12 January 1928 — 26 March 2014
"When I was a kid, my Daddy told me, 'There's a buyer for everything.' And I lived to find out that he was right."
Harry H. Novak
"When I was a kid, my Daddy told me, 'There's a buyer for everything.' And I lived to find out that he was right."
Harry H. Novak
Harry H. Novak, alongside David F Friedman (24 December 1923 — 14 February 2011) one of the great (s)exploitation kings of the last half of the 20th century, died 26 March 2014 at the age of 86.
A detailed career review of all the projects Harry H. Novak foisted upon the American public would be Sisyphean task at best and hardly possible, as no full and unequivocal list exists. What follows is a review of the films that we found that, for the most part, probably had Novak's involved somewhere along the way — and some that may not have. It is definitely not a complete list, and definitely not infallible, it is merely culled from sources reliable and unreliable that we found online. We also in no way suggest that the given release dates are the correct ones, they are merely the first ones we found.
If you know any we missed, feel free to send the title...
Go herefor Part II (1956–64)
Go herefor Part III (1965–1966)
Go herefor Part IV (1967)
Go herefor Part V (1968)
Go herefor Part III (1965–1966)
Go herefor Part IV (1967)
Go herefor Part V (1968)
The Hang Up
(1969, writ. & dir. John Hayes)
Films in France calls the move "mediocre, definitely not a great piece of cinema but it has some mileage — give it a go if you have nothing better to do." The Kinsey Institute is even less kind: "The Hang Up is the story of vice cops who delve into a seedy underworld of sex and sin. In it, Sgt. Walsh (played by [Tony Vorno as] Sebastian Gregory) is a police officer who will use any means necessary to stop crimes, including cross-dressing for an undercover job. When Walsh becomes involved with a young hooker (Sharon Matt), he is cast deep into a world of prostitution and murder. [...] The Hang Up includes nudity and kinky sex. Similar to William Friedkin's Cruising (1980 / trailer), The Hang Up is a film that demonizes the various worlds of alternative sexuality even as it takes advantage of these worlds' erotic appeal." Is the last not the description of most sexploitation films?
Tony Vorno was also in Fandango (1970), which we look at later, and Sharon Matt, who was one of the lead gals in H.G. Lewis's Linda and Abilene (1969 / trailer + 2), seem to have retired after this movie. John Hayes also did such fine stuff as Five Minutes to Love (1963 / trailer), The Photographer (1974 / trailer), Garden of the Dead (1972 / full movie) and, under his porn director nom de plume Howard Perkins, Baby Rosemary (1976)
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Original title: Eros Center Hamburg. According to a list at AV Maniacs, this German flick was rereleased on video by Something Strange as a Harry Novak/Boxoffice International Pictures. We can only guess he picked it up cheap, redubbed it and sent it out to the grindhouses were it surely met more groans than moans.
Also from John Hayes — Grave of the Vampire (1972):
(1969, dir. Günter Hendel)
Director Günter Hendel was an active participant in the German Golden Age of Sexploitation, though hardly as productive as this film's scriptwriter Alois Brummer, who for about 20 years leaked sexploitation projects as regularly as a gonorrheal dick. The plot, loosely according to the German website Zelluliod: "An American journalist (Günter Hendel as Eddie Green) is writing a report about 'the ladies' that try to get ahead in life by walking slowly up and down the street. They tell him everything, without mincing words, about how they got to their job, what their clients demand, and how they do it. In Eros Center, the attractive Biggy (Doris Arden) is murdered, and everyone who was 'doing something' there that day immediately are suspects. This includes a dangerous group of pimps that hold perverse shows in their apartment, as well as Black and White, which in this case is not a brand of whisky but, rather, young pretty lesbians willing to do acts of love in detail. [...]" Among the suspects: Biggy's Italian boyfriend, a few Johns — and Eddie Green. Whodunnit is revealed at the very end.
