Welcome to my new short series called Hippie Hotties where I plan to talk about a hippie-era movie that stretched the limits of free love and sex by showing off some sexy nudes on the big screen. This era of experimentation led to some pretty far-out films, so let's take a look!
In honor of Pride Month, I dug up a swingin' 70s movie about lesbians. The 1970 sexy melodrama Just the Two of Us centers around two married housewives who start an affair and wind up falling passionately in love.
The film stars Elizabeth Plumb as brunette housewife Denise Bentley. She befriends her fellow local housewife Adria Madsen, played by the cheer blonde Alisa Courtney. What starts off as a friendship blossoms into a real relationship - sex and all...like a surprising amount of sex! They get the idea after they go to the famous cult-owned restaurant on The Strip known as The Source (this restaurant was real! It was featured in a lot of movies at the time, including Annie Hall). When they are there they see two women dining together who are clearly in love with each other. They talk about the two of them together with Adria laughing about two women together in public. Denise doesn't think it is so funny. She thinks they seem free! Later, the two have a night of drinking and playing cards with two other female friends. The topic of the women at The Source comes up again with everyone seeming to think it's no big deal, that it might even be admirable that these two women were so free. Did that change Adria's mind about the whole thing? I think so!
When the other two women leave, Adria falls asleep on Denise's lap while they are watching TV. Denise says she has to go home to get to bed, but Adria suggests that she doesn't HAVE to go home. Denise says, "No, I don't suppose I do." And then they, well, you know. The two are in the bedroom and Denise confesses that she was envious of the two women at the restaurant earlier that day because she wished it was she and Adria. Adria is moved by this and slips off her nightgown. Before we know it, these two are in bed together!
We then see them go on several dates together, but the free-spirited Adria admits to getting a little bored. This affair has put a spring in her step and has made her curious about what other kinds of lovers she could potentially pull. Denise does not feel the same way. She is in love with Adria, but Adria makes them pick up two men at the piers. Denise is not so friendly to the men, but Adria flirts with one and gives him her number. This makes the two ladies have their first fight with Adria telling Denise that she is not in the mood that night. Where are these women's husbands? Who cares! Now they spend so much time together that they were able to have one of these kinds of fights.
Adria wants to go out with her new male friend and calls Denise to let her know. Denise objects and Adria shouts back, "I'm not married to you!" Well, no, but she IS married. Adria goes about her business going on dates with this mysterious lothario. In the middle of her multiple dates with this guy, there is a scene where Denise sits at the beach with reefer-smoking hippies watching a band play. This scene of her getting high with hippies on the beach is juxtaposed with a montage of Adria going out with her new guy. Denise is so moved by the grass and the singing, that she invites Adria over to have a talk. The talk does not go the way that Denise was hoping. Adria tells her that they can no longer have a physical relationship. Yikes! That is some real heartbreak. In order to get over her breakup with her girlfriend, Denise goes out with her new hippie lesbian friends...the couple from the beginning of the movie! Now she is magically friends with them! That is great news for Denise because it means that these lezzie friends can introduce her to other people like them. And they do!
They all go to a party where Denise meets a very cool, tough chick at the party who is super seductive and charming. She suggestively invites Denise into her pool room. When questioned she says, "It's more calculating than chess. And somewhat more...aggressive." Okay, Denise, she is definitely flirting with you! This goes very well for us as the two ladies start off playing pool and then decide to do away with balls entirely as they make love on the pool table.
In the end, the two see each other at a carnival and we see the women embrace and walk off together. The movie ends there and leaves it up to us to wonder what will happen next. Are they just very close friends? Will they resume their relationship? I think it's the latter. For sure Adria's husband is upset with her, possibly enough to have left her at this point, which would mean that she is free to pursue Denise if she really wants to. If anything, this entire experience has probably taught her that Denise really loves her. It helps that it seems like they have very good sex.
I think this movie is incredible for its time. It is considered an exploitation film, but in a modern lens, it plays like a classic melodrama with sex scenes. It doesn't feel overtly sexual to me, but again maybe in 1970, it did. Once again, a hippie lifestyle is used to show someone's sexual freedom. The good news is that in this movie, it's overwhelmingly positive. Denise smokes grass twice and comes to realizations that she loves Adria both times. She goes to a swingin' go-go party where she meets other women and has the opportunity to really be "free", as she puts it at the beginning of the movie, by banging that broad on the pool table.
This movie was directed by Barbara Peters with financing from an Israeli backer who specifically wanted her to make an X-rated film about an affair. She took that and made it lesbian! She was proud to be a woman making this film about two women exploring their sexuality with each other. She has said, "If you are going to involve yourself in subjects that heretofore have been tattoo, the first moves in that direction should be as close to reality as possible." Okay, then, Barbara - we can pick up what you're putting down. That is probably why this relationship does not necessarily feel exploitative to me. It feels like a tender and realistic story of two housewives finding their sexuality as well as a kinship with one another. It's almost like a 1970s version of Carol.
Barbara Peters was one of two women working in the exploitation genre at the time, the other being Stephanie Rothman whom we talked about previously, and she went on to make several more movies. She even directed episodes of Remington Steele, so Peters had a surprisingly good career for a lesbian filmmaker that started off in this genre. It was originally released in 1970 under the title The Dark Side of Tomorrow (for no clear reason) and was re-released in 1975 under the title Just the Two of Us. The movie is not incredibly well-known today, but I definitely think it should be. Consider this its official revival.
