Submitted for your approval is this sleazy ’70s roughie, wherein three escaped convicts–one of whom is none other than Spalding Gray–taking a remote farmhouse family hostage for some fun and games. As things stand, the family is already pretty messed-up, especially the three daughters, who enjoy watching their horny folks in the sack and love to humiliate the only other male on the premises. It’s good clean family fun starring Gloria Leonard (as Gayle Leonard), Susan McBain, Nancy Dare, and Marlene Willoughby, with John Black, the aforementioned Mr. Gray (yes, he DOES engage in “the sex” here), and Philip Marlowe. Writer/editor/director Zebedy Colt also co-stars.
How does one defend “The Farmer’s Daughter?” This is the question I am asking myself. The film is depraved, sadistic, perverse and soulless. Perhaps we should begin with these adjectives. I think that’s a winning recommendation, actually. Especially when it comes to the adult film industry. Currently, adult films are afraid to offend beyond the normal boundaries (there is still a market for “rough sex,” “humiliation,” etc.) Put simply, adult films take no real chances anymore. “The Farmer’s Daughter,” while not a great film, at least has nerve on its side. It dares to be gleefully offensive, on nearly every level. There is depravity (forced incest of family members, including a Mother/daughter x 3 scene,) humiliation (the daughters are truly MEAN to the ranch hand,) and murder (the convicts and the ranch hand are all blow away.) All in all, it’s pretty grueling, even for an entry in the “sadistic 70s” hardcore genre. It has all this, plus the demented mind of Zebedy Colt behind (and in front of) the camera. Only Colt (and Abel Ferrara) would direct a hardcore film which contains incest and cast himself as a father who gets “serviced” by his hottest daughter. And, to add the last cherry on top of this disgusting pie, the great Gloria Leonard plays the mother. Only in the 70s…
