Porky’s is a 1982 Canadian-produced comedy set in 1950s Florida. It stars Dan Monahan as Pee Wee, Mark Herrier as Billy, Wyatt Knight as Tommy, Roger Wilson as Mickey, Cyril O’Reilly as Tim, and Tony Ganios as Meat. This film is produced by Don Carmody (Silent Hill) and Bob Clark (A Christmas Story). The director and writer is Bob Clark.
The story is about six boys from the fictional Angel Beach High School who seek sexual gratification. One of them, Pee Wee, is trying to lose his virginity. After three of the others, Billy, Tommy, and Mickey, pull a prank to strip the boys only to scare them into the woods, Pee Wee becomes desperate. So Mickey suggests they go to Porky’s, a notorious strip bar in the Everglades. Billy is reluctant and doesn’t go, but Meat, Pee Wee, Tommy, Mickey, and Tim go. They all pay Porky $ 100 for a half hour with three of his prostitutes. But the seedy owner doesn’t deliver and instead leaves them all in the swamp below. Enraged, Mickey re-enters and demands to fight Porky. He and the other boys go out into the street, where the bar owner pushes them into the swamp. Then the county sheriff arrives, who we later discover is Porky’s brother, and wrecks Mickey’s truck. The sheriff demands that everyone pay a fine for having a broken headlamp and takes them back to Seward County, where Angel Beach is located. Afterward, Mickey feels humiliated and returns to Porky’s to fight him. Later, he returns all battered. At first he swears never to return, but he does and they beat him worse than before. The Seward County Sheriff, also Mickey’s older brother, is about to head to Porky’s to avenge his brother when a friend of the six boys stops him and has a plan to get the fat redneck back once and for all. They will give Porky “a night to remember.”
Porky tended to take the teen film genre in an entirely different direction. Before this movie came out, we had traditional teen movies like Grease, which were mostly focused on high school love and romance with very little sexual content and no drastic revenge schemes. After release, teen movie writers were influenced by Porky’s and started putting more nudity in their movies, as well as smarter revenge plans. You watch Revenge of the Nerds, which shares many of the same types of sexual content as Porky. It also features the drastic plans for revenge. At Porky’s, the boys peek into the girls’ shower, and later we see the plan for revenge when Porky’s is badly damaged by these same Angel Beach boys. Similarly, in Nerds, boys plan to install secret cameras in the girls’ bedroom to spy on them as they undress. They also put liquid heat inside the athletes of the soccer players.
There are some side stories in Porky’s that don’t directly contribute to the plot, but they do add a touch of humor and some seriousness. An example of this is the sexual attraction between Coach Brackett and Miss Honeywell. Brackett is interested in Miss Honeywell and is informed by another coach that she has a nickname, “Lassie”. For most of the movie, Brackett tries to get that coach to tell her why they call her “Lassie.” Near the end of the movie, he finds out.
An example of a more serious tone is the story between Tim, his father, and Brian, who is Jewish. At first, Tim is prejudiced against Brian because his father is. Tim’s father abuses him when he learns that his son lost a fight with a Jew. He is also expelled from the basketball team due to his rough play towards the Jewish boy. Brian sees what is happening and talks to the coach about the situation with Tim and his father. Tim is later reinstated due to Brian’s words. Tim realizes what his teammate did and, over time, begins to like him. He even stands up for Brian while Tim’s father stalks him.
In closing, Porky’s is a mix of humor and serious trouble that makes it a true teen classic and a reform of the entire teen movie genre.