Rock Hard (Bob Vosse, 1985)

nI’ve read that in the early days of MTV, the then music video channel would play just about anything. Now, this policy had nothing to do with MTV being open-minded or adventurous, it was like that because they to had play something. You see,  music videos in the early 1980s were still a bit of a novelty. Meaning, not every artist bothered to make a music video. So, if you were in a band with a music video, the chances of it getting it played on MTV were pretty good. What does this have to do with Rock Hard, a Taija Rae porno movie from 1985? It’s simple, really, if I was in charge of deciding what got played and what didn’t get played on MTV, I would have flat-out refused to air “Hotter Than Hot” by Adonna and The Sexelettes on the grounds that it sucks ass. Seriously, what was that? Okay, I get it, Adonna (Taija Rae) is the singer. But what are those other chicks doing? Are they even in the band? Ugh. We wouldn’t be in this mess if writer-director Bob Vosse (Yank My Doodle, It’s a Dandy! and She-Male Sex Clinic) had the horse sense to hand them guitars. Hell, even a tambourine would have been a step in the right direction.
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nLook at them, they’re right there. Grab ’em.
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nCall me avuncular tree frog, but I simply adored how each thrust caused a brand new ripple to appear along the surface of Taija Rae’s untanned backside.
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nPinning her legs back as far back as they will go, Phil penetrates Adonna with not as much gusto as I would have liked. The fact Adonna obviously wanted to be somewhere else minimized the impact of his thrusts. And it didn’t help that Phil and Adonna stopped to chat every once and awhile either.

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nI did like Taija’s purple satin garter belt and the torn up nature of her black stockings, which looked like they had just survived a nuclear explosion.

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nWhile to a certain degree it was also annoying that the opening sex scene between Taija Rae and Jerry Butler is periodically interrupted by the scene where The Sexelettes try to convince a VJ to play their video, I wasn’t too upset, as the scene introduces us to Ultra Box!!!!

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nYep, you heard right, Rock Hard has a character named Ultra Box, who I’m officially declaring to be one of the greatest movies characters of all-time. Sure, a lot my hyperbolic praise has got to do with the fact that she’s called “Ultra Box,” but Patti Cakes, the actress saddled with the task of bringing Ultra Box to life, is simply amazing. It doesn’t have to be noted, but unlike Taija Rae, and Nina Hartley, who plays Cindi Looper, Patti Cakes doesn’t have hundreds of credits on her resume (according to my research, Patti Cakes only appeared in ten movies during her film career). Anyway, Cindi Looper, who is wearing an orange sweater dress with a longer pink dress underneath it (creating a nice layering effect) and Ultra Box, who is wearing black stockings with a short skirt, approach Billy VJ (Billy Dee), the VJ for a MTV-style music channel. She hasn’t said a word yet, but I like Ultra Box already; she starts clawing at her skirt (reveling the tops of her stockings with every claw).

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nWhen Billy VJ implies that there is something they can do to get their video played on the air, Ultra Box assumes he’s talking about money, and says, “I thought payola was unlawful.” Ahh, I love it. Her voice is so snotty and uncouth; she would be perfect in an early John Waters’ movie.

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nHe’s not talking about money, by the way, he’s talking about sex. Pulling out the mattress he had tucked away underneath the studio mixing board, Billy VJ invites Cindi Looper and Ultra Box to dine on his genitals.

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nWearing a red ruffle garter belt, a giant blue crucifix earring and sporting pink highlights in her hair, Ultra Box is the one who gets jizzed on when Billy VJ is finished. Or does she? I know her bush is thick and all, but I can’t see any cum.  Man, what a piss poor cumshot. Whatever. Lying in a post-coital heap together, Billy informs the ladies that he can set up an appointment with the station’s program director (he doesn’t have the authority to decide what gets on air).

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nMeanwhile, Adonna is over at her record label’s sales department to smooth talk Super Sales (Eric Edwards), his secretary (Mai Lin) and Dave Darling (Francois Papillon), an art director (he’s in charge of designing the video boxes).

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nMy initial thought when Adonna comes barging onto their office was: Holy crap, that pink dress with the zipper sleeves is so fucking chic. However, after that initial thought had subsided, I thought to myself: I wonder how much cocaine Taija Rae did before shooting this scene?. And it would seem that I wasn’t the only one who was thinking this, as Eric Edwards asks Adonna at one point if she’s on anything. After giving Adonna’s body the once over, Dave Daring suggests that since Cindi Looper and Ultra Box aren’t there, that Super Sales and Mai Lin stand-in for them in order that he imagine what the box art will look like. One thing leads to another, and the four end up having group sex on the floor. As was the case with the studio scene with Cindi and Ultra Box, the music during the floor foursome is all wrong. I mean, the jazzy score just doesn’t fit with the tone of the movie. If this had been, oh, let’s say, a Doris Wishman-directed nudie cutie flick from 1964, it would have been perfect. But this film is about hot new wave chicks fucking their way to the top in 1985.

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nWearing pink pantyhose, knee-high black boots, a pink top covered in splotchy black dots, multiple gold chains around her neck and a short black and white skirt, Cindi Looper shows up at the office of Joan (Lili Marlene), a booking agent of some kind. And I don’t have to tell you what happens next. For those who don’t know, Cindi Looper and Joan engage in lesbian sex with BSDM undertones.

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nSince Adonna and Cindi Looper have both tried to get their band’s music video air play by employing sexual favours, it only makes sense that Ultra Box give it a shot. And her target is Mr. Wilson (Roger Scorpio), the music video channel’s program director. As luck would have it, Mr. Wilson digs trampy chicks who talk dirty. And no one comes close to being as trampy or vulgar as Ultra Box.  Unlike the previous scenes, the one between Ultra Box and Mr. Wilson has pep. What I mean is, there’s nary a dull moment. This is because Ultra Box never stops berating Mr. Wilson, who is inundated with crass put-downs and insults of an emasculating nature. My favourite line during the cunnilingus/annilingus portion of their love-making session is this Ultra Box gem: “I’m going to cum all over your executive neck-tie, you asshole!” Though, I have to say, “Come on, faggot. Give it to me,” has its charms as well. Oh, and when Ultra Box informs Mr. Wilson: “I’ll show you what Ultra Box is,” I didn’t doubt her for a second.
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nThere was a moment when I got scared, as I didn’t think Mr. Wilson had it in him. It occurs after Mr. Wilson had just expelled a modest amount of seminal fluid all over Ultra Box’ ample hindquarters. When she instructs him to lick it off, I wanted to crawl under a rock. Assuming that Mr. Wilson would ignore her request, I braced for the awkwardness that was surely to come. To my unexpected delight, Mr. Wilson does exactly as he’s told and laps up his spunky leavings with more vigor than I expected. You rock, Mr. Wilson.

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nUnfortunately, the same can’t be said for Ron Jeremy’s Teddy Turner; this guy’s repulsive. Nonetheless, if Adonna, Cindi Looper and Ultra Box wanna get their music video on the air, this is is man to see, or, I should say, this is the man to fuck. I know, you’re thinking to yourself: Why don’t they just upload their shitty music video to YouTube? (that’s what everyone else does). Believe or not, there was no YouTube in 1985. So, on the downside, they have to fuck Ron Jeremy in order to get famous. On the plus side, they wear pink (Cindi Looper), red (Ultra Box) and yellow (Adonna) stockings while doing so.

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