Chatterbox! (1977)

Ever lovely Candice Rialson, one of the queens of drive-in movies in the 1970s, stars here as Penelope Pittman, a hairdresser in a beauty salon. Out of the blue one night, while she is with her boyfriend Ted (Perry Bullington), her vagina just starts talking up a storm. This vagina is a horny, saucy character who also has quite the singing voice. When Penelope goes to a psychiatrist, Dr. Pearl (Larry Gelman), and shows him flat out what her problem is, he realizes that he can make her/them a star and becomes an agent. Penelope & Virginia perform on several TV programs, but Penelope is suffering a great deal of embarrassment.Scripted by Mark Rosin & Norman Yonemoto, based on a story by director Tom DeSimone, "Chatterbox!" may be a pretty crude affair, but it's undeniably quite charming and funny. The truth of the matter is, it's really pretty harmless, and doesn't really qualify as adult fare. The songs, such as "Wang Dang Doodle", are insidiously upbeat and catchy. The performances are energetic and engaging. Gelman is fine as the shrink turned agent. Jane Kean plays the mother who changes her tune when she realizes the profit to be made from her daughters' "talent". Rip Taylor, Professor Irwin Corey, and Sandra Gould add to the fun with their guest star appearances. But the show really rests on the capable shoulders of Rialson, who's winning as the reluctant starlet. The laughs may not always be there, but they occur frequently enough.DeSimone does know how to send his viewers away with an amused smile, with a resolution that is perfectly fitting for the situation.Look for DeSimones' actor brother Bob as a cabbie.Eight out of 10.

A young woman who works in a beauty parlor (Candice Rialson) discovers that her vagina can talk, which causes her no end of trouble.Although American International Pictures may be best known for their low budget horror and Roger Corman films, they were not afraid to make a quick buck here or there from something a bit racier. And this is definitely racy. While not the "soft-core pornography" that some have labeled it, the lead actress is naked for a good portion of the film and the very plot simply cannot be PG.Unlike vagina dentata, whatever happened to Penelope is hard to explain -- apparently her female parts not only have a voice (and hence vocal chords, a tongue, and whatnot) but also eyes and ears, because Virginia seems to know a whole lot about what is being said and done around her...Candice Rialson has something of her own interesting history. While she did some real acting, such as in "The Eiger Sanction" (1975) and "Logan's Run" (1976), she ended up getting typecast as a "sex kitten" and ultimately died prematurely at age 54. As an odd consolation, Quentin Tarantino based a character off of her in "Jackie Brown", no doubt in part inspired by "Chatterbox".Director Tom DeSimone is the ultimate mystery, and no one seems to even know how old he is. He started out in adult films, moved to exploitation, and then rose to horror, making a few memorable flicks (most notably "Hell Night" with Linda Blair). How he was able to transition to legitimate director is beyond me, but well played, good sir.

Chatterbox may be the strangest comedy I have ever seen. It reminded me of Eating Raoul, the Paul Bartel/Mary Woronov flick of the same era. Penelope(Candice Rialson) works in a beauty parlor as a hairdresser. One night, as she and her boyfriend are getting it on, her vagina speaks to her lover, with insults. He thinks that Penelope is making fun of him and leaves. Her lower half also loves to sing. She visits a psychiatrist to demonstrate her dilemma, and he comes up with the idea to enter show business. Dr. Pearl takes her on the road and she and her partner become stars by singing show tunes. Chatterbox is not graphic, but sort of soft porn with typically bad acting and a very cheap look to the camera work and sets. At seventy two minutes, it never becomes boring; so if you are in the mood for a light farce, and extensive nudity on the part of Ms. Rialson will not offend you, Chatterbox is a short diversion from the troubles of the world.

Compared to the lunkheaded, overly graphic sex comedies of today, this film comes off actually as innocent, sexy fun. 70's starlet Candace Rialson is gorgeous (and often naked) and really makes this goofy premise believable. Too bad she left acting after the 70's. For all the goofy sexual situations, including one where Rialson makes love to a guy in a suit of armor, this is nicely paced and has some genuine laughs. Throw in disco dancing, musical numbers and guest appearances by old school crazies Rip Taylor and Professor Irwin Corey and you have a movie that deserves a better reputation than a "World's Worst Film".