American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending
How does a young man from a small New England town become one of the most influential makers of exploitation films in the 1960s? How does the same filmmaker come to be a pioneer of hardcore sex movies in the 1970s and 1980s, including groundbreaking gay features? And how does that very same director move into mainstream productions for television networks like NBC in the 1990s?

In American Exxxtasy, John Amero charts his remarkable life and career at the forefront of the sexual revolution, while sharing what it was like to be a gay man living in the heart of New York City through the eras of Stonewall, LGBTQ rights and AIDS.

It's a memoir that depicts his close bond with his brother Lem, with whom he formed a thirty-year filmmaking partnership. It details his friendship and collaboration with notorious exploitation director Michael Findlay and his wife Roberta. And it explores John's relationships with notable names such as
Andy Warhol, Montgomery Clift, Anthony Perkins, and Olympia Dukakis.

American Exxxtasy is an engaging personal story told with candour, emotion and humour, and a portrait of an industry and a city that were rapidly changing. And it's the only first-person account that provides intimate insight into a singularly unique journey from porn to primetime.
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American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending
How does a young man from a small New England town become one of the most influential makers of exploitation films in the 1960s? How does the same filmmaker come to be a pioneer of hardcore sex movies in the 1970s and 1980s, including groundbreaking gay features? And how does that very same director move into mainstream productions for television networks like NBC in the 1990s?

In American Exxxtasy, John Amero charts his remarkable life and career at the forefront of the sexual revolution, while sharing what it was like to be a gay man living in the heart of New York City through the eras of Stonewall, LGBTQ rights and AIDS.

It's a memoir that depicts his close bond with his brother Lem, with whom he formed a thirty-year filmmaking partnership. It details his friendship and collaboration with notorious exploitation director Michael Findlay and his wife Roberta. And it explores John's relationships with notable names such as
Andy Warhol, Montgomery Clift, Anthony Perkins, and Olympia Dukakis.

American Exxxtasy is an engaging personal story told with candour, emotion and humour, and a portrait of an industry and a city that were rapidly changing. And it's the only first-person account that provides intimate insight into a singularly unique journey from porn to primetime.
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American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending

American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending

by John Amero
American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending

American Exxxtasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending

by John Amero

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Overview

How does a young man from a small New England town become one of the most influential makers of exploitation films in the 1960s? How does the same filmmaker come to be a pioneer of hardcore sex movies in the 1970s and 1980s, including groundbreaking gay features? And how does that very same director move into mainstream productions for television networks like NBC in the 1990s?

In American Exxxtasy, John Amero charts his remarkable life and career at the forefront of the sexual revolution, while sharing what it was like to be a gay man living in the heart of New York City through the eras of Stonewall, LGBTQ rights and AIDS.

It's a memoir that depicts his close bond with his brother Lem, with whom he formed a thirty-year filmmaking partnership. It details his friendship and collaboration with notorious exploitation director Michael Findlay and his wife Roberta. And it explores John's relationships with notable names such as
Andy Warhol, Montgomery Clift, Anthony Perkins, and Olympia Dukakis.

American Exxxtasy is an engaging personal story told with candour, emotion and humour, and a portrait of an industry and a city that were rapidly changing. And it's the only first-person account that provides intimate insight into a singularly unique journey from porn to primetime.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781913051136
Publisher: FAB Press
Publication date: 02/15/2022
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

John Amero is a pioneering filmmaker who started out with close friend Michael Findlay, directing the 'roughie' Body of a Female in 1965. John then formed a film partnership with his brother Lem that produced groundbreaking 1960s films such as Diary of a Swinger and The Corporate Queen, and 1970s hits like Blonde Ambition and Every Inch a Lady. John also made a notable series of gay sex films, and worked with adult film stalwarts Chuck Vincent and Larry Revene during the 1980s. He continued to make his own films into the 1990s, including a mainstream TV special starring Olympia Dukakis.

Read an Excerpt

PROLOGUE

What am I doing in jail? Not just an ordinary jail, but the notorious “Tombs” in Manhattan. Many dangerous criminals have passed through here, and now me.
If that isn't bad enough, this is my second incarceration. I'm being treated like a common criminal, getting mug shots and fingerprints. My belt and shoelaces have been confiscated as well. It's dark and all I hear are screams from addicts in withdrawal. Sleep will be impossible. I feel an anxiety attack coming on, but they've confiscated my Valium stash.
What have I done to deserve this? I've got to calm down. Try and relax. Go to that Zen place... oh, that's bullshit, that never works. Close your eyes and concentrate on more positive things. But what? I know. Focus on a time and place when you were the happiest.
Slow ripple dissolve to...

Table of Contents

Foreword 6

Prologue 8

1 The Young Man and the Sea (1939-1958) 9

2 West Side Story (1958-1964) 23

3 Body of a Female (1964-1965) 40

4 Diary of a Swinger (1965-1967) 51

5 The Corporate Queen (1968-1969) 71

6 Bacchanale (1970-1971) 93

Image Gallery 105

7 Dynamite, Pepper and Lord Perry (1972-1974) 121

8 Every Inch a Lady (1975) 139

9 Blonde Ambition (1977-1981) 149

10 The Francis Ellie Films (1976-1988) 160

11 The End of an Era (1978-1982) 171

12 The Playboy Years (1984-1989) 181

13 A Time of Grief (1989-1990) 197

14 Primetime (1991-1994) 203

Epilogue 211

John Amero Filmography 212

Index 221

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