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Presented by Harry Novak. We took a short look at this flick at the R.I.P. career review of Paul Hunt, where we wrote: "Once again, Paul Hunt [directing] as H.P. Edwards. TV Guide gives it one star and says: "A mega-melodrama about a carnival owner (Frank Cuva as Frank) who gets mixed up with the mob and a motorboat racer. Romance, violence, and fast-paced speedboating leave their scars on the carnival owner who eventually loses his wife, fortune, and carnival, while retaining his only true love, a carnival employee (Monica Gayle as Diane). A happy ending has all his lost property returned to him. Tune in next week for another episode of..."
Bob Elger & His Orchestra covers Roland Kovac's Hunter's Beatfrom Eros Center Hamburg:
Wild, Free & Hungry
(1969, writ. & dir. Paul Hunt [as H.P. Edwards])
The biggest "name" in the cast is cinematographer Gary Garver (20 July 1938 — 16 November 2006) — The Howling (1981 / trailer), Eaten Alive (1977 / trailer), Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973 / trailer), Sweet Sixteen (1983 / trailer), Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971), Toolbox Murders (1978 / trailer), Satan's Sadists (1969 / trailer) Horror of the Blood Monsters (1970 / trailer) and Bummer (1973 / trailer), among many — who, under the names Robert McCulum, Robert McCallun, Robert Mc Callum, Robert Mccullam, Robert Mccullum and June Moon also had a lasting career as a hardcore porno director; we looked at a few of his porn movies somewhere along the way in our (currently) 7-part R.I.P. review of the films of Harry Reems.
The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet
(1969, Peter Perry Jr. [as "A.P. Stootsberry"])![]()
Distributed by Novak / Boxoffice International. Another movie by Peter Perry Jr. — who despite popular misconception is/was not Bethel Buckalew (who was the production manager on this film) — directing a "A.P. Stootsberry", a pseudonym that (possibly) both Perry and Buckalew may have used; proud of their films, it seems, they were not. A year later scriptwriter "Jim Macher / Jim Maher" followed up this movie with The Notorious Cleopatra (1970).
Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) — Full P.D. Movie:
The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet
(1969, Peter Perry Jr. [as "A.P. Stootsberry"])
At Johnny LaRue's Crane Shot, Marty McKee writes: "Laugh-In was clearly a major influence on Jim Macher, the screenwriter [...]. Shakespeare's lauded lovers break the fourth wall, toss off witty bon mots, and get psychedelic between sexploits. Catchphrases like 'Sock it to me' and 'Here come de Prince' abound, and Perry often interrupts scenes for quick cutaways to Joke Wall-style gags.
The film [...] uses the conceit that it's a 16th-century production of Shakespeare's play performed before a group of hairy California hippies hilariously pretending to be drunken revelers. Cast members introduce themselves to the camera, many of them, like Perry, using pseudonyms. [...] To Perry, sex is a lot of rubbing and moaning — nothing hardcore, but still X-rated (though Boxoffice International tended to send these quickies out unrated). [...] Secret Sex Lives, like other period sex romps made by Perry, is rather sumptuous in its sets and costumes, which lends the sophomoric and sometimes smutty humor a touch of class it probably doesn't deserve. [...] Long lovemaking scenes aren't my cup of tea, but the enthusiastic cast and good-natured gagging make Perry’s picture one of the more entertaining of the sexploitation genre."
Forman Shane (Romeo) and Dee Lockwood (Juliet) also shared the screen together in The Undercover Scandals of Henry VIII (1970) and (supposedly) the under-appreciated horror Day of the Nightmare (1969 / full movie).
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Aka Muddy Mama. Floridian regional filmmaker Robert "Bob" Favorite (died: 1978) went on to Indian Raid, Indian Made and the horror film The Brides Wore Blood (1972 / full movie).
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The Muddy Mama of the title, "Morgana", is played by Morganna Roberts — aka "Morgana the Wild One" on exotic dance stages — who had her intermittent 15 minutes throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s not as a sleaze starlet but as the "Kissing Bandit", the buxom big-haired babe that used to run out onto baseball diamonds around the US to kiss this or that Major League player (pre-plasticized Pete Rose, for example) — when she expanded her range to basketball, she got Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (of Airplane! [1980 / trailer]). Extremely curvy, she nevertheless hadn't yet gone quiet so silicone crazy when she made this movie.
