Customer Reviews

The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet / The Notorious Cleopatra

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This 1969 cult-hit amounts to a bawdy parody of Shakespeare's early tragedy. While the film dispenses with nearly all the play's poetry it has an appeal of its own--a sense of joyfulness or playfulness running through all its orgies, nudities, sexual frolics. It reminds me most of a Mozart opera--without the music, but with much greater explicitness. Perhaps if we were all blessed with more beauty or more imagination, life itself would resemble this fantastic, witty, uninhibited little film.

This is a classic from the late sixties. Zefferelli's Romeo & Juliet had just won several awards; Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was the most popular comedy/satire show on TV. So, this film was set up in the same format as Laugh-In, with cut aways to cameos, and liberally peppered with Laugh-In's catch phrase "Sock it to me!" It was a simpler age, when all a naked redhead had to do in a movie was--well--be naked. And all natural, of course. The Cleopatra flick was OK.

i bought this cause it is soft porn, a double feature, and had plenty of extras. unfortunately...

the soft porn is really soft, very little of it is actually erotic or sexy. both films fail to capitalize on these aspects because of their inherent campiness.

i actually preferred Cleo over R&J, but not by much. neither are very good but at least Cleo had a little more sensuality, more "love" scenes, while R&J was almost a comedy(an unfunny one at that)

the extras are ok, but unless you're a die hard fan or an extreme collector, you'll probably access them just once.

overall, if you're looking for high eroticism or classic porn, look elsewhere. if you're just looking for something different, then this just might be weird enough to hold your interest. personally, i found it to be too run of the mill to be anything special.

Something Weird is usually very good at finding B movies with unusual content that makes me shake my head in wonderment. Like "The Godmonster of Indian Flats"... But some of these are just porn. Yes, there are exploitation movies... I understand that they can be graphic occasionally. If "Something Weird" had lived up to their name, Cleopatra would have been a study in Egyptian excess and intrigue... a lot more sinister than Claudette Colbert or Elizabeth Taylor could have delivered. But it was just a standard porn movie with a "Traveling Roman" instead of a "Traveling Salesman". Basic porn plot: Traveling Salesman/Roman has sex with beautiful woman, then two women have sex, then everybody has sex. Yes, that's all that happens with an occasional Roman salute in between.

It's in my trash can now.

Btw... The dynasty of the Ptolemies in Egypt, of which Cleopatra VII descended, was Greek. A good "B" movie tries sincerely to represent itself as credible, like "The Atomic Brain", no matter how ridiculous it really is. This was just a porn movie in search of a plot, and not even good by those standards. There's nothing "Weird" about people having sex. There are several of the "Something Weird" videos that are not weird at all, it's just standard porn.

I didn't even watch Romeo and Juliet, so I don't know anything about it. But my guess it was similar. Save your money.

You don't rent or buy these movies for accuracy or talent. That having been said, "The Notorious Cleopatra" may be one of the finest fleshfest nudie films of all time in the softcore genre; and "The Secret Sex Lives Of Romeo And Juliet" may be, or actually is the worst fleshfest nudie film of all time. Just think of this 2 movie set as marketed so that you get a great film at a fair price, and a crappy movie for free as a conveyance for getting to know the farthest ends of the spectrum in film making. If I were you though, I'd skip the Romeo & Juliet film completely. The box cover art says the Cleopatra film is "the greatest adult motion picture ever made in Hollywood." I'm not an absolute expert, but I'd have to agree with that statement. Worth buying, just for the Cleopatra film. Any reviewer that criticizes the Cleopatra film is just proving they forgot their medication and need to get back into their straight jacket until the medicine can begin working again. Same goes for any reviewer who praises the Romeo & Juliet film. Yes it is that simple.

I wasn't born in the 70s but this DVD had me laughing more than actually watching it. If you are not a fan of cult films then this isn't for you.

Of the two movies the second one I liked better. Though both movies had big busty and hairy ladies. Lots of full-frontal. Simulated sex is aweful. And there is way too much boring togue kissing. But I still give it 4 stars cause you get lots of lush bush. Lets get to whackin!

One good movie (or at least fun) and one bad flick. Great extras. Minor menu navigation screwups. I really enjoyed watching the Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet. Cleopatra was a bit uninspiring though. In fact, I'll be watching Romeo and Juliet again. Catch you later.