Fairy Tales (1978)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Blistering performances.

Basically a R-rated spoof of fairy tale characters. Naturally all the woman are young and beautiful and take off there clothes for no real reason; there's no male nudity (unfortunately); the songs are actually funny and well-done (the "Snow White" number broke me up) and there's no real sex or anything. Tons of female nudity but done very innocuously and in a refreshing matter-of-fact manner. It's silly, brezzy and entertaining. The low budget is obvious but it actually doesn't hurt the movie--I mean, who expects high production values from THIS? So very good for an R-rated adult spoof. Not "Citizen Kane" but fun.

This 'erotic fairy tale' film rehashes similar plotlines from earlier films, most notably "Cinderella," with the premise of an impotent prince looking for a woman who can excite him. Since all of the 'good' material had been taken by earlier films, "Fairy Tales" pulls from many sources, from nursery rhymes like 'Little Bo Peep' and 'Jack and Jill,' to tales like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" and even a cameo by "Little Red Riding Hood."By jumping around so much, this film keeps your interest. It's fairly humorous and the T&A is harmless. Tommy Tucker's brothel-barker character is the most successful as he beckons passersby to enter 'the big shoe,' assuring that what they do there is "nobody's business but your own."Where this film loses steam is in the penultimate song sequence, identical to the one in "Cinderella," in which the cast sings the praises of Sleeping Beauty's virtues. Whereas in "Cinderella" the song refers to Cinderella's particular sexual expertise; here Sleeping Beauty's claim to fame is that she's a virgin. And comatose to boot. The prince, King Cole, and the Frog Prince (for whom i felt most sorry in that his plight could have been halted by a simple kiss from a virgin), despite the endless parade of literary babes, all desire Sleeping Beauty because she's never had sex. This sudden assertion of moral purity seems out of place and sort of disgusting in the light of the supposed sexual freedoms of this fantasy world. It brings a strangely didactic tone to this otherwise if-it-feels-good-do-it spectacle.

Lots of flubbage. Lots of laughs. Lots of music (which is kinda dumb). That's it.

I fell in love with this "soft porn" turn at first viewing. It could have been just another slipshod "peepshow" as is the case of most T&A features. Instead, Hurwitz and Perilli decided that anything worth doing is worth doing well. The music is absolutely splendid and memorable and wickedly tongue-in-cheek (I am quite partial to "Beat Him Daddy A to the Bar" and "Little Bo Peep". All of the characters are well realized and fleshed out (so to speak) given the genre. Being an actor myself, I can tell when performers are having fun with their roles...a mainstay of successful comedy. They seem to have been having a blast. Anyone who can get through Tommy Tucker's (Robert Staats)scenes without a hearty belly-laugh (to say the least) is likely dead, humorless, or made of stone. Well done all around. I give it a "10". Highly recommended.