Director – Just Jaeckin (Emmanuelle, The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak)
Starring – Dayle Haddon (Cyborg, The Hitchhiker), Gerard Ismael (Money Talks, Lonely Hearts), and Fernando Rey (Star Knight, Honey)
Release Date – 1978
Rating – 3/5
Blu Release – 4/5
While it may be October and I’m in full horror mode I still find myself taking the time to check out some other non-horror releases. I don’t mind especially during the month of October because I do tend to over do it in preparation for Halloween. Sometime back I received word that Cult Epics was releasing Just Jaeckin’s The Last Romantic Lover from 1978. This is one that had been on my radar once I was turned on to exploitation, especially sexploitation, cinema so I was really looking forward to this release. I reached out to Cult Epics and they were kind enough to send a copy my way. If I’m going to interrupt my horror binge it might as well be with a movie like this.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a lion tamer with a dying circus. He was entered into a contest by his carnival family in hopes he would win and they could the much needed money to update their circus along with replacing their recently deceased lion. The contest is being put on by a women’s magazine and the lion tamer qualifies. He makes it to the top ten and soon romance blooms between him and the woman who put the contest together who is already in a relationship. **Spoiler Alert**
The Last Romantic Lover was a surprisingly well put together and shot film. The cinematography is amazing and the story definitely caught me off guard. I was expecting a sleazy adventure but was given a surprisingly sultry romantic flick with memorable moments and characters.
The acting in this one is very well done. There is no weak links in this film. The cast has some great characters written for them and they do one hell of a job bringing them to life. The story for this one starts out setting the ground work for what sounds like a sleazy good time but the film switches it up and actually plays out like a romantic film with some skin. It’s not as nudie as I was expecting but the story and delivery really impressed me. It has decent pacing but a few scenes do struggle to find their footing.
Finally, don’t expect blood in this one. We get a character driven story with romance and intrigue but that is it. Overall, The Last Romantic is going to be destroyed by horror trolls in the comment section because it’s not a horror title. However, it’s a lot of fun. Cult movie fans will really dig this one. I highly recommend checking out this release from Cult Epics.
Special Features:
New 4K HD Transfer (from original 35mm negative) supervised by cinematographer Robert Fraisse
Original LPCM 2.0 Mono French track
New DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono French track (Blu-ray)
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Audio Commentary by Jeremy Richey (Author of the book Sylvia Kristel: from Emmanuelle to Chabrol)
Interview with Just Jaeckin (2020, HD)
Interview with Dayle Haddon (2022, HD)
Presentation at the Cinematheque Francaise (2022, HD)
Promotional Gallery
Cult Epics Trailers
Dual-layered Disc
Double-sided Sleeve first printing
