NAKED FAME — *** — Documentary profile of porn star Colton Ford; not rated, probable R (nudity, vulgarity, profanity, sex); see Page W2 for theaters.
His pecs and glutes may still be firm, but when a gay pornography performer's goatee goes a little salt-and-pepper, he may want to consider a new livelihood.
At 40, Colton Ford, the rock-solid, musclebound star of a dozen hard-core films, decided to return to singing, his original calling in life. And the spare, enjoyable "Naked Fame," by the documentarian Chris Long, suggests that today's pornography performers enjoy better life options than those revisited in "Inside Deep Throat."
As a trained vocalist with a considerable range, Ford wants fans to love him for his larynx and leave the rest of him alone.
In pornography scripts, Ford usually plays a sexual conquistador, a man who can walk into any gym or bar and jump into sex acts. But in "Naked Fame," the actor struggles as a singer with reduced odds of a payoff. His tolerant mother recalls that "as a baby, he bubbled," and his father admits his own envy of his son's falsetto and his gusto. That explains Ford's confidence. Yet he asks to be judged on artistic merits, and he risks seeming bare, vulnerable.
Mostly, the film examines the love between Ford and another porn star, Blake Harper, both of whom are escaping the clutches of the seedy, skin-deep industry. (To the disappointment of some "Naked Fame" ticket buyers, the stars rarely disrobe.)
As Ford strives to sell his demo, Harper contemplates a return to his own life's mission, as a registered nurse.
The duo is paid to turn intimate moments into public property, but no means no, even when it comes from beefcake exhibitionists. In the documentary's emotional climax, Harper loses his usual good humor and crumbles into a teary mess after some inebriated partygoers reach below the belt. "People are disrespecting me and my boyfriend and our relationship, and I'm over it," he yells.
It is a crisis specific to them, and of their own making, as the two men try to protect and sustain a love that seems, to many spectators, up for grabs.
"Naked Fame" is not rated but would probably receive an R for full male nudity, vulgar sexual references and profanity, and some sexual contact (homosexual). Running time: 84 minutes.