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Also on board Riverboat Mama (and Indian Raid, Indian Made), the slightly less well-endowed but better-looking Dawn Diano — "Miss Nude Galaxy"— as the brunette "captive".
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The plot? Who knows: we couldn't find a review anywhere online. Film Advise, one of the few to bother to write anything, simply quotes the poster: "The waters of the muddy Mississippi run wild with savage pleasure and sadistic danger."
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Morganna Show Her Boobs from Riverboat Mama:
Morganna the kissing banditvon Beezer61
Indian Raid, Indian Made![]()
Another movie from Floridian regional filmmaker Robert "Bob" Favorite (died: 1978) which, like Riverboat Mama, features the bouncing charms of Morganna and Dawn "Miss Nude Galaxy" Diano (as well as those of the forgotten dancers Glory Bee and Tiffany Lace).
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Lots of T&A and "hard" softcore sex in this "forgettable hillbilly softcore sex comedy", as eegah-3 (eegah@hotmail.com) of Minneapolis, MN, calls the movie. In his opinion, one should "Skip the first hour of this flick and go straight to this film's sole interest, an extended native dance performed by the one and only Morganna. This long, one-shot performance seems out of place in a film this amateurish. The rest of the film deals with a secret agent, horny hillbillies and an Indian woman these half-wits chase after."
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At Dodjer, Lucy Pinman writes a bit more: "'Boy, this is weird!' exclaims Morganna ('The Wild One!') [...]! When it comes to weird, the gal knew whereof she spoke. This particular piece of weirdness [...] opens with the credits painted onto the shapely torso of a vixen sponging herself down in a shower. A skin flick that opens so aptly knows what it's about: smut jokes, jiggling ta-ta's, smiling beavers, and tons o' buns. When secret agent Harold (Chuck Davis) gets the call to infiltrate and end a moonshine operation at the Pleasant Point Resort, open season is declared on common sense and subtlety. A car trunk slams down on his hand; he gets trapped in a phone booth choking on the top secret missive he's instructed to eat; and a radio broadcast of a baseball game offers blow-by-blow commentary on the blowjob he receives in the front seat of his car. All this before Harold even arrives at the Pleasant Point Resort. Once there, he's engaged in one roll in the hay after another, by every chick in the flick. Indeed, the only thing agent Harold seems to be infiltrating is the abundant pudenda. But don't worry. Another agent is on the scene. Disguised as Little Dove, an Indian maiden, she convinces the two idiot brothers who operate the illegal still that they are the last of 'the Jerkaloopies.''We're Injuns!' they cry. 'We's real Jerkaloopies!' They sure are. The two 'Jerkaloopies' then attack their own lodge and tie up Harold and his women. But before any scalps are lifted, Morganna, who's a guest at the resort, comes to the rescue by performing 'The Devil Dance,' featuring the heaviest hooters this side of Hades. Then she takes her act on the road, driving off in her convertible with the two Jerkaloopies in the back seat shooting toy arrows at the camera."
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Director Kôji Wakamatsu (1 April 1936 — 17 October 2012) was/is considered one the great pink film directors, a man whose movies tilt into the realm of serious art film and a regular participant at film festivals around the world. As producer, he stood behind one of the most internationally successful pinku eiga ever made, Nagisa Ōshima's In the Realm of the Senses (1976 / trailer). Wakamatsu was killed by a cab in Tokyo on his way home from a film budget meeting.
