Monday 1 February 2016

Vice Academy Double Trouble



I recently acquired copies of not only one but two movies featuring the word ‘Vice’ and starring Linnea Quigley. My husband has been going on about the Vice academy movies since we first started seeing each other over a decade ago. I can just imagine him as a kid, having to either stay up way past his bed time to watch these movies on low volume in his bedroom or somehow convince his parent that they were only basic cop movies and dupe them into hiring it out for him, either way it was naughty and he always maintained positive feelings for these films. 

In truth though, the main reason he likes these films is because they are goofy, so very very goofy. Due in large part to Linnea Quigley (and almost every other person in the movie) she has a delightful habit of being the most over the top character in the film, overstating her lines and just not taking any scene very seriously, she is also very funny and there is something so sexy about a woman who can make fun of herself. These movies also features former adult film star Ginger Lynn Allen (you may also recognize her from the music video for “Turn The Page” by Metallica) I suspect this may have also been a factor. 

I definitely wanted to watch 1 and 2 as a double and rather than writing a review for both of them and risk them being too similar I’m going to review them as a double and compare how similar they actually are.
So onto the show. 






Vice Academy:
·         Directed By: Rick Sloane
·         Year released: 1989
·         Starring: Linnea Quigley, Ginger Lynn and Jane Hamil
·         Condition of video: good
Vice Academy Part 2
·         Directed By: Rick Sloane
·         Year released: 1990
·         Starring: Linnea Quigley, Ginger Lynn and Jane Hamil
·         Condition of video: good

Trailers:
Mission Of The Shark: this movie is awesome. The first thing you see in the trailer is Carey Hiroyuki Tagawa’s face, then Stacey Keach, then Vaughn Amstrong and then HOLY SHIT SHARKS! Something about a military cover up but I was already sold on the cast.

Rock N Roll High school Forever:  with Corey Feldman. Not much to the trailer but somehow this movie looks lame and amazing at the same time.

Total Exposure: This trailer is basically a Sports Illustrated spread circa 1993 with Kenickie from Grease. Basically consisting of cocaine and boobs, people playing dangerous games with each other, The guy from Flash Dance and sudden butt, The staples of any true 90s semi erotic thriller.

Judgement:  some kind of “sexy judge” who plays by her own rules in a corrupt system. She has compassion but she has to work within the law, or something. She’s a terrible actress ( especially acting beside Karen Black) The tape started going weird during the trailer so I’m guessing either someone got so fed up with how stupid the premise for this movie is or they kept rewinding it to see more law boobies

The Game: Another deadly game, this time hunting people. “ John Cain” is kicking some ass “ killing is hell, that’s how he likes it” awesome.

Then there was some boring PSA about the ‘M” rating which was so 90s it was cringe worthy. I’m glad that I no longer have to listen to Bill Collins talk about “sexual stimulations”.

I’m going to delve into the obvious and start with the beginning, of both films.  Both the films start with the same theme song, it’s a punky song with heavy guitar and a jazzy energy that makes you want to bop, at first I thought he was singing “I’ve got a pickle in my pocket” but I didn’t think that made that much sense, I then realised that he was actually saying “I’ve got a pistol in my pocket” which is much better considering they are cops. The first film begins with the most awkward and absurd conversation I have ever heard and the second isn’t much better but then Quigley walks in and she is a total bad ass. She just doesn’t give a shit and Ginger Lynn is such a square. 




The line delivery is pretty terrible, especially from the lecturer Miss Devonshire, who is over the top but not in a good way. Linnea and Ginger do well in both films but the acting and line delivery is much better in the second film. Both films have the same themes and loosely similar stories. The first film features a group of attractive women (and one man who attempts to get his head into boobs as much as possible) and the second features the two graduates as part of the police force. The themes are as follows:
1.     
              Hahahah men are stupid: in the first film the only man in the class decides to show off how sexist he is by openly admitting that he’s only there to take advantage of all the T&A, in response he is asked to be a part of a self-defense demonstration where all of the women in the class kick him in the balls. The second movie deals (in a very light way) with workplace sexual harassment and discrimination against women in the police force. The male police officers are stupid and useless cowards who keep fucking up and the main top dog makes a career out of having sex with everyone  and tries to get our two heroes fired because they won’t, he ends up in a very embarrassing situation. On the surface these films may seem sexist toward women and you might even criticize them for exploiting women but take it from me, the women are the capable, intelligent and resourceful ones in this movie who own their sexuality and use it to manipulate men who underestimate them. Like an Andy Sidaris film.
2.       
      The bad guys are really bad: The first film deals with trying to bust a pornography organization that has been abusing an underage girl by forcing her to perform in adult films and then proceed to beat her up when she doesn’t want to ( oh what fun!) and the second film deals with a (stupid) terrorist organization that poisons the water in a police station to extort money from them and also the before mentioned workplace sexual harassment. There is also a subtle theme about the extent of self-respect. Our two heroes are constantly battling against self-doubt amongst a crowd of women with very low self-esteem.  

These films both have moments that are just ridiculous, from Quigley being involved in the most hilariously dark porno ever featured in a comedy “ I’m going to rape you until you split in half” and  loving it, kidnapping the star and raping him herself, to trying to convince a woman wearing a bee hive wig and a bee sting on her butt to not sell them into white slavery, to being unapologetically racist and then finally determining that all police work simply consists of tricking people or getting your boobs out to distract them ( which is the best trick ever).

The main difference between the two films is that the subject matter in the first film is more fucked up but the sexual innuendo is quite subtle whereas in the second film the story is a little tamer but the sexuality has been amped up considerably. The first film ends with a really awkward silence and a lot of jumping and yelling incoherently which was thankfully absent in the second film. I am admittedly a little confused by the second film though, mostly because of their motives.

Were they actually going to have sex with someone so they didn’t get fired?
Did they actually create a robotic police officer named “bimbo cop” and think it was a great idea until the real police women sabotaged it to keep their own jobs?
I keep changing my mind about whether these are a comment against what they seem or they are just trying to be funny. The second film has some great lines though.

“my morals are as low as my IQ”
“you probably don’t even know how to shake your pelvis!” .

Sure things like the inclusion of a “worthless” switch on the bimbo bot and the idea that women have to compete against each other to win kinda makes you cringe but it’s a comedy! Laugh at it and laugh with Ginger and Linnea as they act like goofs and have an awesome time saving the day. Why take yourself seriously when you can just shake your pelvis instead.

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