Taking Of Christina, The Review

Reviewed by T0MBOne  on  3/31/2014

Produced and conceived by Jason Russell, written and directed by Armand Weston, THE TAKING OF CHRISTINA (1975) is based on actual events that had occurred over the early days of October 1974 as two ex-cons abduct a young woman and pay the consequences. The lovely Bree Anthony plays Christina, who is deflowered and raped by her captors then turns the tables on the duo for the film's violent and bloody finale. Roger Caine as Frankie and Eric Edwards as Sonny are properly menacing as her contrasting abductors; meanwhile, director Weston keeps this tale dark and dreary as the characters maneuver through the cold wintery darkness of small town America. Standard frame. 82 minutes.

In the comfort of her bedroom, a picture of her boyfriend on her night stand, Christina takes off her clothes then gets a wedding dress down from the closet. She admires the fabric then puts on the veil to check herself out in the mirror. She showers and imagines she's with her future hubby. A lovely opening before the credits with Christina home and safe.

After brief credits roll,

October 1st, 1974 11PM

appears on screen followed by a series of headlights in the darkness and a couple coming out a movie theater. Christina complains about the on-screen violence to her beau Larry (Jack Thompson) who tells her that's what sells. Action cuts to a gas station where Frankie and Sonny not only rob the joint but Frankie knifes the old attendant, who, on this night, stayed open a bit too long.

Christina and Larry are out in the car where she tells him that she wants to stay "pure" for their wedding night just a week away. So, Larry takes Christina home then stops at a bar where he buys Mary Jo (Terri Hall) a mimosa and observes a topless dancer (Leila) seductively dancing on the bar top. Sharing a cigarette at the bar, Larry declines Mary Jo's advances and leaves. With plenty of cash from the robbery, Frankie and Sonny appear at the bar and leave with Mary Jo and her gal pal, Louise (C. J. Laing) as the lovely ladies of the night have their johns. At their seedy room nearby, Mary Jo wants out of the deal when Frankie plays too rough with her but hangs around to suck and fuck with Louise and Sonny while Frankie heads back to the bar. Mary Jo sits on Sonny's face while Louise rides cowgirl on his cock then Louise's deep throating and a facial conclude this brief three-way.

The following sunny day, while out driving in the snowy landscape, Frankie and Sonny find a deserted house and break in. That night, they abduct Christina after she's finished working at the single screen movie theater that had been showing a lame buddy flick called Freebie and the Bean. They take her to their hide out and tie her to the bed for Frankie to mish fuck her. After the rape-and deflowering of the virgin Christina-Frankie heads to the bar where Larry has come in search of his missing girlfriend. Frankie brags to him and about the "little piece of ass" he had just knocked off.

With Frankie away, Sonny has his way with Christina but he takes a more tender approach as does Mary Jo who takes Larry away from the bar and to her room. The two sex scenes are intercut into a series of quick edits as the combined sex scenes detail Larry's losing his virginity that same evening that Christina loses hers to her captors. Mary Jo's cowgirl ride is tops and the two encounters conclude with Sonny dropping his cum shot upon Christina.

Upon his return, Frankie's pissed to find that Sonny has untied Christina. Sonny tries to convince Frankie that Christina should go with them to Florida. Saying "I don't want to stay in this town now," Christina prods Frankie to let her go and Frankie's response is that he and Sonny share and share alike. The duo take Christina as Sonny fucks her while Frankie jams his cock down her mouth. She grabs onto the bed while the duo appear to double penetrate her in a wide shot with Sonny and Christina in doggy and Frankie taking the bottom spot.

After this wonderfully staged and shot sexual encounter,

October 3, 1974

appears on the screen as the trio are heading to Christina's house where she has promised to raid the family's strong box of its cash. The trio stop the car in a parking lot; the duo let her out then soon begin to wonder what she's doing inside. Director Weston keeps Christina's actions inside a secret from the viewer as the camera soon follows Sonny and Frankie to the front door where the vicious finale to THE TAKING OF CHRISTINA occurs.

This raw, violent tale, so wonderfully mounted by writer/director Weston, is a perfect example of the type of tale that xxx features should aspire to portray. The sex scenes are flawlessly integrated into the story and perfectly fit within the gritty realism inspired by real-life events of that three day period in 1974. The acting here is nothing special, but at the same time, none of the performances are so distracting that they take way from the impact of this powerful little revenge flick.

So, Armand Weston's TAKING OF CHRISTINA (1975) earns its !!!!! outta !!!!! for sticking with this brutal tale of rape and violence that embraces its dark characters and environs at every shadowy turn. Bravo!

And now for a QUICKIE...

The following year, director Weston would make his ode to film noir in the guise of EXPOSE ME LOVELY (click on T0MBOne for a review) and a year or two later, the flick TAKE OFF, an overly ambitious project that combines plot elements from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray with scenes that poke fun/parody movie icons like Jimmy Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Marlon Brando.

In TAKE OFF, Wade Nichols plays Darrin Blue, a character that never ages thanks to a magical silent film loop (a sepia toned sexual encounter set in the 1920s) that does show his aging state whenever it's shown. Weston uses the ensuing decades to cast the never-aging Blue as familiar film characters in familiar film settings and here's where TAKE OFF fails miserably. Wade Nichols as Cagney? His awful imitation kills this bit. As Bogey? He's not so bad but the Casablanca parody elements are poorly written and executed. As Brando? Nichols can mostly handle Brando's Wild One character because it's not so much of a stretch. The good news here is that there's a terrific exterior sex scene on the back of his motorcycle with the lovely Susaye London in tow. More good news comes in the form of bookending sex scenes with super cute Leslie Bovee, who plays the young lady listening to Darrin Blue tell his incredible life story.

Watch the old black and white PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1945) to see just how special TAKE OFF could have been had Weston stuck more closely to Wilde's original source material. As is, the film seems overly long and very hit and miss when Blue must become Bogey and the rest. !!! 1/2