Of all genres available for movies one of the most diverse is comedy. Variations run the gamut from dark comedy moving through sharp, witty satire and on to just silly. One sub-set of the later is the much maligned sex comedy. Once the film rating system permitted more explicit material in mainstream movies, sex based comedy moved from farces employing double entendre to more titillating fair. For the most part these films of this nature were limited to youth oriented flicks typically including slash and dash horror, fraternity high jinks or high school guys looking for a good time. Not much has changed in the couple of decades since this type of sex comedy begun to take hold, certainly not in the level of sophistication or inherent quality. One of the best known instances of this niche arrived in theaters back in 1984, ‘Hard bodies’ which was followed two years latterly by the simply named ‘Hard Bodies 2’. Collectively this pair of flicks has been a guilty pleasure since they were first released. Part of their popularity most probably was greatly enhanced by the fact that home video recorders were just becoming common place in the American living room. Now your neighbors didn’t have to see you on line for a puerile movie like this. Many were using their new VCRs for adult films so by comparison this movie was tame. In the case of these films it is now possible to own them both on DVD with the ‘Hard Bodies’ Collection’ released by Anchor Bay. It is possible to make a case that these films are cult classics and quite representative of the mid eighties. The flicks were even referenced on the ‘Gilmore Girls’; a series well known for fitting such references casually into the dialogue. This is definitely not the kind of movie you save for date night with your female significant other. It is rude, crude, and socially unacceptable and with a large pizza and a case of beer most guys will find them funny.

The two films were written by pretty much the same team of writers but both were directed by Mark Griffiths. The original ‘Hard Bodies’ was Griffiths’ second movie; the first was a low budget crime drama, ‘Running Hot’. After these movies he went on a list of made for television movies. One thing you have to give him credit for is he knows his audience and what they expect from a film of this ilk. There is very little that takes precedence over the myriad of shots perfectly framing the endless parade of breasts. Although the larger end of the bosom spectrum is best represented Griffiths make sure aficionados of all sizes and shape breasts are well considered here. Since the focus of the film is well endowed young women with extremely little modesty there is little need for such trivial matters as plot or character development. This removes the requirement for exposition or scenes with emotional content.

Writing the first film were Mark Griffiths, Eric Alter and Steve Greene. Alter and Greene were also credited for the story. Some may wonder why several people were needed for such a minimalistic screenplay. Perhaps one brought the pot and the other munchies. The second flick had pretty much the same authorship with Curtis Wilmot replacing Greene. All that is really needed here is to establish some semi plausible excuse to bring the character on set and the majority of their clothing on the floor. There are some slight differences with how these goals are achieved in both films but the movies come across almost identical in every way. Then again the target demographic is typically impaired in some fashion so this may not have been as evident during the initial run in the eighties.

In the first film Scotty Palmer (Grant Cramer is a con man that can’t seem to make his usual scams profitable, at least not well enough to support his desired life of leisure in the Southern California Beach region. A ray of hope appears on the horizon for the affable grifter when a trio of middle aged bachelors moves into the area; Hunter (Gary Wood), Rounder (Michael Rapaport) and Ashby (Sorrells Picard). Scotty offers to teach them his sure fire methodology to bed any of the ample supply of women in exchange for staying at their lush beach house. This ‘perfect’ plan goes badly off track when Hunter sets his sights on Scotty’s girlfriend Kristie (Teal Roberts). In ‘Hard Bodies 2’ you just replace making a ‘B’ movie for the more general aimless beach romp. This is not to imply there is more in the way of story here; if anything there is less.

Some out there may have seen either or both of these movies while mindlessly channel surfing late at night or back in the day at a Friday night Drive-in. the presentation on this disc is surprising for Anchor Bay, it appears that little was done to clean up the sign of age present on the video, there are numerous flaws but that just seen to help bring me back in time to the cheesy theaters that would show these flicks.