101 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic 1970s softcore porn, October 15, 2002
"Young Lady Chatterley" is a goofy, smarmy, tongue-in-cheek classic of late 1970's soft-core porn. The movie stars a pre-breast-augmentation Harlee McBride (a.k.a. Mrs. Richard Belzer, Detective John Munch on NBC cop shows) as Cynthia Chatterley, the niece of Lady Constance Chatterley (the main character of the D.H. Lawrence book). After Cynthia inherits her late aunt's English estate, she leaves the big city to explore it for herself. Once there, she has sex with just about everything that moves... the chambermaids, a hitchhiker, visitors to her house, all culminating in a large gangbang-type orgy centered around a Victorian costume party.
The movie is tongue-in-cheek throughout. None of the actors (including Peter Ratray as the gardener with whom Cynthia conducts her frequent sexual liaisons) seem to be taking the material seriously, but this adds to the overall ambience of the film. Producer-Director Alan Roberts (who also helmed the lesser 1985 sequel, "Young Lady Chatterley II") keeps the camera away from possible revealing shots, and except for one early sex scene (in a flashback sequence), there is no frontal nudity.
Overall, in the world of great 70's soft-core porn, this ranks as a classic and guilty pleasure. Although tomboyish, Harlee McBride exudes raw sexuality and eroticism, especially in her strongest scene, in which she has graphic intercourse with a hitchhiker while riding in the back of a car. Unlike the 1985 sequel, McBride still has natural breasts and a non surgically-altered body, so we can believe she's really an heiress to a beautiful, sprawling English estate, and just not another porn star. I recommend watching the unrated version, which is available on this DVD.
Undoubtedly, many of you will remember seeing this film and its sequel on American cable TV networks in the late 1980's, which was when I first saw it. If so, this DVD will bring back memories of late-night classic porn on HBO and other networks. The DVD has a nostalgic feel to it, and the presentation is nice. Overall, this is a good, sexy movie for connoisseurs of the genre.
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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dissapointing Re-Edit, April 26, 1999
By A Customer
During a recent discussion of erotic movies (not to be confused with Erotica) with a friend, we decided that this movie was one of our favorites and decided to order it. Having seen it only twice myself when it appeared on HBO in the late seventies, it remained in my memory as very erotic though not terribly well acted. The cut available (R rated) from this site is not the same cut I, nor my friend saw when viewed shortly after it's original release and I'm reasonably sure that even in it's raw, formative stages, HBO wasn't airing an X-rated version. If you're looking for the steamy, sexy version you remember, this aint it!
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Soft core classic, December 17, 2002
This 1977 softcore extravaganza is one of the finest and most erotic softcore films ever made. Harlee McBride stars as Cynthia Chatterly, the title character of the film who after inheriting an estate decides to have sex with anything and everything that moves. The big shock of the film isn't the sex, it's the fact that the storyline is great for a softcore film, and the acting is as well. McBride and the chambermaids make this worth watching alone, and those who dig the good 'ol days of late night premium cable porn will love this classic.
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