Debbie Does Dallas. It has a catchy name and little else. The film had little to offer outside of its pornographic roots considering it came out in the golden age of smut. It had a cute, though slight story and the girl-next-door beauty of its star Bambi Woods, the movie’s best attribute. But for some reason the film managed to reach infamy - not because of the content of the film itself but the events that surrounded it, which included a lawsuit with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, the death of crime boss and film distributor Michael Zaffarano, and the disappearance of star Debbie herself.

The documentary Debbie Does Dallas: Uncovered concentrates on these stories, though ultimately feels unfulfilling. However, it’s hard to cast blame on the documentary when you consider that most of the cast refused to be interviewed. If you ever wanted to know the long-term effects of starring in pornography, look no further than Debbie Does Dallas: Uncovered; only one female cast member agreed to be interviewed under the condition that it last only 15 minutes.

What’s left is an interesting though limited view of the film, which is natural considering the nature of the film and the unwillingness to contribute on the participants’ part. Can’t track down any of the female cast members? Move on to the men. Does most of the footage with the male cast consist of varying degrees of shame and embarrassment to the point where each person is interchangeable? Concentrate on the mafia aspect. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the angle because mob ties were strong in the early history of pornography. But like Inside Deep Throat, it starts getting away from the topic at hand and becomes a rough intro to the history of pornography.

Then there’s the matter of the visual style of the documentary, which cuts between interview footage, and “artsy, blurred close-up footage of the original film – surely due to the fact that Debbie Does Dallas: Uncovered was originally a one-hour special on Britain’s Channel 4 (under the title of The Curse of Debbie Does Dallas, why the name change?). While I’ve seen a lot of (delightfully) depraved material coming out of Channel 4, hardcore pornography isn’t included. The blurred footage is headache inducing.

If there’s a single moment I can point out as being pure gold, it’s when former FBI Agent and anti-porno pioneer Bill Kelly, with all the cynicism of a low-class prostitute who has seen it all, runs down his list of dislikes in pornography; “About the only thing that bothers me is people having sex with snakes. Defecation films bothers me, urination doesn’t. Vomiting bothers me a little. Child pornography, I get upset with… Depending upon what’s involved in the child pornography.” Swell guy, that Bill.

Presentation 
Considering Debbie Does Dallas: Uncovered was a UK production made in 2005, it’s safe to say that the original aspect ratio would be in anamorphic widescreen, but for some reason, we get a very thin (barely approximating 1.66:1) non-anamorphic matte, so thin you’d probably have to zoom out to even notice it with overscan. It is a fairly standard documentary without much regard to artistic framing, but Docurama is usually serviceable with their transfers – what’s up, guys?

Outside of the weird framing issue, we’ve got a mixed bag. The new interview footage is the traditional soft video, while the cut-aways to the actual Debbie Does Dallas which are appropriately mangled and ugly. The audio is surprising for a simple television documentary – the soundtrack is nice and bassy when it’s not settled on talking head footage. DVD.

Extras  
The only real extra provided on the disc outside of the traditional About Docurama info and handful of trailers is a bonus documentary that runs just as long as the main feature itself, Diary Of A Porn Virgin, which manages to fill in the blanks that are missing in Debbie Does Dallas: Uncovered - specifically the female perspective that was lacking in the latter.

Diary Of A Porn Virgin follows three different people who are all on the same journey towards careers in pornography; Frankie, a 38-year-old mother of two who was apparently a few months too early for the MILF porno boom, Sahara, a girl who knows how to exploit her status as a Muslim woman working the fetish circuit, and Lee, the lone male of the group whose only concern is if he can sustain an erection.

Sometimes drifting into high melodrama (really Frankie, how long did you expect to survive in the industry when you’re over the age of 18 and refuse to do both lesbian and anal scenes? As far as I’m concerned, that’s three strikes against you), Diary Of A Porn Virgin mostly compliments Debbie Does Dallas: Uncovered by creating a sort of timeline about the effects of pornography. If you were to watch Diary before Debbie it would certainly tell you a lot about the effect of the industry on women: excitement, doubt, horror, realization and then the burying of the past. And that’s certainly a lot to consider while masturbating in 15-to-25-minute increments to these videos.

Overall:
While the main feature isn’t as in-depth as I would like, the inclusion of Diary Of A Porn Virgin helps round out the disc, giving the entire thing a slightly darker edge. The video transfer is a bit questionable, but the material is decent enough to check out.