Symbiosis

By R. S.

ABDUCTION

Directed by JOSEPH ZITO Screenplay by KENT E. CARROLL

In the beginning was an obscure soft-core paperback original to which no one paid special heed. Then came the Patty Hearst kidnaping, and someone noticed that cheap fiction seemed to predict this sensational crime in detail, even including the plot twist that had the victim eventually embrace the captors' ideology. Parallels continue to turn up: recent reports indicate that Hearst surrendered to revolutionary sexuality even before succumbing to revolutionary politics--just as Abduction s heroine did.

The conjunction of a sleazy "property" and the most curious and enigmatic criminal case of recent years had to excite some schlockmeister, and so we have El Cheapo Production's version of the book to contend with. The picture, featuring Judith-Marie Bergan, started out aiming for the coveted X rating, essential to success in the pornfields, then raised its sights. Its more graphically depicted sexual grapplings went into the trim barrel, an R rating was obtained, and it is no longer necessary to sneak off to some cinematic red-light district to see the film.

But hard-core sex was obviously the hard core of the film's structure. Cut the crud and all you have left is a lot of tedious -- not to say infantile -- intellectual foreplay. Abduction cannot be taken seriously enough to laugh at, and natural curiosity about links with the Hearst case should be sternly stifled.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.