WRANGLER: ANATOMY OF AN ICON
Produced & Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz
Released by TLA Releasing
Language
USA. 90 min. Not Rated
With Jack Wrangler, Margaret Whiting, Bruce Vilanch, Marc Shaiman, Michael Musto, Chi Chi LaRue & Gino Colbert
 

Relying largely on the stud himself, Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon answers the most obvious questions surrounding the rise and the later years of the star of nearly 85 X-rated films. How did the scrawny Beverly Hills-bred son of a Hollywood producer become the star of Heavy Equipment and Kansas City Trucking Co.? Or how, during the height of his career as a blond, Marlboro Man-ish sex symbol, he crossed over into straight porn, even though he had never had sex with a woman. And then there’s his marriage to 1950s songbird Margaret Whiting.

Wrangler is nothing but candid. Keep in mind, he was an actor before and after he had sex on film, and he loves to talk. Gushing, his recounting of the freewheeling ’70s is without shame or excuses: “I wanted to be lusted after.” The most fascinating part of his career is his days before his rise, his disparate encounters with pop culture flotsam and jetsam—appearing on The Mod Squad and The Dating Game (he won), and directing former star Betty Hutton in dinner theater.

Though there’s no mention of any on-set drug use, Wrangler acknowledges that had he not quit porn when he did, he would be dead. Ironically, female stars Sharon Mitchell and Candida Royale provide the most emotionally heartfelt mentions of the AIDS epidemic, which cut a wide swath within the porn community.

Over and over again, the talking heads, including Broadway playwright Robert Patrick and Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas, generously describe Wrangler as a real actor. But the brief clips of Wrangler self-consciously emoting are more of the Boogie Nights school of acting. He’s affable and, well, stiff. Emphasizing Wrangler and his times and not the porn itself, this dishing documentary would probably be rated R, or barely NC-17. Kent Turner
November 12, 2008