Filmed in blush-o-vision, the late Anthony Spinelli, back in the day, did a movie which, ostensibly, brought “civilians” in front of an adult camera for the first time.

In what’s probably the first instance of reality-based porn, these participants, with possibly one exception, are paired with adult performers. [And not a bad deal, either, for the perfomer, all things considered.]

With voiceovers lending detailed stories of virginal sacrifice and past bedroom exploits, the sex is missionary-normal, non-theatrical, and unlike what you’ll generally see in an adult movie. Which is probably a good thing. And, too boot, Spinelli eschews the external pop shot. Now there’s a sense of reality you don’t get in adult movie making.

And I say blush-o-vison in describing this, because Spinelli, a robust, exuberant man to have known him in person, seems awkard, sometimes off his game in his introductory remarks. Often, and self-consciously, he looks down at his notes. Now whether this is a perpetration or not on the part of Spinelli, who had the reputation as being an actor’s director, one can’t conclusively state. If the whole thing’s a put-on, it’s a good one.

In making a case for that, witness a sharp exchange Spinelli has with a woman named Lucy. A contrarian, Lucy, states that she’s never experienced a moment of random horniness. Consequently,she comes off as a man-hater; and Spinelli, in wrestling mode, gets in her face. It’s almost a little too pat as if to say, well, we can’t have everyone looking eager to fuck a porn star, now, can we?

“Ever been raped?” is Spinelli’s first question out of the chute- a query you might often hear put out at the local supermarket in a vain pick-up attempt.

While this conversation’s taking place, Lucy has a grinning John Leslie breathing down her neck, and after having similar challenges put to her in courtroom fashion, Lucy says she’s not in the mood to fuck.

Leslie comments, “I love when a woman doesn’t want to fuck me.” Don’t we all, John. As a consolation prize, Leslie gets a shot at a 19 year-old receptionist at an insurance company.

Meanwhile, Marci, a housewife from Sacramento, talks about how she takes care of her pussy and does what it says. With her twat as an obvious command center, Marci claims she can exert the same influence upon men and asks Spinelli if he feels a tingling in his pants. During an arranged tryst with Richard Pacheco, Marci relates how she got fucked in the ass for the first time in a sleeping bag while cuddling with her boyfriend.

“I want your warmth,” Marci tells Pacheco as the actor lets out a triumphant bellow similar to that of a bedroom bull moose.

Then we have Jim, a sexually suspect electrical engineer. And this is said because Jim brags about his prowess with women while exhibiting behavioral symptoms similar to a floral arranger or a man locked in a bathroom stall with Senator Larry Craig. Jim has 69-style sex with Edwina, a teacher with a story about an affair with a 15 year-old student.

“Those inner city kids were sexually experienced,” she says almost wistfully.

And never having had a threeway, Chuck, a David Brenner lookalike with glasses, is certifiably creepy. Had this been lensed twenty years later, Chuck might have been an Internet chatroom stalker. So, if for nothing else, Chuck should be kissing Spinelli’s ass for the opportunity to get at some era-attractive trim.

The one thing you can say about Paul Thomas, is, he hasn’t lost the ability to make anything coming out his mouth sound nothing less than profound. Here’s he’s paired with a redhead named Salina. According to Salina, the magic button for her is eye contact. Except P.T. sees it in another context.

“We’re like two animals,” he whispers, with some animals possibly objecting to the characterization.

Want to get scared? Kay, a unibrow swinger in her Thirties, says she gets turned on by Aunt Peg and that pairing’s also made possible though not necessarily acceptable.

We might have done without Kay and her Adam Carolla look, but Reel People is certainly a landmark porn film in many ways with a resounding focus and dead-on feel for the sexual mores of its time.

[Viewers are urged to take a good look at Arrow’s film catalogue, www.xxxdeepthroat.com- it’s one of the best out there for porn classics.]