One Shocking Moment is an early (1965) sexploitation offering from the legendary Ted V. Mikels.
This is a movie that should serve as a warning to anyone thinking of moving to the big city in the hope of career advancement and money. Young marrieds Cliff and Mindy make that mistake and have cause to regret it.
Everything goes well at first. They have a nice apartment. Cliff’s new boss is pleased with him. He seems destined to reach the top in the business world.
The problem is that Los Angeles is full of hot women and Cliff just can’t control himself. There’s his secretary for starters.
Joanie works in a wild nightclub. The wildness consists of a belly dancer but to a small-town boy that’s the height of decadence.
The nightclub is run by Tanya. It’s soon obvious that Tanya isn’t interested in men. Her interests lie elsewhere. She’s shacked up with Joanie but she’s definitely interested in the innocent Mindy.
Cliff starts working late at the office, or at least that’s what he tells Mindy, but as she will later discover he’s more interesting in trying to bed his secretary than in the job.
Cliff and Mindy go to a party at Tanya’s house and it turns into an orgy. Mindy decides that if all the other girls are taking their clothes off she might as well do the same.
She will have to decide whether to forgive Cliff and save her marriage.
Tanya has other interests besides women. She’s a dominatrix as well. It allows her to release her hatred of men. In the movie’s most memorable moment she skewers a man’s hand with her stiletto heels.
Tanya makes heroic effort to convert Mindy to her cause. Mindy just wants to run away back to her parents. She’s sorry she ever left her home town.
The plot is thin but it includes all the ingredients required for a sexploitation flick and it includes plenty of sleazy content. The problem is that it’s rather slow and a bit on the tame side. There are plenty of topless scenes but the movie doesn’t quite generate the necessary erotic heat. The women are however very attractive. And if you have a thing for topless women with bouffant hairdos you’ll be in Seventh Heaven.
On the plus side it’s technically quite polished. There’s none of the amateurish quality you get in some exploitation movies. The acting is also slightly better than you might expect.
One Shocking Moment isn’t by any means a great sexploitation movie but it’s reasonable entertainment if you’re a fan of the genre. It has just enough interest to qualify for a recommended rating.
One Shocking Moment is included on a Something Weird triple-header DVD along with The Abnormal Female (1969) and the truly bizarre 1966 offering The Maidens of Fetish Street (AKA The Girls on F Street).
Ted V. Mikels went on to make some gloriously crazy movies. I’ve also reviewed The Doll Squad (1973) and his go-go dancing classic Girl in Gold Boots (1968), both of which I highly recommend.