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Hong Kong Digital, which is of the opinion that "[Novak's] alterations have largely negated whatever merits the original version possessed", explains the plot at follows: "Director Koji Wakamatsu [...] occasionally worked on more mainstream projects like this Shochiku adaptation of the scandalous Chinese erotic novel Jin Ping Mei, the content of which is potent enough for the book to remain banned in China to this day. Pan Jin-lien (Tomoko Mayama [seen below]), the beautiful, scheming wife of rice seller Wu Ta (Hatsuo Yamatani), has an affair but is forgiven this transgression by her obsequious husband. The woman quickly gives in to temptation and poisons Ta, but fears what the man's brother, soldier Wu Sung (Shikokyu Takashima), might do upon returning to the region. Sure enough, upon seeing his brother's spirit tablet, Sung goes berserk, commits murder, and is sentenced to death. In the meantime, Jin-lien has become the fifth wife of decadent Hsi Men-ching (future director Juzo Itami) but is soon forgotten by the drinking, carousing nobleman. Jin-lien also has a hostile relationship with her fellow concubines and, when Men-ching marries a sixth time and fathers a son with his new bride, Jin-lien murders the baby. Men-ching drowns his sorrows in wine and sex but he has worse problems ahead: Wu Sung has escaped execution and is leading a group of murderous bandits into the territory."
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DVD Verdict says "The Notorious Concubines is really two movies. The first film is a slow, arcane muddle about wives, warlords, and wanton lust. Nothing much happens, and scenes go on forever with no real point. The second film, starting about 50 minutes in, is a visionary and intriguing tale, half Fellini-esque characters and imagery, half psychotic Shogun warrior. The two never reconcile themselves, and this makes Concubines an overall unsatisfying movie." (Sounds like an art film to us.)
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In LA, rufasff sums up the film thus: "Dark, cynical Japanese epic brought to U.S. in a dubbed version by shlockmeister Harry Novak. Still, this gory, sexy epic is made with style and interesting for to compare to Yojimbo (1961 / trailer) and other masterworks of the form."
Weekend Lovers
(1969, dir. Dwayne Avery)
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Aka Porno Motel, includes a couple of crappy ballads sung by lead actor Vic Lance, who did the music for this and a number of other sexploiters. The script was later adapted by "Emil Ludwig" as a book for the adults-only publishing house Greenleaf Classics but, oddly enough, re-titled as Weekend Warriors.
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According to New York City's porn-loving lor, this "Soft-core story of a cad is almost a winner"; One Sheet Index gives the details: "Posing as a Navy Submariner, girl-hungry Scott Bennett (Lance) walks a California desert highway each weekend, conspicuously available to interested, attractive female drivers, who frequently check into his reserved motel room for fun and games. Then he meets cuddly, blonde Kerry Chandler (Chris Mathis); and though his kooky antics puzzle her, they share plenty of romance. ... [But] Kerry awakens to find herself alone, for 'Sin Bad' has changed to civvies at a nearby gas-station; his weekend fling concluded. Slowly realizing his love for her, he hurries back to tell her the truth . . . but too late.
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"With Kerry gone, unhappy Scott is picked up by Ginger Bennett (Antoinette Maynard), his swingin' sister [...]. Ginger notices her brothers' loneliness and seductively coaxes computer-operator Phil Brooks (Bruce Douglas) to check Scott's compatibility with her college girlfriend. Back on the desert, Scott's trying to shake the blues. A motorcycling nymphomaniac rescues him from a burly truck-driver, then wears him to a frazzle under the Joshua trees.
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"Meanwhile, Ginger's college chum shows up, and co-incidentally turns out to be Kerry Chandler. Shaken to realize Ginger's brother is the 'sailor' who jilted her on the desert, Kerry plans revenge. . . but softens when she discovers how much he's hung up on her. Nearly destroyed by the man-hungry nympho, Scott finally gets to the motel to call Ginger, but is shocked to see her car parked in front of "his" room. He gets another surprise when he finds Kerry waiting for him . . . but a very pleasant surprise, indeed..."
Riverboat Mama
(1969, dir. Bob Favorite)
(1969, dir. Bob Favorite)
"Wanted: For the sensuous slave mutiny of Alligator Creek."
