The Pleasure Lovers
1970
Eddie, an American stranded in England, leads a cooly professional band of safe-crackers to one of the biggest hauls in recent British history. The well-planned lob goes like clockwork until the watchman's daughter stops by with a supper for her father. The gang gets the money but is forced to beat the watchman unconscious and take the girl with them.
They make their way to their hideout in an upper room of a decaying, abandoned warehouse beside the river. The four men, their nerves at hair-trigger, now wait for the ship that will leave with the tide and take them to freedom.
But the girl, Carol, is a witness. Johnny, the strong-arm man, vicious and sadistic, votes to kill her - after he has used her to demonstrate his prowess with women. Steve, the Negro driver, and Sid, the safe-man, hesitate, then give their votes to Eddie. The young girl's life is in his hands. She cringes in the next room, waiting.
Before Eddie must make the decision, word comes
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that the ship is delayed two days. All the men except the American have records, so the police will be immediately suspicious if they are missing. To avoid a manhunt they must return to their normal activities until the ship sails. They go their separate ways.
Alone with the girl, Eddie, restless, tense, tries to talk with her. She is afraid of him, but her main fear is for her father. Eddie persists in trying to draw her out. Now her fear of him, and her underlying hatred, begins strangely to stimulate him. She is forced back into
another room and onto a rickety bed. Sensing Eddies growing desire for her, she begs him not to touch her, then fights him This stimulates him more. The two struggle on the bed and slowly but surely-and in one of the most frank and daring scenes ever filmed- Eddie rapes the protesting girl.
Then to his surprise, she begins to cone alive under his hands, to match him movement for movement, and Finally n a shattering climax, she becomes the sexual aggressor, sobbing, hating him, but clutching him to her in a fury of passion.
Meanwhile, in the underworld community word has spread about the robbery; other criminal forces ore now moving in for a shore of the loot. Steve and Sid meet in on after hours dub, and while watching the famous erotic dancer, Petite, make a plan to force Eddie to divide the loot now. Elsewhere, an ex-convict latches himself onto Johnny, waiting for Johnny to lead him to the money.
The next morning the radio carries the news that Carol's father has died from the beating. Carol is heartbroken, and now torn by her hatred and desire for Eddie.
With night falling, tension builds, as all trails lead to the decaying warehouse beside the river.
In a harrowing climax, Johnny and the ex-convict attempt to take the loot from Eddie, Eddie kills the ex-convict, but in the struggle with Johnny the rotting stairway to the upper room gives way. The old building, already weakened, begins slowly to disintegrate around them. All are trapped
In a supreme gesture to prove his growing love for Carol, Eddie abandons the Foot und with a superhuman effort pushes the young girl ahead of him through the falling debris to safety, sacrificing himself.
Now safe outside the budding, Coral watches in horror as the rotting structure collapses, burying Eddie, the men in his gong, and the sack of money. None of them has been able to spend a penny of it, yet it has cost them their lives.
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