Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman (1975)
Directed by: William A. Levey
Written by: Shomo D. Weinstein
Starring: Dyanne Thorne, Howard Maurer, Jay Rasumny, Samuel Mann
Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman (1975)
Directed by William A. Levey
Where to start? Well, two aliens (Rasumny and Mann) from the planet Uran (guess it’s Uranus), are sent by the leader of their doomed and soon to be extinct planet to procreate with Earth women to continue their race. First stop is the brothel where a glamourous prostitute (Dyanne Thorne) is getting jiggy with punter Charlie (played by her real life husband Howard Maurer). The aliens book themselves in at the front desk for a session with her and this is when we see the alien’s tool of the trade. Unlike human males who use their penis for intercourse, the alien’s genitalia are actually their extra long tongue and inflatable balloon ball ears. Despite this, the aliens still refer to their bits as their ‘cock’ and ‘balls’. After a glowing orgasm from both parties, the aliens move on to their next conquest. This time they beam up their lady ‘victim’ into their spaceship and do the deed which is over with in the space of 10 seconds. The woman is left satisfied and extremely horny as she is beamed back to her home and proceeds to get hot under the sheets with her husband who hasn’t even noticed she’s gone missing. The film continues with these encounters until the final sequence where 9 months later an alien baby is born at the hospital.
Erotic comedy Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman is one of those weird 70’s films that is unashamedly cheesy and knows it. Using its minuscule budget, we’re treated to basic space costumes and similarly thrifty interiors, with the inside of the space ship decorated with tin foil – the number one material of UFOs. All this adds to the absurd charm with one of the funniest prop scenes depicting the aliens flying back to their planet from Earth, and we see them flying in their shuttle away from a globe- you know the geography globes with writing on for each country, continent and sea? That sort of globe. It really is a face palm ‘epic fail’ moment, but the heart of this film is a softcore comedy, which in some respect it kind of achieves. Whilst there are humorous moments throughout the movie, the funniest part for me, and is the reason I watched it, was the scene between Dyanne Thorne and Howard Maurer as the first couple we meet. Their interaction and comic chemistry sets the movie alight but unfortunately the rest of the film doesn’t keep up the momentum of their fine comedic performance.
As I mentioned before, this is a softcore comedy. However, there is a hardcore XXX version available and this is the one I watched. The hardcore scenes were filmed with stars who had nothing to do with the film and undoubtedly filmed off set. The untrimmed, explicit imagery has been spliced in at willy nilly (pun intended) points in the film, usually when the actors in the film are engaged in intercourse. It’s fairly obvious that none of the films stars participated in these X rated scenes with the naked bodies looking completely different from those of the actors. These scenes don’t add anything to the film, unlike the hardcore scenes in Caligula which looked authentic and added to the sordid Roman atmosphere.
The dialogue and music used in the film is typical B movie – poor and cheesy, although there is quite a funny title song which is repeated throughout the film and will no doubt ingrain itself into your lugholes.
Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman is one of those movies you can have a giggle at when there’s nothing else on TV. However, the same old in/out story gets monotonous quickly and the film never offers up anything else except images of furry genitalia.
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