10/25/2004: Porn Valley- I spoke to Montana during the Victoria Givens anal gangbang Saturday. Montana’s turning 50 and I mention to him that he’s looking pretty good. That’s because, he says, he never touched Viagra, claiming it’s the stuff that’s aging male porn performers. “When I did four hour scenes in 1979 we never had that stuff.” Montana, who’s no longer active, of course, now makes a living as a cement mixer. He picks and chooses his porn projects.
Montana was a production manager for the Givens gangbang which was shot at VIP Showgirls. “It’s an old Miller’s Outpost and I used to work here when I was in high school. It’s funny. When they told me it was by a Sears I said it’s not possible, man. We’re talking about a shopping area. But it’s a pretty cool club. And when I pulled up 4:30 in the morning, every single person- there was line out there of motherfuckers. It was freezing. Guys from Illinois, Hawaii, New York. True fans actually came all the way out here to get their 60 seconds of fame. They’re all going to leave here very happy.”
Because Montana’s was the first face everyone met coming through the door, he was asked if he encountered any drama. “No not at all, The reason that Bill [Tyler] called me to do this job was because he knew that I would not take any shit from anybody. And I would get all the paperwork in order. When they were all in line I told them this is what I need. I don’t want to here any ifs or buts. Or gee I forgot. Everything ran really smooth. After I got that done, everyone got their wristband and went in to get their fucking done.”
The last time I spoke to Montana was during the industry’s HIV outbreak earlier this year. Montana confessed that he wasn’t up on the current Tianna Lynn controversy. “I’ve been doing concrete,” he said. “I was keeping up with the outbreak as moral support- if anything happened to anyone. But the only reason is that I didn’t give a fuck is because the last time I tried to do a marathon, the only person to even bother to sign for me [as sponsor] was Steve Orenstein at Wicked.
“I went in and told everybody I want to do this marathon to show that the industry cares. And the industry did what the industry usually does- not give a fuck about anybody except themselves. I figure, well, they don’t care about me making them look good, why should I care about them?” Montana elected not to run in the Alaskan marathon.
“I could have gone somewhere else for the money but I wanted to raise it through the X-rated industry and nobody else,” Montana says. “Even Wankus from KSEX radio, www.ksexradio.com put me on the air to let people know. Even though he told people to help out and raise money for HIV, it’s like some fans sent money but it wasn’t enough. With the industry and all the money they make the companies, with all the pull they have, a million dollars wouldn’t mean shit.
“At the same time look at all the publicity they would have gotten: the industry cares, or the industry at least is doing something to make a difference. All you hear is how pornography makes so much money. You see all these HBO specials, Pornotopia. And everybody’s going, we’re so rich! We make so much money! He-he-he. But the cocksuckers can’t even afford to sponsor me with a tax deductible donation for AIDS research. Everybody’s bragging about their money. And you know when I’m going to laugh? When the IRS comes down and goes after all these fuckin’ kids who are going on HBO and talking about how rich they are and how much money they make. You know what guys? I don’t give a shit about how much money you say you’re making.”
Besides that, Montana as a relatively low opinion about today’s standard of porn actresses. “If they got all this money they’re saying let them come on set- get some clothes, get some high heel pumps. Show up on the set with some lingerie, not like a little crackhead or speed freak. Girls show up on the set and they don’t have sexy underwear. They wear boots like a man. What happened to pumps? What happened to lingerie? What happened to being a woman?”
I agree with Tony, having watched some porn recently from the late 80’s only to note how standards of dress have deteriorated over the years.
“You know how tiring it is to have the producer go, ‘Tony, run out their and buy me some lingerie for these girls.’ Like, what size shoe do you wear? I don’t wear pumps. What do you mean you don’t wear pumps? You are a woman. Then watch these girls walk in pumps. They fall on their face. They don’t even know how to walk in high heels. There’s nothing sexy about a woman in motherfucking big ol’ army boots. And all these guys who think they’re porn stars. Viagra makes anybody hard. Try being back in 1979, get your dick hard and do a four-hour sex scene shooting 35mm and then talk to me. Until then, you’re just a Viagra kid.”
Montana says he’ll work for a few select companies like Victoria Givens Productions. “I like to stay with people that I like,” he says. “But all I wanted to do was run one marathon and have an article that said X-Rated industry helps Tony Montana raise a million dollars for AIDS research- to make themselves look good. Not make me look good. Because I make myself look good by completing a marathon a year after I got sick. I did it because I wanted to. It’s sad that nobody gives a shit until someone gets sick and they all freak out- like when TT Boy and those people came back from Brazil. It was like when those people came back I was their best fucking friend. I’m going you might not want to listen to what I have to say but, you know what? Deal with the motherfucking shit. What am I supposed to do. Cry? Who the fuck went to counsel me?. Tony, you need anybody to talk to. But all these people go to those countries. They’re careless. Then they come here and want to cry: I’ve got no insurance! Well, if you’re so rich and you’ve got so much money, buy a life insurance policy. Buy medical insurance. Take care of yourself. Because none of these people have medical insurance. They don’t have transportation, sometimes, but they’re all talking about how much money they’re making. They’re doing all the media.”