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Morganna Show Her Boobs from Riverboat Mama:
Morganna the kissing banditvon Beezer61
Indian Raid, Indian Made
(1969, dir. Bob Favorite)
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3.07 NSFW Minutes of Pretty Hardcore Softcore "Indian" Skin:
Kinpeibai
(1969, dir. Kôji Wakamatsu)
Kinpeibai
(1969, dir. Kôji Wakamatsu)
Aka The Notorious Concubines, The Concubines, and King Ping Meh — Chinesischer Liebesreigen; based on the novel Chin Ping Mei by Shin-Chen Wang. Another Japanese pink movie released in and adapted for the US by Harry Novak; the US adaption was scripted by James E. McLarty, the scriptwriter behind Don Hendersons's fun sleazefests The Babysitter (1969 / trailer) and The Touch of Satan (1971 / trailer).
Full NSFW Movie @ a NSFW Website:
Weekend Lovers
(1969, dir. Dwayne Avery)
Two Thousand Weeks
(1969, dir. Tim Burstall [20 April 1927 — 19 April 2004])
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According to TCM, Novak distributed this Australian movie in the US. One can only wonder how a sleaze merchant like him ended up with a "serious" flick like this one — though as we all know, it isn't the content that counts, it's the marketing. To simply quote the current entry at Wikipedia: "Tim Burstall was [...] best known for the motion picture Alvin Purple (1973). [A sex farce that enjoyed two lesser sequels.] 
Trailers to Alvin Purple (1973) & Alvin Rides Again (1974):
"Burstall was a key figure in Australian postwar cinema and was instrumental in rebuilding the Australian film industry at a time when it had been effectively dead for years. [...] Burstall earned a place in Australian cinema history as the writer and director of the feature 2000 Weeks. Released in 1969, it was Australia's first locally-made feature film since Charles Chauvel's Jedda in 1955."Trailer to Jedda (1955):
The plot, also thanks to Wikipedia: "Will (Mark McManus), a writer in his thirties, faces a crisis in his life when he has to choose between his wife (Eileen Chapman) and mistress (Jeanie Drynan). He is also on the fence about choices in his professional life, something that is accentuated when he meets a childhood friend who has become a successful TV producer in England. He calculates he has two thousand weeks left in his life to achieve success."
Soundtrack to 2000 Weeks:
Wanda, The Sadistic Hypnotist
(1969, writ. & dir. Greg Corarito)
(1969, writ. & dir. Greg Corarito)
"What are you doing to me? Lady, you don't understand, I'm a Republican!"
Sylvester ("Dick Dangerfield")
Groovy Soundtrack —
Al Quick & The Mechanics' Theme to Wanda, The Sadistic Hypnotist:
Neither Katharine Shubeck (below) nor Janine Sweet seem to have ever made another movie, but Richard Compton (2 March 1938 — 11 August 2007) went on to have a rather successful career as a TV director after he stopped acting in Z-films like this one. In-between the two stages of his career, he also directed a number of decent B-films of his own — among others, Welcome Home, Soldier Boys (1971 / shoot out) and Return to Macon County (1975 / first 15 minutes) — as well as the two depressing exploitation classics, Macon County Line (1974 / trailer) and Jackson County Jail (1976 / trailer).Al Quick & The Mechanics' Theme to Wanda, The Sadistic Hypnotist:
Delinquent School Girls (1975):
Dracula (The Dirty Old Man)
(1969, writ. & dir. William Edwards)
Clip from Dracula (The Dirty Old Man):
Jerry Saravia writes: "Shot on the single half of a shoestring budget, this soft-core porn flick (pardon, I meant a skinflick) is so crummy and vile that not much enjoyment can be derived from it.
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Full movie, while it lasts:
The same year writer/director William Edwards regurgitated this film, he wrote and produced two other Z-budget flicks, Ride a Wild Stud (1969 / 10 minutes) and The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals (1969 / stripper killed), both of which were directed by former Western and low budget director and scriptwriter Oliver Drake (28 May 1903 — 19 August 1991), who entered the industry during the silents.
Oliver Drake wrote the script —
Elmer Clifton's City of Missing Girls (1941):
To be continued... one day.
Elmer Clifton's City of Missing Girls (1941):
To be continued... one day.