Heavy Petting

The essential silliness of sex and America's often completely addled attitudes toward bodily functions are sorted through in Heavy Petting, an unavoidably amusing effort distinguished by the sheer volume of its research. Producer-director Benz spent five years culling the archives, looking at the familiarly quaint scenes from old films plus a treasure of sex-instruction films done for schools and the military. lt's all laughable now, just as today's seemingly more sophisticated sex programs doubtless will set the next century to guffawing. Benz also assembled some knowns and unknowns to recall their early sexual memories. Best by far is Josh Mostel, obviously a late bloomer. Also amusing are David Byrne, Spalding Gray and Abbie Hoffman, whose latter triumphs in life were not foreshadowed by early sexual success. (Variety, 22-2-89)