Times Square Comes Alive Review

Reviewed by fu_q  on  3/31/2019

**Note – This review is based upon the web version of the film streaming on the AdultEmpire.com Unlimited service. As such, any bonuses haven’t been given a rating, and there could be some discrepancies between this version and other releases.**

Review:
For those interested in taking a nostalgic look back at one of America's most prominent, raunchiest, and seediest of cesspools of hardcore filth and pornography (meant with all of the love that a true connoisseur of both the City and adult fare can conjure up, of course), the 1985 film "Time Square Comes Alive" from Alpha Blue and director Vince Benedetti may be just the ticket. To be sure upfront, this quasi-documentary-style fuck-flick--which features Veronica Vera as a host for the TV show "69 Minutes" who's doing an expose on the biz in Times Square--isn't horribly great as a porno. The sex is generally average (at best), the production values are fairly dated, and the acting and plot are tepid. Indeed, if you're looking to jerk off, you're looking in the wrong place (with a couple of somewhat-notable exceptions, mostly involving Vera). What this release is good for, however, is that trip down mammary lane for those lucky enough to have seen the filthy side of Times Square in all of its 70s and 80s glory, and a small taste of what it may have been like for those of us who either caught it at the very end of its heyday... or missed it altogether. Featured are the likes of live sex shows, various peep shows and booths, sex shops, glory holes, backroom sex closets, dancers, prostitutes, audience "interaction", and so on and so forth...all of the things that one hears about from patrons and participants from times long past. Along the way, Veronica gets swept up into the action on occasion, as well, masturbating in a booth with her microphone as she interacts with a blonde on the other side of the glass, anonymously sucking off a mostly-flaccid phallus at a glory hole, and partaking in a lesbian three-way in which the dancers pull her through the glass-less window of her booth and onto the stage for some fun. While it's impossible to know which (if any) of the sets are actually real or facsimiles of what was going on at the time, it's clear that, at a minimum, they mirrored much of the offerings of the era. Of course, also included are some choice scenes from 8th Avenue externally, as well, most notably of the notorious sex palace, Show World... the last vestiges of which, as I write this, are being prepared for construction... and effective extinction (see photos below). It's sad, really, that in a way, all that will remain of such an amazing menagerie of flesh and sin will be the lingering writings and recorded words of those who experienced it... and films like this one, which provide at least a small glimpse of what once was. While almost worthless as a porno film, it is in this vein that this flick finds its ultimate value...and why some may find it worthy of a watch.




Here's a link to an old blog post that I made several years ago and also several years after my first (and only) real peep booth experience on Times Square. The location is long gone, at this point, and the biz on 8th Ave. was sputtering even then (~2004) but still alive enough to experience some of it, unlike now.



Here are some images of Show World Center from March, 2019, just prior to its presumed, final demise:








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