This softcore opus is said to be the most outrageous film ever made by the 42nd Street legend Doris Wishman (1912-2002). Released in 1970, THE AMAZING TRANSPLANT involves, as the title promises, a transplant—a penis transplant, to be exact.
The transplantee is the dorky Arthur, who we first see proposing to his oft-topless girlfriend Mary, only to inexplicably strangle her after catching sight of a golden earring she’s wearing. Arthur’s uncle Bill, a detective, investigates the killing, and interviews three women who, while wearing golden earrings, were raped by Arthur. Bill contacts Dr. Meade, Arthur’s physician, who isn’t very helpful initially, but upon thinking back on the encounter Bill decides to pay the doctor a second visit.
This time around Meade is more forthcoming. He admits that he transplanted the penis of Felix, Meade’s deceased assistant, onto Arthur, whose own member was embarrassingly small. We see the transplantation visualized through angles that obscure the gory details (a surprise coming from the director of the notorious sex change doco LET ME DIE A WOMAN), but as we well know, the operation had unfortunate results; among other problems was the fact that Felix was strongly attracted to golden earrings, which was evidently passed on to Arthur.
Nearly all the trappings of old school sexploitation filmmaking, a format whose standards were extremely low, are evident here. The acting is as wooden as can be imagined (with the most memorable performances being those of actor Larry Hunter’s eyebrows), and well paired with poorly recorded dialogue that only occasionally matches the speakers’ mouths and endless shots of people sitting down and crossing streets—padding, in other words, which begins with the leisurely opening credits sequence, depicting black and white stills from many of the film’s more titillating moments, that lasts nearly a full two minutes.
We also get rape scenes that are plenty distasteful, albeit drawn out to the point of tedium. Wishman, in contrast to most seventies-sploitation filmmakers, makes an attempt at showing the aftermath of violent rape upon its victims, although she does so in the most exploitive manner imaginable, as in a scene in which the camera focuses intently on the bare butt of a violated woman puking. Yes, Wishman makes sure to include as much gratuitous female nudity as she possibly can, in lengthy strip teases and sex/rape scenes (which were reportedly trimmed quite severely in the UK) in which the sight of bare flesh is fetishized shamelessly. No, it doesn’t improve the film any.
Vital Statistics
THE AMAZING TRANSPLANT
Mostest Productions, Inc.
Director/Producer: “Louis Silverman” (Doris Wishman)
Screenplay: “Dawn Whitman” (Doris Wishman)
Cinematography: C. Davis Smith
Editing: Lou Burdi
Cast: Juan Fernandez, Linda Southern, Larry Hunter, Olive Denneccio, Sandy Eden, Kim Pope, E.B. Priest, Sazzan Landau, Pat Barrett