First off, I have to state for the record that this video impressed the hell out of me, and I wasn't even expecting it. More often than not, a reviewer will know within the first few minutes how a video is going to be - sometimes we hope it'll get better, sometimes we hope it stays on course. The Apprentice, the first official production from Delta Productions (formally known as Jaguar Productions), is an amazing piece of work. This video is sure to be a major contender at the Grabby Awards this year and for good damn reason.
It's a great flick. Period.
Centered around adorable farm boy Joe Landon, complete with his innocent blue eyes, charming demeanor and extra large cock, Apprentice follows him as he's kicked out of his father's house for being gay to the big bad city of Hollywood where he meets an older man, played wonderfully by Chris Rock, who wants to teach him the ways of his world. Rock is a gigolo and is looking for someone to take his place.
When Landon appears in Hollywood, broke and alone, he wanders the Boulevard and the side streets until he's literally hit on the head with opportunity. A key falls out of the sky, and he looks up. Scott Matthews (in a queeny yet fine performance) beckons him upstairs, and Landon makes the decision that ultimately changes his life: He goes up. Once inside, Matthews offers Landon cash in exchange for sex. Landon notices a security camera in the corner of the room and, not being a stupid farm boy, throws his shirt over it. Rock, watching from a monitor at his house and playing with his Tarot Cards, is pleased with the boy's wariness. Landon takes the cash, and he and Matthews proceed to have a terrific, energetic scene where Landon slides his huge appendage deep into Matthews' bowels. Both guys stay incredibly hard throughout and blow gushers to make Old Faithful jealous.
Afterwards, Landon goes back to wandering the streets, until Rock drives up and calls him over. Landon, after some convincing - this isn't a stupid kid - gets into the car, and Rock drives him back to his place, which is gorgeous. Landon is duly impressed. Rock then makes Landon the offer: Rock will be retiring and needs someone to take over his business. Landon has the potential to do so, and after Rock teaches him everything he knows, his client list, his lifestyle, will be Landon's. Landon agrees, and Rock begins to teach.
Two fantastic (yet sadly brief) solos are next - both Landon stroking off. Rock is teaching him that in order to know how to please his customers, he needs to know how to please himself. The first solo is a hot one in the shower that is helped along by Rock joining Landon, standing behind him and nibbling his ear. Second solo has Landon doing it all by himself in a chair - he's truly learning. Throughout this brief montage, Rock teaches Landon the finer points of hustling: Staying in shape, treating people with respect, everything you always wanted to know about that aspect of the business. And Landon is a fast learner.
Matthews, who has had a crush on Rock, is understandably jealous when Rock wants Landon to watch Rock and client Marco Antonio going at it. Matthews splits, angry and upset, and Landon settles back to watch the show - learning how the old pro does it. Rock and Antonio's scene is a frenetic one, full of passion and two guys who are truly into one another. Again, boners reign as the guys suck, rim and Antonio fucks Rock all over a huge black bed. One great shot has Antonio sucking on Rock's toes as he fucks him. Antonio has always been a fave of mine and for good reason - he's fuckin' hot, keeps great erections (whether fucking or being fucked), has a fine, uncut dick and a terrific vocal range during sex. He is a definite asset to the porn world.
Teacher and pupil are sitting at a café talking. (If you look closely, you'll notice Gay Chicago's own J.C. Adams sitting in the background.) Rock tells Landon that in order to be a good escort, one must know how to create fantasies. His eyes fall on Alex Carrington and Tony Cummings, two guys having coffee. He tells Landon to create a sexual scenario involving those two. Landon comes up with an international tale, Carrington as a Spanish matador and Cummings as an American reporter interviewing him. The dialogue (and Carrington's accent) is hokey at times, but that is soon forgotten once the flames ignite and the boys get naked. They take turns sucking each other, Cummings practically gorging himself on Carrington's big slab of uncut beef. Then Carrington rims Cummings before fucking the bejesus out of him in several positions on a chair and a table. It's a silly story, but it does the job.
It's now time for Landon to strike out on his own - Rock, who is beginning to have feelings for the kid, hesitantly sends him off to meet clients Steve O'Donnell (great to see again!) and his lover Joey Stevens, who is adorable, complete with tongue-stud and huge prick. Landon shows up only to find Matthews waiting for him. Landon is unsure of himself and admits to Matthews that he loves Rock. Matthews, resigning himself to the inevitable, sends Landon home and proceeds into the lovers' bedroom. What these three have is a terrific threesome - rarely is such chemistry even on all three guys in a typical threeway. All three of these guys have a great time with each of their partners, and it shows. Ultimately, after a lot of hot sucking administered to rock hard bones, Matthews and O'Donnell take turns fucking yummy Stevens, and then Matthews bends over for O'Donnell's dong. A great scene. (The one thing I could do without was Stevens shooting smoldering looks at the camera while sucking dick. Took me out of the story.)
