“Gunnery Sgt. McCool”
Titan Men (2007)
Director: Joe Gage
Cast: Andrew Justice, Dean Flynn, Erik Hall, Jason Reynolds, Jason Ridge, Justin Burkshire, Scott Tanner, Tony Masala, Tyler Kane, Tyler Saint, Vinnie D’Angelo, Brandon Monroe, Jean Paul Roccard, Kai Grant

Maybe this is being too literal, but part of the genius of Joe Gage was once that his set-ups, no matter how fantastic, were also plausible. It was believable that in an abandoned warehouse, one- or two-dozen strangers wandered around having sex, like in “Closed Set” (1980). It was believable that a couple of horny truckers roamed the western countryside finding rest stops and gas station toilets brimming with hungry holes and thirsty mouths, as in his celebrated trilogy that climaxed with “Kansas City Trucking Co.” (1976). But plausibility is not Joe’s aim anymore, so one must suspend disbelief that a military inquiry arising from the discovery of nude explicit photos of an enlisted man would produce an investigative orgy.

So while one must give up on actually believing Gage’s plots, one must also cling to what he does well. If he has one consistent skill, it is that of constructing anticipation. In almost every scene—like when Tony Masala must pull out his huge dick at the orders of Andrew Justice or when military brat Justin Burkshire wants to see what’s making that big tent in the shorts of a stripped-down sergeant sleeping on his daddy’s sofa—there is a smoldering anticipation, stoked by the reaction shots of characters who are all thinking one thing: “Should I?”

Their answer was obvious and so is yours: Go for it.

“Do Me Evil”
Horn Bill Films (1980)
Directed by Toby Ross
Cast: Mike Daniels, Phil Simmons, Robert Woods, Glenn Parmley, Ray Benston

In “Do Me Evil” Toby Ross combines an extremely hot cluster of sex scenes with a profoundly emotional storyline. Here and there sex and story compete more than they complement, but it’s so rare to see a story this haunting that it’s more than worth the distraction. Mike Daniels plays a male hustler with a beautiful swimmer’s frame and a piece of meat that his first client is (with good reason) so enamored of that all he can bring himself to do is stand at a distance and mop the sweat of his own brow while watching Mike rub one out. They aren’t even in the same room with each other; they essentially recreate a peepshow atmosphere in a house. But this isn’t the first time this day that Mike has gotten his rocks off. Before that, he fucked his younger brother, Glenn Parmley.

Although they are brothers as well as lovers, Glenn and Mike are not friends. Glenn is mentally impaired, and while two men have never looked better together than this pair, Mike is verbally abusive while Glenn takes it with a level of quiet dejection that closes the first scene with a chill. The film gets both hotter and emotionally bleaker from there. The narrative and the sex are edited with a stark efficiency that leaves the viewer’s appetite as rife as Mike’s spiritual hunger when a turning point in the story brings him face to face with the consequences of his cruelty and self-involvement. While the bodies of the actors in this film certainly do not veer far from the twink blueprint, slim and lightly furry at most, this is not the libido-numbing parade of hairless, dispassionate robots that modern twink video has descended into. These are graceful, hypnotically endowed young men who interact with mesmerizing chemistry.