UN PITO PARA TRES: The FERVI series

We've already taken a cursory look at the notorious EL OJETE DE LULU (1985) one of the series of mid 1980s hardcore quickes which Jess made for Fernando Vidal Campos' FERVI Films, Madrid. Before examining LULU'S PACIFIER [EL CHUPETE DE LULU] (1985) we next present his "Pitos" titles: ENTRE PITOS ANDA EL JUEGO (1985) and UN PITO PARA TRES (1984), both "Candy Coster" films actually directed in collaboration with JF. Thanks to Nzoog for the photos and additional information.

Jose Llamas in the 1986 FERVI Films hardcore, PARA LAS NENAS...LECHE CALENTITA. According to Nzoog, Jess Franco said in 2002 that Llamas had died in London from AIDS. But we haven't been able to find any date or independent confirmation of this. I cannot locate any credits for him after 1992.

Jose Llamas in the scatological spy saga UN RAJITA PARA DOS (!982), yet another FERVI hardcore. The review in OBSESSION notes the use of puns in the credits.

They both feature the late, mysterious "Jose Llamas" and employ an intricate "code" which I've examined in my essay published by the Italian magazine NOCTURNO: n. 60, Anno XII,  Luglio 2007, EL CODICE SEGRETO DI JESUS FRANCO, which will be the title of a chapter in my upcoming Jess Franco book THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR: THE WORLD OF JESS FRANCO, hopefully one of three Jess Franco books to be published next year.
 

Jose Llamas aka Paco Jones | Luigi | Bruce Lyn | Luige Montany | Pepito Tiesez | Pepito Tiésez appeared in over 20 Jess Franco titles between 1982 and 1992. The above image of him is from the 1983 hardcore LILIAN (La virgen pervertida), an Al Pereira neo-noir which started out as a softcore but was had hardcore inserts added when the Spanish laws suddenly changed mid-production. Note that LILIAN... is a Golden Films Internacional production, not a FERVI film. It appears to have had a healthier budget and a more relaxed production schedule than the Fervis and the photography (by Juan Soler Cozar) is a notch superior to the FERVI series, which were sometimes shot with the director also acting as operator/lighting cameraman. .

We shall see how, as usual with JF, nothing is quite what it seems, even in the coarse sexual underworld of hardcore production. 

My valued Spanish colleague Nzoog notes of the title ENTRE PITOS ANDA EL JUEGO: "The title seems to stem from "Entre pillos anda el juego", the Spanish title for John Landis's "Trading Places", with "pitos" (cocks) replacing "pillos" (rogues). This Spanish title for the Landis in turn derives from the common construction "entre...anda el juego", which may have been initiated by the sixteenth-century Spanish playwright Francisco de Rojas y Zorrilla with his play "Entre bobos anda el juego". It might be roughly translated as "The whole game (or the business) is between...". In this case, with "pitos", it would be "cocks". 
The pseudonyms, in accordance with this title, are taken from the Spanish words "pito", "polla" and "picha", all of which mean "cock", to which a suffix has been added to make them seem like Spanish surnames (osa, ales, et). Other names in similar vein include José Llamas's "Pepito Tiésez" ("tieso", which means "stiff", suggests a hard-on) in a number of these films and "Pichi Palo" (roughly, "dick stick") for one R.A. García, all of these for "Para las nenas, leche calentita". The Mayans name in this film was, incidentally, and contrary to what I said above, "Tome Proculi"."

Thank you, Nzoog. UN PTIO PARA TRES may be a little more self explanatory. The films seem likely to have been made back-to-back or perhaps simultaneously, a practice not unknown to the director. Although OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO gives different year dates for both those are likely the release dates.  But different release dates are given in other sources.  UN PITO... does have a different cast supporting Romay, including Daniel Katz/Pito Lungo! (MIL SEXOS TIENE LA NOCHE) and longtime JF performer-production manager Antonio Mayans/Tony Procula. Llamas is in both and involved in the hardcore action. OBSESSION notes the title could be translated, A WHISTLE FOR THREE and quotes Franco saying that Emilio Linder (SLUGS) is in it, but I can't find him in the film. Linder does appear in the Golden Films Internacional hardcore, LILIAN... as well as DIAMONDS OF KILAMANDJARO.I b


So, where does the Secret Code come into play?