The big scene is upon us - and it's a hot motherfucker. Landon returns home and professes his love to his teacher, explaining that even after everything Rock taught him, he couldn't go through with it. Rock admits his own true feelings, and they waste no time consummating their newfound relationship. It is truly one of the most passionate, kinetic fucks put on video this year. After some incredible kissing and some fantastic sucking, Rock lays back for a romantic, frenzied fuck. (This video actually did bring Rock and Landon together in real life, so the scene you witness here is real. You can actually see the love in their eyes.) At one point, Landon is thrusting deep within Rock, and Rock looks up at Landon and says, "I love you." It's one of the hottest, most touching moments in the video.
Needless to say, they live happily ever after. At least, we hope they do.
Everything about this production is incredible - the music is great, the direction impeccable, the screenplay (although with a few silly bits of dialogue) is not exactly original, but it breathes fresh life into an old story, the videography and editing (both oddly uncredited yet assumed to have been done by Delta Productions) are great and, of course, amazing sex.
But the true winners are Landon and Rock. Landon, who is a major contender for Best Actor, has the innocence and charm of the farmboy and stays true to that characte,r even during the sex. He'll have you rooting for him from the minute he appears. You can't help but want to see those baby blues end up with something good. And Rock is the epitome of an aging hustler - a man who is trying desperately to hold tight to something he already knows he's losing. His character's superstitious trait is an added bonus, making you like him all the more. Here's a man who makes a living loving other people for only a short time yet never finding someone to truly love him. He's also got a good shot at Best Supporting Actor.
This is one video that appeals to everyone - fans of story, fans of sex. It's all given equal time in here. Delta Productions has produced a definite winner.
- Jeremy Spencer
Barry Knight's widely acclaimed 1999 flick is about a young man, Joe Landon, who is thrown out of his home by his homophobic father, only to wind up almost immediately in the clutches of the owner of one of Hollywood's highest priced escort services, Chris Rock, who is also its highest-priced escort. The fact that Chris is hoping to find someone to replace him in his planned-for retirement is the underpinning of the plot. But it's the actors -- all of them, and the sex, all of it -- that set this movie apart from its plot. Okay, okay, the script is intelligent, the photography perfect, the close-ups extraordinary (especially in digital), and the cocks monumental, too. But this movie works because everyone of the actors is perfect for his part, everyone looks like he's totally enjoying the cock in his mouth or butt and director Barry Knight never once insults the intelligence of the viewer by putting the cock before the plot.
The whole movie revolves around Joe Landon, and there hasn't been a more mesmerizing young actor to dominate the screen since Casey Donovan did in the 1970s. He is in virtually every scene, but only in two sexual situations. Yet he dominates everything -- he is a rare young man with natural beauty, an innocent face, a very special body, and one of the great young cocks in porn. (He is swimmer, gymnast, split-end; he is homecoming king, Bible-school tutor, National Merit finalist; he is boy-next-door, your sister's boyfriend, and the guy who you sucked off when both of you were drunk one night in college. He is also the biggest closet queen in town. Yowza!)
After his old man tosses him, Joe drives to Hollywood, where he ambles aimlessly through a middle-class neighborhood. He passes Scott Matthews' house, and he's invited up. Scott offers to pay him for sex, Joe takes the hint and the money -- and notices that there's a closed-circuit camera in the apartment. Seems Chris has recruited Scott to find a replacement for him, and Scott, who is one of Chris' top escorts, but also secretly in love with him, is only too happy to comply, especially since he thinks that will free Chris to concentrate on returning his ardor. Joe covers the camera, and approaches Scott, and they begin to make love on the sofa. This scene just explodes with controlled lust and passion -- Scott cannot believe how beautiful this boy is, and Joe, who is starved for sex and love -- plays right into his hands, but does so with a sure, steady degree of control. Scott, a buffed blond who has never, ever looked better, does a masterful job of trying to engorge Joe's nine-incher, and he succeeds. But things truly heat up when it's Joe's turn because his task is even more formidable: Scott has a nine-incher which seems as thick as it is long. But Joe stuns you with his oral talents -- licking, kissing, sucking, plunging, all of it rhythmic, all of it lustful. The small moans and whispers in this scene are exceptional. After getting down on the full shaft, Joe looks up, and you can barely hear him say "Wow!" Scott's rimming of Joe is loving, tasty and sends him into rapture. Scott's adoring look when Joe slips on his condom, and lifts Scott's legs to enter him, "Okay ... it's okay" Scott encourages, causes you to reach for the towel. The fucking is strong and meaningful, mostly missionary, but it ends doggy-style with great geysers from both. This scene could drain any viewer, and it's just the first one out of the box.
