Jessica Harper in Inserts (1975)

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Logic dictates that moments after the invention of the first motion-picture camera a single idea grasped the world: porno movies. And as technology advanced, so did cinematic smut, leaping from the grainy black-and-white grinders of the nickelodeon era to the high-tech, anything-hos cyberverse of perversions in the twenty-first century. The acclaimed cult classic Inserts (1975) focuses on the moment that sound was introduced into the mix. Boy Wonder (Richard Dreyfuss), a once-lauded director of Hollywood silents, finds himself in 1930 shooting a stag film in a rural home. As were the dictates of the time, two versions are required: one containing simulated sex, the other with hardcore penetration footage placed into the action during key climactic moments--these being the “inserts” of the title. Boy Wonder’s got his leading lady (Veronica Cartwright) for the soft stuff, but he clamors for a nubile body whose filled-in gaps can fill in the caps in his blue production. Enter wide-eyed naïf Cathy Cake (Jessica Harper) and, suddenly, it seems the Boy has to Wonder no more.