Sailor in the Wild Review

Reviewed by Joe Shaver  on  10/16/2004

Long before the DVD revolution I saw this film on VHS. At that time I thought it was one of the two or three best gay porn films ever made. Bill Henson was the most beautiful and desirable man I had ever seen in one of these films. I even had a picture of him on the wall of my bedroom. Today, of course, having seen what incredible beauties lurked behind the iron curtain, I no longer hold that opinion. Nevertheless, Bill had beauty of the All-American boy variety. He is still a pleasure to watch.

The film opens in the hills of Big Bear. Brian Thompson, a sailor on leave, is seen gathering up some wood to build a fire. That night as he is sitting by his fire we see the headlights of a jeep approaching. The headlights go out and we see the beam of an approaching flashlight. Into the light of the fire appears Bill Henson costumed as a park ranger. It is a great entrance. There is Bill, tall, handsome, innocent. (It must be pointed out that Brian is no slouch in the looks department either. He is yet another example of red-blooded American youth: arresting face, nice build. (In looking at the film now, I was surprised to see that I now lusted more for Brian than for Bill.) Bill asks Brian if he has a permit for the fire and when told no proceeds to write him a citation. Learning that Brian is in the service—and because Bill was in the marines—he lets him off. Bill leaves and Brian extinguishes the fire.

The next morning Brian wakes and ambling along observes Bill stripping. Completely naked, Bill stands on a rock and jacks off.

Brian continues down to the river where he strips down to his jock, and showers under a waterfall. It is a gorgeous morning idyll. The jock is removed and Brian returns to the bank where he too jacks off.

Brian now arrives at the cabin of his friend Leo Ford. Leo was another of these early performers whom I lusted after. Blond, slim, gorgeous from head to toe, sucking cock, fucking and bottoming—Leo was the ultimate fantasy. Seeing him in this film years later, he still causes me to dream. Dave Sommers is visiting Leo. He—as we shall soon see-is one of those skinny kids with a huge dick. As Leo and Dave head up to the cabin, Brian strips and goes for a late swim. It is director Higgins being arty again with the twilight putting the nude body into shadows, and it’s beautiful.

The three boys are lying on the floor before the fireplace. A fire is crackling. Only Leo is awake. He begins fishing in Dave’s trousers for that big dick. It emerges hard. Leo goes down on it all the way. Dave awakens to this pleasant sensation. Soon Brian wakens too and he is shocked at what he sees: Leo sucking Dave’s cock. “You guys are nothing but fags!” he snarls in disgust. Whereupon they grab him and strip him. Leo goes down on him. Struggling no more, Brian gives in to the warm sensation of Leo’s mouth on his cock. Even more soothing is Leo’s tongue in his ass. Soon Leo is fucking him and Dave is feeding him cock. Brian likes the feel of cock in his ass so much that when Leo withdraws. Brian inserts his own cock up his ass! (If one ever got angry with Brian and told him to go fuck himself, he could actually do it.) With Brian still fucking himself, Leo reinserts his cock alongside for a double-fuck. Brian does another remarkable thing. He inserts his balls up his ass. (No need for those balls on a string for Brian, he can stuff his own up there.) In this film Higgins doesn’t just go in for close-ups. He uses lots of extreme close-ups. The screen is filled with cock, with assholes, with cocks going into mouths and asses. When Brian is baptized in everyone’s cum his conversion is complete. It is one of the great coming out scenes in gay porn.

The next morning Dave bids them farewell. Finding a secluded place, he strips completely naked and lies back on a huge rock to bring his big cock to a gushing climax.

