I thought I’d reviewed this film already, but it turns out I was getting it confused with the film HARD BOUNTY. Considering they’re both over 20 years old and feature softcore actresses in a Western film, I’m sure you can understand my faulty memory. But like Hard Bounty, this is more of a B-movie than a real softcore movie, although I do recommend making sure you get the unrated version.

An interesting trivia fact about this film is that it is cowritten by India Allen, a former Playboy Playmate who has some experience appearing in softcore films herself. It’s co-written by Khara Bromiley, and directed by Steven Nevius, and was released in the year 2000.

Set in the year 1886, Shannon Tweed is Velvet, a longtime prostitute working in a brotherly in New Orleans. She’s tired of the business, and tricks a customer into stealing $20,000 from the local bank, the double-crosses him and skips town with the money, dressed like a nun, planning to go to San Francisco to start a new life.

Oh yeah, we also learn that Velvet’s mother was Black. This a random fact brought up in the film (Velvet has a pocket watch with a picture of her mother, who is presumed dead, in it which is very precious to her) for no particular reason, and just always seemed like an odd detail to include to me.

Does this woman look biracial to you?!?

Deanna Brooks, another former Playboy Playmate, plays Sarah, a young socialite from Savannah, Georgia. She’s being forced by her father to marry some rich older man, which she doesn’t want to do. She decides to run away from home, wanting to go to San Francisco to gain her freedom and live her own life.

This was Brooks’ first acting role (according to IMDB), and I’ll say right now she was very good. She’s also quite attractive and has one of only two full sex scenes in this film. She only had a handful of acting roles after this, and seeing her potential in this film I think that’s a shame as I believe she could have been quite the star in the softcore genre if she’d chosen to pursue that career.

Velvet and Sarah both end up on the same stagecoach, traveling out west. As they pass through a town called Sweetwater in Texas, they get attacked by a gang of outlaws led by Billy Poke (Daniel Murray) and a ruthless woman named Mick, played by the one and only Late Julie Strain.

The outlaws thought the stagecoach was delivering money to a bank, so they’re disappointed when they find out its just passengers. But then they find Velvet’s money in her bag and take that, and intend to sell her and Deanna to a brothel in the next town. But during this attack, they kill the local sheriff who was coming to escort the stagecoach, and when the sheriff’s younger brother, Joe (Richie Varga), the deputy sheriff, finds his brother’s body, he proceeds to track down the outlaws.

So from there on it’s the story of the ladies trying to escape to safety, with Velvet also wanting to get her stolen money back, while Joe wants justice for the murder of his brother. Alliances are forged and broken and there’s lots of drama and gunfights before the movie reaches its climax.

Unfortunately, despite the excellent cast, the film itself is pretty dull. It drags in a lot of scenes, and several characters’ motivations remain unclear during most of it. Strictly from an aesthetic perspective, the fact that Tweed, Brooks, and Strain all get nude or topless several times throughout the film (as does Sita Thompson, who plays a local woman in Sweetwater that Joe was having an affair with), in addition to the two sex scenes (the one I mentioned with Brooks and there’s also one with Tweed, but I won’t say with whom they’re each paired with as that would spoil the story), makes this film pleasing to the eye. But the slow story will make you want to fast forward to get to those parts.

Chacebook rating: THREE STARS

Jason Majercik is selling this UNRATED DVD for $29.99. Email him at quinn_nash@hotmail.com for his softcore inventory list