The encounter does not end pleasantly, and Joe is back on the streets, where Chris, who has seen enough of Joe on the closed-circuit to know what he wants, drives up to him and convinces him to come home with him. His game is simple -- he will train Joe to replace him, turn him into "a professional, not a whore." The dialogue is good, the acting believable, and the end result very well handled. A shower scene in which Chris teaches Joe how to control the sexual situation highlights the training period ("sex is the greatest power that we have"), and it turns into a sensuous encounter, which appears to catch the dispassionate Chris by surprise, and sends Joe over the moon. Though it appears as though Chris has slipped his cock up Joe's ass in the shower, that's not the point of the scene (well, almost not the point). Instead, Joe jerks off to Chris' hot ear-and-neck probes and shoots a great gob, which appears to surprise both of them. The moment is extraordinary in virtually all respects -- note that Joe blushes from his forehead to his waist. This is not acting, folks, this is the real deal.
Chris next has Joe witness what he does best -- entertaining a regular customer in Chris' little sex room. And what a customer he is, the ravishing Argentine Marco Antonio. Chris and Marco exchange some preliminary one-upmanship chatter before they slip into an extended, mesmerizing, wall-to-wall, full-blown orgy of the senses. They suck and rim each other with wild abandon and there are so many changes of position on the small bed, all done naturally, that you know they are paying attention only to each other. This is a lesson in sexual technique (the rimming is especially invigorating) and the animal sounds are right from the gut. When it comes time for Marco to mount the older Chris -- a surprise -- one wouldn't think there would be much energy left in these bunnies. One would be wrong. This is a long, wild, all-over-the-bed fuck, every position imaginable, wildly enthusiastic in a controlled way. Marco, who would look like he's enjoying himself if he were with a beached whale, brings Chris into his passion, even though the call-boy tries to resist. There are gobs of cum to end this scene that indicates that little Joe, standing behind a two-way mirror, might have gotten very jealous.
Soon Chris is giving Joe more salient tips. In a crowded café, he asks Joe to imagine a sex scene involving two guys at the next table -- Alex Carrington and Tony Cummings. He imagines Alex as a matador and Joey as an American journalist sent to interview him. Alex, an early 90s stud puppy who has matured into a respectable hunk, and Tony, who is a spitting image of Brian Austin Green of "Beverly Hills 90210," engage in a carefully choreographed, but effectively passionate, pas-de-deux in a garden and in a small room in a hacienda. Both are nicely endowed (Alex was always famous for his dong) and each is an experienced oralist. Highlight of this scene is the prolonged fucking that Alex gives Tony, in many positions, in a chair and on a table. While Tony is trying to get Alex's cock all the way up his butt in a sit-fuck, the camera lingers on Alex nibbling Tony's nipple. With Alex gently pushing his pole up Tony in the missionary-position on a table, he bends over almost surreptitiously and comes up with a mouthful of Tony's cock. It's very effective, and is one of those sneaky scenes you get an urge to watch again and again. Nice cum-shots, too.
Now it's time for Joe to go out on his own. He is sent to the apartment of Steve O'Donnell and Joey Stevens, lovers who like a third party on occasion. But Joe can't bring himself to do it -- he stops off at Scott's place instead, and confesses that he has fallen in love with Chris and can't go through with "the plan." Bitterly disappointed, but understanding, Scott tells him he thinks Chris feels the same way and volunteers to substitute for Joe at Steve and Joey's place. The three-way that ensues is a definite corker -- each of these guys is well endowed, and though the cute puppy-like Joey takes center stage in getting plowed, all three bottom and suck with wild abandon. This is a nice, hot segue to what the viewer hopes will be a satisfying conclusion.
And, so it is, and more so. The love scene that ends this movie is about 18 minutes long. There isn't a wasted second in it. The kissing is loving, the mere act of exploring the best way to pull down each other's briefs, the admiration of cock by loving eyes, the slow, almost musical way each man sucks the other's cock, the intensity of the rimjobs (watch Joe especially, what a pro!) -- this is the foreplay one hopes to see in every porn flick. You can just imagine what the fucking is like! Remaining a top, as he has always been, Joe brings the more experienced, supposedly dispassionate Chris to several ecstatic false climaxes. They fuck in every conceivable position -- starting with a sit-fuck on the bed, then doggy-style, sidesaddle, over-the-shoulder, you name it. They even move to a small couch for a particularly forceful missionary encounter. Finally, in a slow series of thrusts over a period of about four minutes, which could be scored with the opening strains of Ravel's "Bolero," Joe brings Chris to a gasping, rapturous, eyes-wide-open crescendo -- "I love you" he whispers, as he thrusts him once again. "I love you, too" Chris answers, as they kiss and continue to fuck, moaning gloriously all the way until they cum in wild spurts.
Hokey? Tough shit! Man, this works! The beauty of this presentation is that the DVD formatting allows scene-picking with abandon, and the gallery shots and outtakes are also quite good. I am firmly of the opinion that the DVD format can help a mediocre movie look fairly good. But I didn't realize that it could make a terrific movie look great until the sainted Butch Harris pitched this one to me. But it's the stunning overall effect of two men in love, and six other heat-stroked guys enjoying themselves as well, which puts "The Apprentice" in a class all its own.
A VHS + DVD Review by Bo Champion
