Scott LeBrun Watchable enough vehicle for starlet Connie Stevens in which she plays Jackie Parker, an undercover detective determined to bust a dope smuggling ring. Among the sordid characters surrounding her are Philip (Cesare Danova) and Claudia Bianco (Marlene Schmidt, the directors' wife), and creepy goons Carl (William Smith) and Nicky (John Davis Chandler).Unfortunately, this viewer should disclose the fact that he watched the edited for TV version. Therefore, some of the apparently best stuff is nowhere to be seen. That would have added a little spice to what is a mostly unremarkable effort from writer / producer / director Howard Avedis, a busy filmmaker during the 1970s. However, two amusingly protracted chase scenes, one with Stevens going after Smith and one with her pursuing Danova, do make this worth a glance on a slow night. There's some very mild gore; one memorable sex scene ends with a guy getting harpooned in the back.Connie is passably charming in the main role, even if she doesn't make the most convincing cop in the world. It's up to her excellent supporting cast to do the heavy lifting. Danova is solid, but it's the always reliable, veteran screen villains Smith and Chandler who are the most fun to watch. Norman Burton plays Connies' boss; also appearing are Joyce Jameson, and stuntman Nick Dimitri (in a rare substantial acting role). Actor Greg Evigan makes his film debut playing likable stud Alan.This viewer must say that he did dig that unexpected and rather abrupt ending.EDIT: I've since seen the R-rated version on Blu-ray, and while the T & A in this version is appreciable, there's not really enough of it to make a big difference. Still, the movie remains fairly entertaining.Six out of 10.

Chase_Witherspoon Connie Stevens is a pert, buxom Hollywood B-grade starlet, custom built for the exploitation genre, but even this film is beneath her talents. She plays a 'Police Woman' type undercover agent trying to crack a narcotics ring operating between Rome and California. Known for her promiscuous behaviour and unconventional tactics, she's highly effective although often castigated for her entrapments. Embedded, she's recruited by a drug dealer's wife to act as courier for a cartel, but things go awry. She's on her way to solving the mystery when she seduces the drug dealer's young brother-in-law for information - alas, he expires before he can 'give it to her'. And so begins a sordid path of lurid seduction and retributions.Director Avedis had made a few mild exploitation attempts ("The Specialist", "The Teacher"), prior to this effort, but his level of skill hasn't improved. Stevens is vivacious and professional while dependable Smith makes a particularly nasty villain - in one scene, he knocks a motorcyclist from his mount, backtracks on the stolen bike, kicks the stricken rider in the head, then shoots him point blank for his troubles. Crooner Evigan in his film debut is out of his depth in this genre (and as evidenced by his future filmography), while Burton is solid as a stereotypical police chief passively reigning in his star performer's excesses.Notwithstanding the banal dialogue, amateurish cinematography and laboured narrative, "Scorchy" has all the hallmarks of a bona fide sexploitation picture, and therefore, should've been far more entertaining fare. Unfortunately, the low T&A quotient limits that appeal, which in a film titled "Scorchy" is a major liability. Scorchy is clearly a misnomer - it's just laboriously tepid.

Max Power (kowalski_91) ...Definitely not this flick. But having said that, this is one of the true examples of grindhouse at its finest. Connie Stevens plays Sgt. Jackie Parker, who likes to screw and screw around, more than she likes to do her job. But when she isn't getting her chimney swept, she does a pretty good job at being a cop. Her latest case involves a couple of international junk smugglers, transporting the goods through unsuspecting tourists. That's the who; now the how (they call me Busta-- Busta Rhymes): inside of "priceless" antiques, the junk is smuggled. So when the customer receives his or her fartifact, Philip (Connie's latest case) takes the purchase to be "cleaned," when in fact, the dope is simply extracted.Anyway, Connie (when she's not modeling her newest "assets" in the lake or in the shower) manages to orchestrate the perfect plan. Because she's managed to acquire the friendship of Philip and his wife, he uses HER to smuggle his latest shipment of heroin when his regular guy falls ill. This works out perfectly, because she now knows the junk's every move.After a lengthy (which is good, VERY good) chase involving a bike, a dune buggy, a train and a helicopter, Connie pops a cap in Philip's crown, and the credits roll.The flick's one and only sex scene winds up with Connie's partner getting a harpoon in the back, while Philip's foes (who try to make out with the junk) tie up miss Stevens and leave her for dead.Anyway, the reason I came across this gem is because it was on the Drive-In Network (Expresvu channel 333), and bought a 16mm print of it a few days later because it was THAT entertaining.So if you come across it either on tape or (if it's even in existence) DVD, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out.NINE hairy thumbs up.

pmullinsj That gives you an idea of this textbook American International Picture with a lot of heroin in valuable objets d'art and many vehicle chases,as well as some on foot, with some very good, some inept beyond belief.Bill Smith in his 'Falconetti' period is the main reason to watch this: when he runs criminally away, darting here, darting there, it's so gracefully tigerlike it looks like surfing or serious dance.There is some wonderful footage of Seattle cityscapes in a long chase in which Connie changes from a taxi to a hot rod and Bill gets off the train to get in a beautiful orange Pontiac Bonneville, and later--aided by one of those conveniently passing trains--manages to get a motorbike whose owner he kills in that just-for-the-hell-of-it way that started happening in the early 70's; and so we get a little nice nostalgia for his fabulous biker flicks. This he takes right on into Puget Sound, but Connie just pulls up--then, inexplicably, jumps into the water as if to catch him now by swimming--with all of her clothes, including a full-length coat, still on. As the scene dissolves, she hadn't swam very far, and momentarily is back in her apartment, holding far less of the wet clothes she had been wearing, but still wearing the coat (which looks dry by now) and an orange scarf over her head, whose hair looks dry by now.And to think that all these garments, but part of all she owned in the film, came from Pleasure Dome Boutique of Hollywood...This cannot have been synonymous with Frederick's, already an established name, although perhaps Marlene Schmidt had some of those kinds of items when she was primping in her soft-porn-style apartment...Connie also sometimes screams like a real street feline, the kind that has fights in alleys, a most remarkable horrible snarling sound.She'd played the Marilyn Monroe character in 'The Sex Symbol'. She would do better to portray Mary Hart of "Entertainment Tonight," even if she is older than the subject, as she is temperamentally suited for this role (not yet projected, alas.)There is a far too explicit-looking scene of Connie making love with her boyfriend who is then shot in the back by Smith through the window with a spear.This was a pioneering moment in the new coitus interruptus styles: Having made a clean break with the past, we were on our way to a most thoroughly unbrave new world.