It’s not really a secret that Sylvester Stallone’s first acting debut was in a little soft-core skin flick called The Party at Kitty and Stud’s. Starring as the titular Stud, he and Kitty (Henrietta Holm) promote a little get together at their apartment, which turns into a giant group-sex session. “I punch the meat,” indeed. When asked about the film, Stallone said he was struggling, broke and desperate, having been kicked out of his apartment and found himself living in the bus station. The role came along, the producers paid him $200 and the rest, as they say is history.
Except not quite. The Party at Kitty and Stud’s kinda sank into oblivion – it had a few screenings here and there but ultimately nobody really cared. Until Rocky. All of a sudden Sylvester Stallone is a household name – a box office megastar – and The Party at Kitty and Stud’s had a new reason to exist. Re-released under the title Italian Stallion, Sly’s junk found a new attention, mainly due to director Gail Palmer’s assertion that our beloved Rocky was doin’ it up hardcore style in this X-Rated Romp. This was a bit overinflated, however – the only hardcore scenes to ever be shown in the film (in a cut that popped up in 2007), were proven to be inserts cut in after the fact that did not, in fact, feature Stallone.
Over time, people just seemed to forget about it, but the film hasn’t just been locked in a vault – it’s been released several times and in several formats in several countries (and twice on DVD – in 2004 and 2007 – here stateside) and MGM was in the middle of acquiring the rights from Bryanston Distribution Company in 2009 when negotiations failed. The movie has largely remained a footnote in Stallone’s career.
However, THR brought us news yesterday that Bryanston Distribution had put up the original 35mm negatives and all international rights for auction…on eBay of all places. The auction ended today, about 25 minutes ago, actually, and the whole package went for $412,100. The buyer’s identity is being kept a secret and, according to the auction’s page, the buyer has 24 hours to make a bank draft before the sale is considered final – but this is interesting. With the film already having been licensed and released it’s not impossible to find, so it makes one wonder just what the motivation behind this purchase is. Would somebody spend close to a half a million dollars just to say to their friends “Look what I got?” Did Stallone buy it himself to be rid of the whole thing, finally? With Sly’s box office star still relatively bright (The Expendables did well enough to warrant a sequel, after all), is someone planning a full-scale release to capitalize on Sly’s name and our culture’s penchant for this type of stuff? Granted, this is old news to anybody in the know, but to Middle America the fact that Rambo made a porn flick would probably be a revelation. I’m sure more details will come of this in the near future, and when they do we’ll bring them to you. Until then, here’s Gail Palmer, telling you just how X-Rated Italian Stallion is…