25/08/2012: Porky's [1982]

Porky's is the original raunchy teen sex comedy, the movie that starts with morning wood and ends with cherry popping. Released in 1982, Pork's predates the movie many see as the start of the sub-genre of teen sex comedies, American Pie and in my opinion Porky's is actually superior to American Pie.

Since the release of American Pie, the sub-genre of the teen sex comedy has grown rather large, with the endless American Pie sequels as well as things like National Lampoon's Van Wilder and the rest. Everyone knows that American Pie opens with a masturbation joke and awkward situation and doesn't slow down from there in the gang's quest to lose their virginity before high school graduation. Well, Porky's did the exact same thing with it's own group of boys although their quest gets them on the wrong side of a strip club owner and they seek revenge after being harassed by Porky and his brother.

 The opening scene starts with a young man measuring the length of his morning wood, and recording it on a "growth chart" he keeps under his mattress. Next his mother walks in and the laughs start rolling. Like American Pie would later do, Porky's does not slow down on the sex jokes for a minute after it starts, rolling through a lot of awkward and hilarious sexual situations brought about by horny high school boys, who are out to lose their virginity, however they can do it.

There's something fishy about this plumbing.

Interestingly, while released in 1982, Porky's is actually set in 1954 which could just well make this teen sex comedy technically a period piece. While the exact date doesn't really matter, Porky's brings us back to a time where teenage boys peeped in on the girls locker room and played telephone pranks in the local diner. With the more old-fashioned type of humor, we get a largely different feel than the type of humour in American Pie. Where American Pie focused on more raunchy things like sticky magazines and certain acts involving pies or flutes, Porky's keeps thing relatively simpler, and in my opinion a lot funnier.

Truly, Porky's, in just a few scenes, has more laughs than the entire American Pie saga, and while I'm sure the two sequels aren't on par with the original, they might still beat the direct-to-DVD sequels of the Pie series. But, 30 years later, no one who has seen Porky's has ever forgotten a few of it's scenes. While the most memorable is likely the discovery of why Miss Honeywell (Kim Cattrall) is called Lassie, I think that the absolute most hilarious scene in Porky's is after the second shower peeping incident when Ballbricker is talking with the Principal. As she lays out her request to examine the tallywackers of five boys to determine who was the culprit, it is hard to believe the woman could keep such a straight face, but her fellow actors luckily didn't have to. Between the longer comedic situations is also a lot of little jokes that are also well done, such as any joke at Pee Wee's expense or the possible origin of the Mike Hunt phone call gag. I think I actually know a guy with that name.

Just your usual schoolyard tomfoolery.

Also, while almost no actors in Porky's ever went anywhere, they all do a good job portraying the horny teenagers, probably because  they just had to be their high school selves. Porky's was really relatable then, and even remains a bit so now, as writer/director Bob Clark based the movie on a number of incidents from his own life and others, as well as crafting the characters based on himself and his friends. Most of the main cast return for the sequels as well, which I think is promising, even if they probably won't be as good as the first. Sadly, Kim Cattrall doesn't return, but that is because she is one of the few to make it, even if being known for her scene in Porky's wasn't exactly a career booster.

Like the American Pie movies, Porky's contains a lot of raunchy sex jokes that many people just won't find funny. While you won't ever go to see Porky's thinking that it is going to be anything spectacular you are probably going to get more laughs out of it than other comedies you've seen lately, as long as you aren't above this type of lowbrow raunchy sex humour.

The teachers got into the laughing gas again.

Interestingly, where I would consider Porky's to be one of the first and possibly the original teen sex comedy that would later influence things like American Pie, some consider it the last of it's kind. That is because, back then, you didn't need to balance out the filthy-ness that is Porky's with morality lessons or coming of age stories. As raunchy as American Pie might be, under it all is a lesson to be learned and often that is why the movies stumble towards the end. However the boys in Porky's are just in it to get laid, and seek revenge. There is no lesson to be learned only fun to be had at Porky's and I have no problem with that.

Overall, Porky's is a refreshing change from the current raunchy teen sex comedy genre, not because it isn't part of the genre, but because it uses humour of a different time. There are lots of comedies that age well, and Porky's is right along with them, because clearly impotency jokes never go out of style. The only question will be how relatable it still is today.

Link:
Porky's IMDb