Bad Wives (Vivid) Review

Distributor: Vivid Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film Run Time: 73 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 1997 Director: Paul Thomas Written by: Dean Nash Cast: Dyanna Lauren, Melissa Hill, Steven St. Croix, Stephanie Swift, Tricia Devereaux (as Tricia Deveraux), Missy, Jon Dough (as John Dough), Tony Tedeschi, Fozzie, Mickey G., Lolita, David Stanley (as Roman Holliday), Lex, John O'Connell, Kurt McCortney, John Cangelosi, Bon Avant, Alan Richards, Kimberly Eddy, Chris Wild, John Austin Voices: Paul Thomas Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Bad Wives is an adult feature film from writer Dean Nash and director Paul Thomas. For viewers unfamiliar with Bad Wives; Bad Wives, in this reviewer's opinion, is one of the modern classics of adult feature films. Like many of the golden age classics, Bad Wives was shot on film except it was shot on film at a time when no adult movies were being shot on film anymore.

Bad Wives tells the story of Tracy Jo Whitman (Dyanna Lauren). When Tracy Jo, who is married to Guy (Jon Dough) turns 36, she starts having issues coping with her age. Enter Roy (Steven St. Croix), the new bag boy at the local market. Roy starts harassing Tracy Jo over stealing cookies. Tracy Jo and her friend Elizabeth (Melissa Hill) start finding themselves drawn inexplicably to the mysterious Roy.

Bad Wives is a wonderfully crafted film. The story is original and holds the viewer's interest throughout the film, despite the long run time. The characters themselves are well developed &mash; and portrayed excellently by the cast — which brings the movie to life.

The sex scenes are excellent as well. The cast puts in some beautiful sexual performances and stays in character throughout the sex scenes. The sex scenes themselves are well integrated into the film. Each sex scene makes sense and is a part of the narrative instead of being intrusions into the story and a breakaway from the film.

The locations and sets used for the film are top notch. Paul Thomas didn't skimp anywhere during the production, and the film is all the better as a result. Bad Wives is well shot and looks like a high-end adult film from the end of the 1970s to the early 1980s.

Bad Wives is a well-rounded feature film that is, honestly, one of the modern classics. Fans of feature films should love Bad Wives including those who think that features died when the adult entertainment industry entered the video age. This reviewer can't recommend Bad Wives enough.

Vivid Video has done a horrible job with their DVD release of Bad Wives. Bad Wives was shot on 35mm film, and this reviewer is unsure what materials Vivid utilized for this release. Bad Wives is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i. The video quality isn't amazing in this release, nor is it awful. The colors in the film look good, and there is noticeable grain throughout the film.

The biggest issue with the release is that Vivid has put what they call the Director's Cut of Bad Wives on this release — although this reviewer doubts Paul Thomas had anything to do with the version of Bad Wives presented here. Bad Wives originally ran for 147 minutes, and the Director's Cut runs for 73 minutes; this means that 74 minutes of the original film, composed of sexual footage and plot footage, has been cut from this release. One reviewer has noted that there are over 20 cuts to Bad Wives on this release. Vivid announced in the early 2000s that they were going to release a Collector's Edition of Bad Wives with the uncut film on the release; however, Vivid never followed through on their promise and to date that release hasn't seen the light of day.

Vivid has included up to four angles at a time for the film, some of the angles include some of the footage that was excised from the original version of Bad Wives. However, there isn't any way to watch the film with this footage properly reinstated nor is all of the excised footage found in the multiple angles.

Bad Wives is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio track. The only issue with the sound during Bad Wives is that the audio volume is too low on the disc; this can make the dialog hard to make out at times. There aren't any other noticeable issues with the sound on the release.

Vivid Video has included a few extras on their release of Bad Wives; however, none of the extras have anything to do with the feature film. Bad Wives was released on a DVD-10 or “flipper” disc. Side “A” contains “Kobe's Virtual World,” which has several short sex segments with Kobi Tai. There is another short sex segment extra called “Int. Tel. Sex.” Side “B” contains 31 minutes of bloopers and outtakes from various Vivid movies. There is also a Vivid girls mini-poster included in the DVD case.

Bad Wives is an excellent feature film from director Paul Thomas that is one of the modern classics. However, Vivid has done a horrible job with their DVD release of Bad Wives by using what they are calling the director's cut of the film that has excised more of the film then is included on the disc. The result is an absolute hack job that barely even resembles the original film. Vivid promised a Collector's Edition release of the movie with the uncut movie on it over a decade ago that never materialized. Sadly, this reviewer can't recommend this hack job of a modern classic.

Past Reviews Interviews