Several years ago I emailed this to Nzoog: "Your translations and information confirm to me that Franco uses a complex linguistic code as well as image/music codes. This involves using the Spanish {and other} languages as commenting voice, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes playful, sometimes self referencing, sometimes referring to cinema or literature in a historical sense. It's also a pop-cultural voice that Americans and most non Spaniards cannot hope to understand."


I still believe that, it even pertains to the most recent PAULA-PAULA. It's all about voices, and Franco's own voice is the most resonant of these satirical codifications. He's making fun of the entire genre and even his participation in it. What's most fascinating is that he includes the whole cultural context in this.
UN PITO PARA TRES shares the same elements as all the Fervi hardcores, a hotel setting, limited cast of familiar faces, sexually coded credits and group sex. The camera only breaks away to bracket the action, as in ENTRE PITOS... , as if taking a breather. 


Here's a slightly different take on ENTRE PITOS... from the brief review I did here in 2009




Produced byFERVI FILMS [Madrid]/ Fernando Vido Campos SP
Written and directed by Lulu Laverne [JF & LR]


Credited to Lulu Laverne (Jess Franco assited by Lina Romay) this is another no-budget hardcore financed by Fernando Vidal Campos' FERVI FILMS-Madrid, ENTRE PITOS ANDA EL JUEGO[1] is one of eight films Franco filmed in 1985. Four "straight" features: LA ESCLAVA BLANCA and LAS ULTIMAS FILIIPINAS (in association with Santiago Moncada), and two adventures for Golden Films Internacional shot back to back, BANGKOK, CITA CON LA MUERTE and VIAGE A BANGKOK ATUAD INCLUDIO. The four hardcores all star Lina Romay and cast members from the four "straight" features. This was explained by Antonio Mayan's in a subsequent interview*. These hardcores were shot in the afternoons during the production of the larger budgeted non-hardcore adventure films. EL MIRON Y LA EXHIBICIONISTA is the best and most personal of these micro-budgeted pornos and while ENTRE PITOS... is not the worst it illustrates just how much leftover creative energy the director mustered for these quickies. It opens with a jagged zoom back from the ocean [a familiar image from many Franco films] past some high rise buildings. Lina Romay is made up to look like a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow and she has two good scenes with Mabel Escano, a formidable Franco actress-comedienne of that era (EUGENIE-1980; LA ESCLAVA BLANCA, MANSION DE LOS MUERTOS VIVIENTES), an erotic encounter in front of an circular mirror (cf SHINING SEX) and a silly small-talk conversation the women have while performing oral sex on one of the males. Franco himself has lauded this scene as one of his favorites [2]. Lina is quite amusing with her pouty red lips and tacky gold jumpsuit. She vigorously throws herself into the gynecological antics and the closing credit FIN appears over her enthusiastically licking semen off the pubic area of one orgiasts. Enough said. By the way, there is a plot involving a parody of sexual fidelity and a sort of amoral moral at the end. 

Except for the always crucial assistance of Lina Romay, these short features were all bascially directed, photographed, edited and scored by Jess Franco specifically as overtime work to his enhance his income during a period when the was a demand for hardcore in Spain. 


In an interview Antonio Mayans speaks in some detail about how these films had to be made under very specific circumstances and within tight parameters to be salable and profitable. Franco would shoot them on the set of a "straight" film with the same cast and locations and just have them do hardcore scenes. But the resulting products are still "Jess Franco" films, with all that entails. 


UN PITO PARA TRES has the advantage of Mayans (a capable and omnipresent dubber as well) and is listed as 77m in OBSESSION. I just have an abbreviated Spanish video. The antics here seem to be mainly concerned with "length" (Daniel Katz is "Pito lungo") and it's telling that Jess is proud of ENTRE PITOS... but is fuzzy on this one.