Little Orphan Dusty

Rhonda Jo Pretty plays the character of Dusty in Little Orphan Dusty. Dusty is a young and voluptuous blonde-haired woman who has absconded from her orphanage. She is wandering solemnly along a Country lane with a suitcase trying flag down passer-bys for a hitch-hike. Unfortunately, she attracts the attention of a gang of bikers who seem to receive satisfaction tormenting her as they ride by. What seems like a harmless sunny day is about to become the worst day of Dusty's life. Dusty flees as quick as she can into the nearby bushes as the bikers ride up and down the dry trails. But Dusty is too sluggish for the bikers, and is thus rendered incapable of escape when they encircle her in a remote clearing entombed by trees which will conceal the rape that is about to take place.

Dusty screams as she is ravaged by the leader. Her screams not only falls on death ears but seem to arouse the bikers even further who violate her with increased severity as they hold her down on one of their bikes. A sharp knife is suddenly exposed by the leader who then proceeds to slash her clothing, denuding her and tormenting her with the blade. The bikers laugh and emit vile comments, encouraging the leader to fuck her, make her scream, etc. The leader whips out his cock and penetrates Dusty whilst another biker forces her to give him oral. Her breasts are mauled with viciously eager hands. Meanwhile, a sassy-looking female biker watches from the distance with a gratified grin and delight colouring her countenance. She will play an important part in the rape fairly shortly.

Dusty begins to have an orgasm as she is rough fucked by the bikers. The bikers begin to beam as they know she won't prove to be a pest as they rape her. This, however, only increases the unpleasantness which one feels when watching the horrifying situation which Dusty finds herself in. As soon as the leader finishes unloading his cum onto her stomach and the other biker exploding a load of cum over her face, the female biker is coaxed over and uses her fist to bring Dusty to a wet climax. Dusty appears to enjoy the fisting and the violation, only to go back being the victim again when she is discarded onto the dry trail as the bikers ride off back to what ever life they had before. Dusty, on the other hand, cannot go back to what life she had before because she has ran away. The rape only makes her predicament an accentuated sadness. But there's no need to worry. John Holmes, playing the part of an artist called Frank, comes along on an afternoon wander and rescues Dusty from her plight into depression. He slowly begins to fall in love with her.

The love relationship between Frank and Dusty is a much needed refreshment from the depravity that went on before. The scenes where Frank and Dusty make love is highly erotic and tender with reciprocal pleasure being granted to each other. Dusty begins to trust Frank, and Frank loves Dusty in return because he himself was from an orphanage and he feels a psychic connection between himself and Dusty. Orgies are a daily occurrence. Dusty occasional takes part and sometimes watches from a distance, fisting herself whilst having an orgasm over that day she was raped by the bikers. She takes pleasure in the sense that that day is long gone and that the bikers will not humiliate her anymore. Frank soon proposes to Dusty after discovering that she is pregnant with the rapist's child, but how on earth she became pregnant God only knows because the rapist shot his seed onto her belly! She says yes to his proposal because Frank makes her feel safe. She loves Frank for he fact that they can explore numerous sexual avenues with each other, such as fisting. She feels a sensitive safeness and security by allowing herself to expose everything to him, but her feeling of being safe is knocked to the ground as the bikers come back for more…

Little Orphan Dusty was directed by both Bob Chinn (an Asian American) and Jaacov Jaacovi (an Hispanic). Both directors previous to Little Orphan Dusty had experience directing hardcore adult films. Bob Chinn famously made the Johnny Wadd films with John Holmes playing the role of a Private Detective who reamed out women's problems with his extra large one-eyed snake surveillance device. Jaacov Jaacovi went on to direct the supernatural/western/comedy hybrid Heavenly Desire. Little Orphan Dusty itself is a decently directed flick for an adult film, but do not compare Little Orphan Dusty with the more supremely directed adult classics such as The Devil in Miss Jones, The Opening of Misty Beethoven, or Through the Looking Glass. Little Orphan Dusty is a roughie and it is filmed like one; but the directing is actually quite decent when compared to other roughies.

The acting at times is a trifle amateurish. John Holmes probably puts in his greatest acting performance, and so does Rhonda during the rape scene on the bike. The bikers were genuinely frightening as they tormented Rhonda, especially when hearing the vile comments spewing from their mouths as they mauled her. But it was the scenes between Dusty and Frank during their developing love relationship that proved slightly disappointing. Despite a much needed refreshment from the rape scene towards the beginning, the acting during the evolving love relationship could have been much better; however, the menace and threat of the bikers remained constant throughout the film, allaying any disappointment over lack of decent acting. Little Orphan Dusty is a low budget adult film and it is important for you to remember this.

Rhonda Jo Pretty was a rather successful porn star in the 1970's. Her success was largely based on the fact that she was a dead ringer for Farrah Fawcett, the star of the 70's TV show Charlie's Angels. Because of this eerie resemblance, Rhonda was often credited as Sarah Dawcett in many of her adult films. Rhonda was very much a holographic fantasy figure for men who had a crush on the Charlie's Angels star, and it was because of this that she was a huge hit with the biker crowd of the 1970's. Her classic Californian golden hair and curvy figure made Rhonda the number one porn star for the rough and butch men of that era.

