his other film work because it's the only movie of his he mentions. Like Danning, he probably wasn't a fan of this film either!
Hey again! Thanks for replying to my other comment and for the compliments you gave me in it about the good points I made about why I think this movie and its characters (mainly Diane) are so loathsome. �� I mean, ugh, this film really makes me sick when I think about it too much, and not even for the scary scenes!
See, I love to write and I love to do it for fun, and I'm very thorough and meticulous in doing it, including when I comment on written works or even artwork by other people. I do it mainly in the form of analyses on Tumblr, almost all of which are about the Frozen films and other Disney movies. As a different approach, though, I am working on writing a review of my own about Private Lessons and saying why I think it's more decent than the Adam Sandler film That's My Boy. I am also thinking of throwing in my thoughts on why I prefer it over They're Playing with Fire, too, but at the moment, I'm not sure how to work it in with what I currently am writing. I may end up saying some bits and pieces I have already explained in my comments here, but only because there isn't really anything different for me to say that I have already said. But if I do, and when I finish it, I wondered if you'd like to read it.
I read all that info about Eric, too, and it sure sounds he's had a successful life in work and with his family since leaving acting. I found this link to an article about his life with his wife and daughter from 20 years ago, and it appeared to be the source of the few pieces of information about him on IMDb: https://people.com/archive/the-sons-energy-vol-57-no-7/
And yes, since it only mentions Private Lessons as a film he has made, I'm sure he holds it in high regard, or, at least, in higher regard than They're Playing with Fire. I think his discomfort in doing the sex scenes and the friction he had with Sybil, especially over these scenes, during production is why he dislikes the film, and he probably refuses to talk about it if he is ever asked about his acting work in interviews. I know that Sybil participated in the DVD/Blu-ray audio commentary of the film, and I don't know if Eric was asked to participate, too. But I bet if he was asked, he would have declined because he probably still held hostility towards Sybil and did not want to see her again. I had read that her commentary includes voicing her contempt for Eric, which doesn't surprise me, but I still dislike how she has derided him in past interviews (e.g.; calling him "Mr. Brown, young little Mr. Brown") because he's definitely a nice guy. Then again, hey, it's not like everyone will get along with everyone else. He probably did get along better with Sylvia when they made Private Lessons.
"See, I love to write and I love to do it for fun, and I'm very thorough and meticulous in doing it, including when I comment on written works or even artwork by other people."
Sounds like you need a blog!
It's also unfortunate that Sybil has spoken badly about Brown. I actually met her in 2005 and she couldn't have been nicer!
Not sure if Eric was asked to do commentary but it doesn't look like he was involved in the audio commentary for Private Lessons either. Probably just a case of him wanting to put show business behind him permanently.
Yeah, I knew Eric wasn't involved with the audio commentary for Private Lessons, either. I have no idea if he was ever even approached to do it for the two movies, but I do agree that whether or not he was, he would have declined because he probably wants to put show business behind him permanently. Still, I think if Eric was asked to participate in the audio commentary for They're Playing with Fire, he would have adamantly refused to do it for this film in particular because of his bad experiences in making it, especially with Sybil, and he did not want to see her again.
But again, I do agree that Eric wanted to put the movie business behind him for good. Since IMDb has very little information about him, I figured in the years since he left acting, he became very private about his personal life, wanted to avoid the spotlight, and probably doesn't like to talk about his acting career with others or in interviews. That article from People magazine was probably a first source about his current life in years. Although Private Lessons marked his film debut as a teen, he began acting as a young child, mainly in commercials. By his early 20s, when casting offers slowed down for him, Eric made the best move most child actors don't: leaving the acting business permanently and going to college to search for other career opportunities.
Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed my comments on this movie despite my contempt for it. I actually would get my own blog, but Tumblr is all I really need right now since I write essays about movies I love rather than movie reviews, and I'm too busy to make new blogs or other accounts right now. Maybe I will eventually, but now isn't the best time. I'm still going to write my review on Private Lessons vs. That's My Boy on Tumblr this month, if you're interested in reading it once it's completed.
Hey there. I wasn't sure if my last comment on this went through, but I wanted to let you know that I finally submitted my review about Private Lessons, comparing it to That's My Boy. But it was already long enough that I decided not to write how it contrasts with They're Playing with Fire, mainly because I would probably just say everything I've already said in these comments.
But I just want say something else about this movie and why I have such a deep loathing for it. I will repeat a few things I already said, but I have a couple more things to add that I didn't explicitly say before. Again, the number one reason I despise They're Playing with Fire is because of Diane and her actions. As I said before, Diane is a college teacher, and she is supposed to teach her students the importance of honesty, that cheating and lying is morally wrong, both in and out of the classroom. But Diane commits a very gross violation of academic ethics by having an affair with a student and using him for his own selfish interests, and it's even worse because she is already married...to another college professor! She puts both her career and her reputation at great risk by engaging in this illicit affair, and seeing her committing such violations of her career just makes me so angry and disgusted!!!
