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Sunstroke: Wild in St. Tropez
Rating: 2 Stars
Directed by Csaba Borbély. Videography by Tom Bradford. Edited by Alexander Gray. Starring Tony Magera, Tim Brensen, Jack Laurel, Claudio Antonelli, Fabrice Felder, Fernando Nielsen, Brian Wels, Ray Phillips, Fred Goldsmith, and Leslie Manzel.
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In Budapest, six members of the Csaba Borbély repertory company pile into cars and head across Europe, bound for the Cote d'Azur. Ensconced in a villa at St. Tropez, where the models are supposed to appear in a fashion show at a beachfront club, three of their comrades prepare for their arrival, scurrying about and generating extraterrestrial subtitles. "Is this meet [sic] is in cooking?" asks Fred Goldsmith, as Leslie Manzel tosses chunks of dead animal onto a grill. "Don't show up yourself," says Manzel to Ray Phillips, who's wriggling to Walkman music, "clean the pool, so we won't be ready in time." There's lots of kvetching about Phillips's failure to clean the swimming pool, which looks pristine. "We never can't be ready in time!" complains Goldsmith.

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When the guests arrive, no one notices the pool, but wistful Tim Brensen zeroes in on the sweetly mouth-breathing Phillips and the contents of his lime-green swimsuit. Their sexual encounter begins on a deserted beach and continues indoors. There are also two sex scenes aboard boats, including a three-way that was probably a logistical nightmare to shoot. Then, after the fashion show, Manzel, Goldsmith, and Antonelli repair to a secluded spot for a session that begins well and then is interrupted by jump cuts. In this and one other sequence, day turns to night in the blink of an eye. The models are attractive; the sex is so-so. The ouah-ouah sound of Euro-ecstasy is, as usual, overdone.

The location, captured skillfully by Tom Bradford's videography, is a knockout. St. Tropez, a natural but under-used location for gay porn, is the home of Brigitte Bardot, France's most stellar homophobe, who finds gay men creepy and calls Gay Pride marches "dégueulasse" ("vomitous"). It's satisfying to know that gay erotica is being shot in her back yard (there's also a sequel to Sunstroke called Muscle Beach), even when the finished product is a bit clunky.