Turk Lyon plays the part of the lead biker. His moustache and facial stubble really grants him the look of a rapist who means business. His incessant tormenting with his knife is uncomfortable to watch. Turk Lyon also starred in Love Slaves of 1976, another notorious roughie in which an evil doctor kidnaps and drugs woman into becoming assassins and sex slaves.

John Holmes really needs no introduction. He isn't called The King for no reason.

Little Orphan Dusty can be an unsettling film to watch whilst paradoxically being romantic and rather sensual in the way the love relationship between Dusty and Frank transpires. Little Orphan Dusty certainly deserves its status as a roughie, but whether it deserves being regarded as the most notorious roughie depends on what a person considers a shocking roughie. A lot of adult roughies consist of the female victim obtaining revenge against the antagonist. Dusty in Little Orphan Dusty obtains her revenge, but her revenge was no more intended than it was a precaution. Other roughies feature the female victim seeking the most sadistic revenge possible, such as the scat and piss showering scene in Femmes De Sade; the bloody shootout and manipulation in The Taking of Christina; the hairy bandits being shot in A Dirty Western, etc. Despite the constant threat of violence in Little Orphan Dusty, Dusty and Frank decide to protect each other and attempt to evade obtaining revenge. Instead they want to be left alone as they value their love relationship. Of course, the bikers perceive this as weakness and it is this which encourages them to come back for more. Little Orphan Dusty provides an interesting twist to the roughie genre. At its core, Little Orphan Dusty is still an exploitation adult film despite love elements which can make one perceive it differently. The Taking of Christina, on the other hand, takes the award for being an authentic exploitation film that not only has a message but can make the viewer squirm uncomfortably in their seat without the film being deemed exploitation.

Do roughie films similar to Little Orphan Dusty desensitise men's view of rape and cause them to act out what they've seen? A lot of evidence suggests that the answer is no. Most of these roughies feature the victim obtaining revenge, and it is this aspect that gives these adult roughies its 'rape and revenge' genre similar to classics like I Spit on your Grave and Last House on the Left. Considering that rape is about power and not sex and that most rapists don't ejaculate via rape suggests that these type of films aren't detrimental into turning men into rapists because rapists do not receive sexual pleasure from rape, contrary to many claims. The criminologist Kutchinsky even demonstrated this with hard evidence during his findings about the decline in sex crimes in Denmark when they became the first country in the world to legalise pornography. Whilst there was a proportion of violence against women in 1970's porn films, there was an equally high proportion of violence against men (Terri's revenge, for example). Quite a few of these roughies were huge hits across Europe in the 1970's, and the Europeans were far more liberal at the time and boasted a low crime rate.

Little Orphan Dusty has steadily grew a cult following over the years due to the rape scene and explicit scenes of fisting. It has been constantly problematical in getting your hands on an uncut version due to the many different versions wandering around. The only avenues possible in obtaining an uncut version was to purchase an extremely expensive poor quality video copied from another copy, and so on. I remember in the summer of 2002 when I saw a solitary picture of Little Orphan Dusty on the Bizarro Video website. The picture was rather vulgar in how it captured the dirtiness of the rape scene towards the beginning. Little Orphan Dusty sold more than any other VHS copy on the Bizarro website. Whilst the picture quality on the video copy was no masterpiece, you did however get the uncut version of the film.

This DVD version of Little Orphan Dusty is equally no masterpiece when it comes to picture quality. The sound maybe alright, but the picture is in a slightly poor state. The outdoor scenes are too bright which happens to blur the surroundings. However, I actually thought the quality was better than expected due to the controversy surrounding the film; but just don't go expecting picture quality on par with Radley Metzger's Image released by Synapse Films because you will be disappointed. I suppose I am in a minority here, but I enjoy the fact that these films remain grubby looking because this still suggests that these films are notorious. It suggests that your incessant seeking has rewarded you into purchasing something that will always be controversial, just like it did with me back in 2002. Indeed, I highly doubt adult films of this calibre will be made again due to censorship and the lack of storyline in 99% of adult films today.

The extras on this VCX DVD is nonexistent. It has only been recently that VCX have started to include 15 minutes worth of trailers on their DVD releases. On Little Orphan Dusty, all you get is a menu which shows a short clip of the gang rape, and a scene selection. However, you do seem to get the uncut version of the film when compared to the old Bizarro Video copy I had. All the rape scenes and fisting scenes are intact. The VCX DVD proclaims Little Orphan Dusty is 82 minutes long, but in actual fact 84 minutes would seem more accurate. The DVD also proclaims that it is uncut.

Whilst the extras on the DVD happen to be nonexistent, this DVD of Little Orphan Dusty is by no means a poor film. The chances of Little Orphan Dusty being released in a remastered format is practically impossible considering the content included. When Little Orphan Dusty was shown inside adult theatres across America in the 1970's, it was often renamed. At times it was called Jaws of Death, and at other times it went under the simple name of Dusty. Little Orphan was taken out of Little Orphan Dusty in some states in order for the film to evade the attention of the authorities who would take not only a dislike to the fisting and rape scenes but also the use of "Little Orphan" in a porn film.

If you like roughies or 70's exploitation films with an adult ingredient inserted, Little Orphan Dusty must be put on your wants list. It is a sleazy masterpiece deserving its status as a roughie classic. They don't make them like this anymore.

Happy Nightmares!

Reviewed by Pryce