Disturbing yet enthralling

Absolutely the worst movie.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A harsh opinion, but it's not mine. Rather, it's the opinion of Tony Hendra (Ian Faith in "Spinal Tap"), who is credited as a writer on all of the 26 Season-One episodes of Hugh Hefner's PAD that were broadcast in 1969.Hendra published that opinion in the "LIVES" column of The New York Times Magazine (issue of Sunday 4th July 2004). The column, titled "The Personal is Political," is mostly about Hendra's friendship with the late actress Diana Sands, whom he met at one of PAD's post-show parties. Sands -- then 34/35 yrs. old -- already had some very impressive Broadway credentials to her name, and asked Hendra if he would rework one of her stage shows into a movie script. As Hendra writes, "I leapt at the opportunity to write something weightier than intros for a talent-free egomaniac." (I wonder, to whom could he possibly be referring? LOL)As for the show, I'm curious why it didn't last longer (some say it was unable to get picked up for syndication in "conservative" parts of the country). But be that as it may, Playboy was still in its "cool" phase in 1970 when the show ceased production. The monthly magazine was still scoring A-List interviews, and the Playboy "lifestyle" was still being promoted in movies like Diamonds Are Forever (1971). A far, far cry from today.

I watched this on the PB channel. I liked how it looked like a party, Hef chatting with guests, strolling around with Barbi, ever present, pipe in hand, looking smooth, walks into an interviews with entertainers, writers, economists, intellectuals, a performance by a band or singer of the period, then onto to more strolling and chatting, it's like you were there! A lot of fun to watch! I saw, David Hemmings with his wife, and an amusing early Deep Purple doing "Hush" with the original vocalist, Nic? Semper (dig that do!) and Blackmore not using Strats then. And ol' Hef asking Ritchie, questions about playing guitar, and Ritchie showing him how to play it, smiling even! How rare is that? Of, course the lovely ladies, gotta have the ladies! I first caught this when I was around 23, I was interested in a lot of the music then, Kinks, Hendrix, Velvet Underground, Stones, etc. Like to collect videos, and would like this on DVD sometime!

A swinging seventies party. Filmed very loose and very free. Always star studded and very hip. The episodes I've seen from 1970 have the look and feel of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Worth checking out.