Diane is made to be the protagonist, the hero of the story, but she doesn't act like a hero at all. She is not evil, of course, but she paints herself as nothing but a manipulative, gold-digging, dishonest, unprofessional, hypocritical slut, all to get money that she never even deserves to have in the first place. She is everything a teacher should never be! Ugh! I just wish she was killed by Bird because she shouldn't have been the only one to inherit the Stevens fortune!
Jay may be a college student and not a minor, but his relationship with Diane just feels wrong in many ways because she is abusing her position and power over him outside of the classroom. Not just by having sex with him, but with offering him money to fix his car just so he will do her the favor of scaring her in-laws at their house. Whenever Jay tries to stand up to Diane about how their actions are morally wrong, she manipulates and lies to him, and he stupidly succumbs to her because he's just too smitten with her to say no. This is why I also grew to hate Jay as the movie progressed, because he initially showed morals by telling Diane he shouldn't sleep with her since Michael could find out, didn't want to scare the old women at their home, and when he told her he realized she was just using him, even backing away when she tried to manipulate and kiss him again. Then his judgment and morality appeared to vanish when he slept with Diane a second time and lied to Michael about her being at his apartment afterwards. By that point, I also detested Jay with a passion because he still knew what he was doing was wrong, especially since Michael still thought he was responsible for murdering his mother and grandmother, so he was also putting himself at great risk of being exposed at the university by sleeping with Diane. He was just so STUPID to go along with Diane's by then, not being able to realize that she never loved him and was just using him all along! Ugh, this movie REALLY makes me sick because of these two, but Diane especially!!!
In the end, Diane did not deserve the money and Jay did not deserve a new car because they got these through dishonesty. If they were going to continue having a relationship, there is no way in hell that it would work in the end because it was born from adultery and dishonesty. It didn't have a healthy beginning, so it won't end happily, either.
Well, now I'm finished. Again, I hope you enjoyed what I had to say about this despicable movie, and let me know if you'd like to read my Private Lessons review.
Just a heads up on the messages here. The filtering system will SOMETIMES throw messages in the spam folder that do NOT belong there and I have to go through and dig these out from time to time. I actually used to not filter the comments here but then bots and spammers were flooding me with dozens of unrelated advertisements PER DAY that I had to then go through and delete, so unfortunately I've got to use the filter. That means it may take a little longer to respond whenever good replies like yours end up mixed in with the trash. It's very annoying but I've no other option!
Sure, I would like to read you Private Lessons review! I liked hearing your thoughts about this one. You pointed out a lot of things I hadn't really thought about when watching it.
Ah ha! I was wondering if you had seen my last message on May 7, but when I didn't see you submit it or add a response, I thought you were purposely not letting my review be published since we've already exchanged several reviews here and there was a limit. Then it made me wonder if I ever even submitted it and it went through to await approval in the first place, so I wrote this newest one, and I'm actually glad I did, because by now I have let it all out with why I so abhor They're Playing with Fire and Diane and Jay (but more Diane than anyone else) like I do.
Anyway, here is my review for Private Lessons in which I compare it to That's My Boy: https://hafanforever.tumblr.com/post/685466157264830464/private-lessons-a-review-and-comparison. I was just told today by a Tumblr friend, who saw it after I told her about it and didn't like it (even though she agrees it has more merit than That's My Boy), doesn't wish to talk about it any longer. I don't want to leave more reviews on this page just to discuss Private Lessons, my review, or anything else, so maybe we could chat about it later on Twitter messenger?
Regardless, I don't think I can bring myself to talk about They're Playing with Fire anymore, not merely because I've said everything I think I needed to say, but because it actually makes me sick thinking about it, especially with the seduction scene. But I appreciate you saying you liked hearing my thoughts about the film, and I hope I made particular sense on why I hate Diane, and then Jay, so much, what with her actions being major violations with her career and reputation, and how he allows himself to be manipulated by her. As I said in my first comment, I have very strong morals myself, and they help me decide whether I like fictional characters or not based on their actions, personalities, and/or morals (or lack of them). Like I've explained here, Diane is supposed to be the protagonist, but she does so many morally wrong things that I don't see her as a heroic character. She may not be evil, but she's also not a good person.
Now that I think about it, though, after you read my review, I will be willing to talk about They're Playing with Fire one more time if I need to explain why I have sheer contempt for Jay and Diane's affair as opposed to the one between Philly and Nicole. But after that, I can't anymore since the whole sexual affair just grosses me out so much (although Private Lessons doesn't so much, if you can believe it). Hope you understand, and take care.
Enjoyed your write-up about Private Lessons and you again make a very good case for why the film is easier to digest than similar films despite the premise itself being distasteful. And even though you don't mention Fire in your review, since I *have* seen it, the differences between PL and Fire, and how they depict the central characters, are pretty obvious.
I have not see That's My Boy, nor do I think I ever will. I try to avoid comedies starring Adam Sandler like the plague!
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