She-Man: A Story of Fixation

MOVIE #1,370 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 02.13.24 The plot is ridiculous but far the course for this era of exploitation: A trans woman/drag queen blackmails individuals into being her servant for a year wherein she also makes them transition into the opposite sex themselves. This involves the cosmetic (our protagonist Albert is merely done up in drag and forced to shave his body and wear women's clothing) as well as the administration of drugs. He/she is forced into the role of maid and beaten when they make mistakes serving dinner, etc. That this guy doesn't put up much of a fight is another issue altogether (his blackmail involves being outed for cowardice during his time in the service that could lead to jail?).

Ultimately, Albert learns that he actually likes dressing up as a woman. There are few subplots that go nowhere in this just-over-an-hour feature. But the gist is, as we clearly glean in bookend segments hosted by a psychologist, that this is a fictionalized portrayal of a very real affliction. Nevermind that the actual narrative is absurd and needlessly circuitous! Cross-dressing and “transvestism” are prevalent in society and I suppose we should give a little kudos to the movie for landing on the idea that this behavior is (mostly) harmless.

This is kind of the perfect debut feature for someone like Bob Clark, who has one of the strangest filmographies you'll ever come across (Porky's, Black Christmas, A Christmas Story, Rhinestone, Baby Geniuses and the Baby Geniuses sequel Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, just to name a few). This is a cheap exploitation flick that's relatively stylized at times, and, while I'm not sure there's much here in terms of making the case (or not) for Clark as an auteur, it's certainly an interesting one. I will eventually get to filling in the gaps of his filmography someday.

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⫷ MOVIE #1,369 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,371 ⫸

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She-Man is a 1967 American film directed by Bob Clark and starring Leslie Marlowe. In this film, a former soldier becomes a cross-dresser. It was released on January 8, 1967.