Montana throws out a statistic that in ten years 75 million Americans will have HIV.
Montana got his start in the business by being a male exotic dancer. “I was doing a Hot Body contest at the Hollywood Tropicana,” he says. “Reb came in their with Ted Snyder, rest in peace. They said hey kid you want to do a movie? What kind of movie? A porno movie. I said okay that’s how I got in. I started working for Ted Snyder.”
I note that, probably, the most famous time of Montana’s career was when he was with Blondie, the porn star. “I was the first one that started the couples-thing,” Montana says. “This is my woman – nobody touch her except me. And no other male worked with her. I see a lot of couples and going.” Montana said he met Blondie while on tour in New Jersey. “I went to work out at Somer’s Point- Gold’s Gym. She was there squatting.”
Gene: There were great bars in Somers Point- Bayshore’s Tony Marts, Dunes Till Dawn
Tony: There you go. I was dancing right before you go into Ocean City. There’s that little bridge. I loved that little town. That’s where we met then we drove across country. I loved New Jersey that time of the year when winter comes and the boardwalk i so cold. I liked it.
Back to the Blondie story. Montana said he walked into Gold’s Gym. “I walked in and something caught my eye- this little girl was squatting 135 pounds. I go who is that? They told me she has a fiance. I said not for long. I started talking to her. She goes you’re one of those stripper guys that are dancing here. I go, yeah, would you like to come to a show. She says, maybe. So I give her a pass. Because I was staying at a hotel across the street from the club I asked her if she wanted to go to the beach. She came around, we went to the beach. I was there about 3 1/2 weeks and we saw each other a few times. Then I went back to LA and kept in touch with her. Then on the second tour I came back and we got a lot more serious. She goes I want to move to L.A. with you. I said pack your bags- let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Regarding the small matter of Blondie’s fiance, Montana said he should have known better. “What belongs to another man, don’t take because it will not belong to you. I did to others what I didn’t want done to me. I took someone’s fiancee and then when she was with me, someone took her from me.”
Montana notes that Blondie’s boyfriend at the time went into the army, to Germany. “He came back a hash addict. And I was Mr. healthy. The way I saw it, he broke his promise. I wanted that pussy so bad I didn’t give a fuck what I had to say. We started going out.”
Montana says he then drove Blondie cross country to L.A. after his east coast tour was finished. “We were dancing in Scranton, Pennsylvania; Reading… then I drove her across country. It was winter time of 1983. We came here then I got her a job at the Hollywood Tropicana being a dancer because I used to be one of the referees over there. Then one day she comes up to me and says I want to do films with you. Okay, you’re my fiance. You do films and films with me only. That’s all there is to it. We break up, you move out of town. People gave me shit about that. But, until today, there has not been another couple. Many have tried but nobody can keep their dick hard with the same woman scene after scene after scene.”
Montana and Blondie starred in an I Love Lucy takeoff, I Love Juicy. “For Moonlight Productions- that was one of the first three titles for Moonlight,” Montana remembers. “Yeah, Mark Stone, where’s my money? I don’t really care. I like Mark Stone.” [Montana’s claiming he wound up doing two movies for the price of one.] “To me that’s the past.”
Regarding the break up, Montana said he was dancing in Chicago. “Because of my reputation of running with people under the law and shady people, she started to listening to everybody at the Tropicana that she could do so much better. That I was a whore, I did outcall. He’s this, he’s that.”
Montana makes no bones that he was a gigolo. “I was out for hire- I was there. But she started listening to people. Did I fuck every girl at the Tropicana? Yeah, I would say so. But then she started seeing some other guy. Then one day she left and that was it. Now she’s a mother and she lives somewhere in the midwest.”
Montana says he kept in touch with her mother. “Her mother said it wasn’t fair that she blamed me for everything. Actually most of the money we made in porn she took with her. That went into an account to her. I had my own money. But that was like our retirement money. Those were the good ol’ days.”
Monta said he was glad to have been part of the industry in it’s golden days. “I was part of the top ten at Jim South’s office. There was ten of us that were booked all the time. Now there’ so many porn stars it’s not even funny. Everybody’s in porn. I hear conversations when I go to bars- “Oh yeah, I’m a porn star. I look at some guy I never seen before in my life. The bartender will go you’re no fucking porn star. That’s a motherfuckin’ porn star [pointing over to Montana]. Who’s that guy? Tony Montana. Then he goes my grandfather used to have some of his movies.”
I asked Montana if he took his name from Scarface. “No,” he says. “It comes from Montana [the Spanish pronunciation], for mountain. I was 198 at the time. Then people kept saying Montana as in the big state. I’ll go with that. Then when the movie came out I started playing the drug lord in every movie I did and get killed. I said roll with it. Then I got arrested for interstate trafficking. They got that off my record finally and overturned it. It wasn’t me. Then they arrested me for kidnapping. I got acquitted. It wasn’t me either. It was just a financial dispute between associates,” he laughs.
“But I cleaned my ass. The justice department decided you clean your shit or you’re out of here. It’s funny. I’m the only Columbian not allowed to leave the United States of America.”