Brian once again encounters Bill Henson. Bill tells Brian he has a cooler of beer and asks Brian if he would like to go on a picnic. They go to seek a good spot. Bill totes a large cooler. Brian tells Bill he has a present for him and pulls out a sweatshirt that reads: “only you can prevent forest fires”. Bill removes his shirt to put it on. He puts his ranger hat on Brian. Brian asks for the shirt, too. Bill offers to take some pictures of Brian in the ranger gear. “It doesn’t look right with you wearing dungarees,” Bill tells him, so Bill removes his trousers for Brian to put on. Bill is now clad only in white briefs and the t-shirt Brian gave him. They take more pictures until Bill suggests they get some sun. “Would you like me to put some oil on you?” Brian asks. It’s a game of cat and mouse, but what makes this scene so special is that the cat and mouse keep changing roles.
“I could do a better job if you weren’t wearing these briefs.”
“Well, I dunno…….Oh, okay”.
Brian’s hand makes its way into the crack of Bill’s ass. And Bill says a line that he will repeat throughout the scene: “I’ve never done this before.”
Brian’s tongue finds its way into Bill’s ass.
“I’ve never done this before.”
“Let’s try the other side,” Brian suggests.
When Bill turns over, Brian goes down on his cock.”
“I’ve never done this before.” (Now Bill has appeared in three movies before this one, but he says this line with such sincerity and ingenuousness that we believe him each time.)
With Bill back on his stomach, Brian fucks him.
“I’ve never done this before,” Bill coos.
As the fuck progresses with Bill on his back and his legs up in the air, Brian really drives into him. Bill seems blissfully happy. The scene is a classic!

Thinking of dropping by to visit his friend Buster in L.A., Brian stops at a pay phone to call him. Learning it is raining in L.A., he decides to go on up to Big Sur.

Buster is playing a game of strip poker with two cute twinks. It’s a marked deck and Buster soon has them all down to their underwear. As stiff dicks emerge from their briefs, the sucking and fucking soon begins. This is typical William Higgins of the period: cute twinks doing what comes naturally.

Brian meantime meets three young guys on the beach. He shares a sleeping bag with lovely Aaron Gage. Brian seduces the boy, and they're soon out of sleeping bag—stark naked—with Brian's cock going in and out of Aaron’s ass. One of the guys, Tony Roberts, wakes and watches. The next day the peeping Tony tells the other lad about Aaron’s midnight adventure. Brian—now apparently a missionary for gay sex—urges the others to try it. (Try it, you’ll like it.) Standing against a huge rock in the pounding surf, Brian once again fucks Aaron as the other two discover the joys of gay sex.

The last two scenes are dramatizations of letters written to one another by Leo and Brian.

In Leo’s letter he writes of his desire for the pool cleaner. This is none other than Rick “Humongous” Donovan who is making his debut here. If you don’t know him, Rick was a young performer with an enormous schlong. While Rick is cleaning the pool (with the tip of his dick hanging out of the bottom of his shorts), Leo goes out and dives naked into the pool. Leo invites Rick to have a swim. Rick drops his ill-concealing shorts.

“You have a big one,” Leo says in the understatement of the year.

When Leo suggests they go inside, Rick does not object. In an amazing display of artful fellatio, Leo is actually able to swallow all of Rick’s mammoth organ. But Leo wants that big cock in his ass, so lying back on the sofa he lifts his legs for Rick to enter him. Rick is not gentle. Leo cums as he is being reamed. Rick pulls out for his ejaculation. Leo suggests they clean off in the pool. Afterwards they sit by the pool and jack off.

Brian’s letter to Lee tells of his being on Shore Patrol and arresting young Cory Adams for possession of marijuana. Cory is the sweetest little thing in a sailor suit you would ever like to see. He is handcuffed and terrified. He utters the line that has become a cliché in these films: “I’ll do anything to get out of this.” Laying the joints of pot aside, Brian gives the kid a different kind of joint to put in his mouth. When both are naked, Brian sucks the kid and fucks him. Cory has a nice piece of meat and Brian wants it in his ass. He sits on the kid’s cock. He then goes back to fucking Cory until both shoot their loads. The scene concludes with them smoking the evidence.

Viewing the DVD of this film after the passage of time, I would no longer list it as one of the two or three best films of all time—too many great films have appeared since then. Yet I would still list it as among my favorites. Viewing it again after so many years was like revisiting old friends. Sad, too, to remember that Brian Thompson and Buster were both victims of A.I.D.S. and Leo Ford was killed in a motorcycle accident. Yet they live on here forever.

The extras features a cowboy scene between dimpled Doug McCall and beautiful Jeff Boote in a scene from IN HOT PURSUIT another of these golden oldies that Catalina has thankfully released on DVD.

SAILOR IN THE WILD won the Adam Film World Gay Movie of the Year for 1985. It remains a classic in every sense of the word.