Jeremy Spencer: Welcome back everyone! And thank you, Vincent, for not running screaming to the hills after last month's review! I know how busy you are.
Vincent Lambert: It's my pleasure, Jeremy. As you know, I'm spending countless hours on my website VincentLambert.com, but I always enjoy chatting about the biz.
JS: Again with the website plug.
VL: Are you going to bitch about that every month?
JS: Probably. What film are we taking a look at today?
VL: This month we tackle the latest from director Jerry Douglas: Buckshot Productions' "Brotherhood."
JS: I've always been a fan of Jerry's.
VL: I was actually lucky enough to screen the film with a group of peers at Jerry's house.
JS: How was that?
VL: Interesting. It's weird watching a full-length porno with a group of colleagues, though. I never know what to do with my hands.
JS: And it's not like it's a short movie, either. I don't know why everyone nowadays is making epics. Remember back in the day when it was just a pizza delivery guy and the customer who didn't have enough cash?
VL: Those days are gone, Jeremy.
JS: Let's talk about the movie before I get sidetracked; at my age, memory is the first to go.
VL: First of all, I love the setup: a college student — played by Danny Roddick — is working his way through school by doing gay porn. When one of his frat brothers threatens in an anonymous email to expose him, Roddick decides find the blackmailer by catching the rest of his frat brothers in compromising situations.
JS: Who said college students lacked ingenuity?
VL: The opening scenes were actually shot on a college campus in the San Francisco area, and the fraternity is named XXX.
JS: No one ever said Jerry Douglas wasn't clever.
VL: I also love how he establishes each character from the start, so the audience knows who is who. You have all the generic/stereotypical characters: the foreign exchange student (Jan Fischer), the incestuous twin brothers (Kurt Wild and Justin Burkshire), the hung redneck (Dean Phoenix), the former Marine (Kevin Armstrong), the born-again Christian (Jorden Michaels), the eager pledge (Dallas Reeves). These are all fun caricatures, and the actors all have a good time with them. And I pretty much bought all of them. Although when they introduce twink Tory Mason as "the pussy-hound of all time" — well, that might be a bit much!
JS: Tory Mason a pussyhound? Anyone who's met him would strongly disagree, I think.
VL: It just doesn't fit — but that was the only one. How did you like the twins?
JS: They kind of freaked me out a bit. They looked a lot alike. But it wouldn't be a Jerry Douglas flick without a little incest, right?
VL: He does like to push those envelopes.
JS: What was your favorite scene?
VL: What do you think was my favorite scene?
JS: Gosh, let me guess: Scene Three, where your imaginary boyfriend Dean Phoenix sucks his own dick?
VL: I loved that scene! In the DVD extras, Jerry talks about how Dean told him he could self-suck and wanted to do it in the movie. He'd get phone calls from Dean saying that he was home "practicing." What a trooper!
JS: I think it's funny that in the movie his girlfriend is afraid of his big dick.
VL: It's a big dick!
JS: Something tells me that you wouldn't have a problem with it. I'm starting to sense a pattern here, Vince. Barrett Long in our last review, now Dean Phoenix.
VL: All right, all right, ha ha ha — can we get back to the movie, please? Which scene was your favorite?
JS: I actually really liked the Danny Roddick/Jan Fischer pairing in the blackmailer's room. [Both Vince and I have discussed that we are going to leave the identity of the blackmailer a secret — it's another reason why we're not doing a blow-byblow. You, the viewer, should be as surprised as we were.] I was quite impressed by the romantic nature of the duo. I think they both did a great job — not only with the sex, which, let's face it, these boys should know how to do, but also by their acting. You really get a sense of young love. Which, normally, disgusts me.
VL: Because you're so bitter.
JS: Amen to that, sister!
VL: That scene — the fifth scene of the movie — is where Danny finally blows his first load of the film. Jerry told me he did that on purpose. It's definitely worth the wait.
JS: Well, it makes sense, too, because it's a love scene. It shows a different side of Danny. He obviously doesn't care about the others as much as he does little Jan. How sweet that Danny was saving his spooge for Jan — even after all the cheating he did on him earlier.
VL: Wow, you really are bitter.
JS: I've had a rough life.
VL: Was there anything about the movie that didn't appeal to you?
JS: The shaving scene, I think. Although, aside from the shaving, it's pretty hot. I just couldn't get past the fact that Danny was shaving Trey Casteel (whose character has girlfriend troubles of his own) with a plastic Bic razor. He shaves Trey's chest and asshole and all I could think was "put some aftershave lotion on!"
VL: Tell me about it! Razor burn!
JS: I do have to mention Sebastian Rivers, whose character has this bizarre jockstrap fetish — he's pretty damn funny in the movie. His little bit at the end before the orgy is hysterical. You can't have a college film without a pothead!
VL: I got very nervous when all the shaving began — I was hoping they wouldn't shave him. He's got this beautiful hairy chest and it would have been a crime! Now, can we talk about the orgy for a second?
JS: The 45 minute orgy, you mean?
VL: Yes, that's the one. I guess it was inevitable. You can't do a movie in a frat house and not have one big group sex scene. This one is a good one. It features almost the entire cast (eight guys) in three combinations. But it goes on a bit too long.
JS: Forty-five minutes!
VL: — and I kept getting confused because a few of the guys look alike. But there is good energy all around. And my guy Dean finally finds someone who can take his big cock!
JS: The pussy-hound! That's actually a really good pairing in the orgy.
VL: I love how Jerry ends the film, too, with updates on each character and where life has taken them.
JS: It's bittersweet, too. Anyone in the gay porn industry who hasn't heard of Danny Roddick's tragic passing must have been living in a cave. The young man's star was on the rise and Colt/Buckshot received a lot of — in my opinion — unfair flak about it, many even blaming the studio for his death. I've known Colt President John Rutherford for many years and know how devastated he was by it.
VL: Jerry Douglas told me that the part was not originally written for Danny, and when Brad Patton dropped out, he wasn't sure Danny could handle the demanding role. I mean, he's in every scene! But Danny stepped up and really surprised him.
JS: It's always sad when a shining star burns out too soon — look at Heath Ledger and Brad Renfro recently — but that should not detract from the terrific job that Danny did on this movie. Who knows what he could have gone on to accomplish?
VL: He's really good in this movie and, I think, it's a fitting tribute.
JS: Amen to that, sister.