Buttman's European Vacation

John Stagliano is undeniably one of the most important figures of modern-day porn. His "Buttman" series (named after his porno alter ego) was arguably a key part of the trend that led to today's booty-obsessed, anal-crazed sleaze. I'm sure not complaining, as I'm totally down with Stagliano's point of view. But what a lot of folks are forgetting when they bite his style is that he wasn't just about ass fucking. In fact, his movies didn't really start out as all-anal titles by any stretch. They were about eroticism, and the total turn-on of seeing a super-shapely pear-curved set of cheeks -- in action or not.

Case in point: "Buttman's European Vacation." Along with "Buttman's Ultimate Workout" (which also stars the delectable Dutch treat, Zara Whites), this flick really pushed gonzo porn (probably before it was even really called gonzo) as a great way of having a slight "story" (with the filmmaker taking part in the action) while really sticking close to hot, hungry lust and fucking. The teases in the "Buttman" movies alone are enough to cream your jeans, and when dicks finally get dipped in his passionate scenes of sexing, you know that you're going to get a finale that delivers the gooey goods.

I know that if you look at the numerical ratings I've given this movie, they might seem surprisingly imperfect even though I'm raving about the fucking thing. That's only because judging by Stagliano's standards nowadays, the shooting isn't quite as good (some scenes in Amsterdam are pretty damn dark) and occasionally the audio is a tad low. The series has gotten a lot snazzier technically over the years, so, in comparison, "Buttman's European Vacation" isn't quite up to the audio-visual standards of the newer titles. But make no mistake: this is a bona fide classic in porn. Every scene is a winner, the girls are all beautiful, and even in the early '90s when it was made, John Stagliano knew how to build up and finish off pure unbridled fucking like a born master. It's a sex-packed travelogue of Buttman's adventures through various countries in Europe, while he watches a bevy of beauties polish the lucky rods of various studs, including himself every now and then.

Dutch diva Silver is in two stunning scenes, one in a bathroom with Rocco Siffredi that kicks off the debauchery, and another one that caps it all off with Rocco and Zara Whites. The first one is incredible enough, with great shots showing the Italian stud ravishing the toothy tramp before dousing her face with fresh cream. But the closing scene is a masterpiece! Rocco proves that he's a truly professional woodsman by holding off his high-velocity flood of jizz for so fucking long. Every mouth-watering blowjob and multi-positioned pussy poking is a turn-on, and the cum blast that ends this sexual marathon covers Zara's pussy and Silver's face underneath it. (His spoo goes right into poor Silver's eye, but trooper that she is, she still lets every drop land on her, even after she cries, "Jesus!")

Hungarian nymph Noelle Budvar also has a blistering coupling, in this case with Christoph Clark. Christoph is a little more toned down here than in his own work (there's no anal, which is totally surprising for this guy), but it's still a 100% hard-on inducer. After a sensual cocksucking, Noelle takes Christoph in pretty much every position imaginable until he lands a picture-perfect facial blast that washes out her sweet mouth as well.

I've never been the biggest Sunny McKay fan in the world, even though I'd certainly admit that she has a cute pair of perky button breasts, but no one has ever showed off her sweet ass cheeks like Stagliano does in this movie. And her Olympic-style boff with Rocco in a hotel room moves back and forth between a hotel patio and its bedroom, where their tongues and fingers lick and probe every orifice on each other before Rocco packs his manhood inside her snatch. She's really on fire here. Stagliano even gets a yummy blowjob during the coozing, which leads to a quick unleashing of cum into her mouth and on her face. Hey, you think you could last as long as him? Didn't think so. Anyway, Rocco's load hits the same targets, and you've got to love Sunny for being so...sunny, while she was getting jizzed.

The lesbo make-out between Debbie and Veronica Doll is top-notch. The girls probe all of each other's willing holes with tongues, fingers and dildos. Girl-girl scenes can sometimes seem a little tepid, but both lasses here really look like they're into each other, and you can't help but be one with Stagliano when he delivers such luscious close-ups of their soft tits and fingered assholes.

But luscious is a word that should really be saved for French pastry Joy Karins, who turns in, along with fellow French tart Natalie Streb and Philippe Soine, the scene that I'd consider to be the cream of the impressive crop on this title. Joy is one incredible, voluptuous, sensual hottie, with a knockout natural body that's packed with more curves and total tits and ass than you could possibly imagine. But it's all so properly proportioned that she really seems like a classical beauty. A classical beauty that takes cocks up the ass, anyway. When you see the tease she does for the camera, with her ripe, soft melons bursting out of her bra...oh man, I dare anyone not to lose it right then and there. Both girls take turns servicing Philippe's able cock (even Buttman can't hold back and grabs some quick feels of Joy's bountiful body), before they each take his length up their tight, puckered buttholes. Now this is how anal is done, folks. Joy takes Philippe's wad (which surprisingly takes forever to blow -- what's up with that, dude?) on her face and in her mouth, and shares a cummy kiss with Natalie. Beautiful!

The DVD itself is a nice package too, with a good transfer (except for the odd chapter breaks which noticeably happen during sex scenes), a special fetish menu (that lets you jump to the specific kind of kink that you dig), a photo gallery, a Stagliano commentary, website info, a Stagliano bio, and a "director's cut" of the Silver, Zara and Rocco scene that contains unused footage (this version runs 30 min. long). It's not spectacularly different from the original, but I can't complain about extra bunghole fingerings and additional cock swallowing. A solid roster of extras for a truly classic flick.

One of John Stagliano's early-90s classics comes to DVD, with excellent results. Despite the fact of the poor source video, which is largely dark and grainy, the transfer manages to render the decade-old video with only mild amounts of pixelation. The disc also includes commentary by Stagliano, and a longer version of the Rocco/Zara/Silver scene. Pre-nom for Best Classic DVD.
Extras: Step-through still gallery, fetish menu, director's bio, bonus scene, director's commentary.

BUTTMAN'S EUROPEAN VACATION is one of my favorite Buttman films, which is saying an awful lot considering the consistently good to excellent work Mr. Stagliano delivers from Evil Angel. Although there are some production-related problems with this disc (lengthy pauses between chapter stops and an inability to reverse scan past a chapter point), the content of this DVD is superb. Rocco is in fine fucking form when he takes on gorgeous blonde Silver on a bathroom sink, and later when he wrestles with her and Zara Whites in a motel for a stunning finish.

Silver is one of the best looking blondes to appear in porn, and her perfect body is a sight to behold even as she takes Rocco on anally. Zara, of course, is a legend from HOUSE OF DREAMS and BUTTMAN'S ULTIMATE WORKOUT, where she is also paired with Mr. Siffredi. Their scene in EUROPEAN VACATION, however, easily matches those other works.

Video quality is a faithful reproduction of the originally grainy and washed-out videotape.

This is a Buttman movie which belongs in every collection.