“Let Me Die A Woman” is a nauseating attempt to exploit the strangeness and confusion of adults living with gender issues that is unintentionally hysterical.
The film was put together by the queen of sleaze, Doris Wishman. During her career, Wishman specialized in putting together Z-grade movies by making false promises to the audiences and that was the type of business the exploitation genre thrived on.
A good example of that would be, “A Night to Dismember” which was composed entirely of footage from the various theatrical trailers. The movie’s negative was destroyed in a fire, and instead of just losing her investment, she released a very odd incoherent picture from excerpts of the original with disasterous narration.
In “Let Me Die A Woman,” she released a pseudo-documentary that promises to show footage from the actual surgery of a man becoming a woman and boy does it deliver. A strong warning to people with weak stomachs, because this movie is not for everyone.
This was a horrid attempt to make a hygiene picture, which were popular in the 1940’s. A hygiene film (“Mom and Dad”) deals with taboo issues, and exposes the audience to the hairy in-depth detail of it all. The film would also charge a little bit more for the admission and urge children to bring their parents, so they can discuss the issue.
Our guide through this deprived journey is “sex specialist” Dr. Leo Wollman, who appears to be a depraved homeless man and not a real doctor in anyway. According to his introduction, he is also a minister. Throughout the film he seems to be reading off cue cards for the simplest of dialogue. If he is a doctor, then one’s heart must go out to his patients.
One of the funniest scenes involves Wollman administering therapy to a supposed group of transsexuals. None of the transsexuals appear authentic and one elderly one seems to have been dragged out of the grocery store and forced to wear a wig.
It does however sprinkle in some real transsexuals and provides a lengthy interview with Leslie, a Puerto Rican transsexual. This is a tedious interview, with a person that appears to suffer from a lack of intelligence and common sense and can’t not shed any light on the actual surgery.
Then we have cameos from adult film stars Harry Reems and Vanessa Del Rio who are dramatizing actual cases from Wollman- or is this supposed to be actual footage? That is never made clear.
On top of all of this dishevelment, there are large amounts of bizarre nudity scenes that are cringe inducing.
If your curious to know what the experience of seeing this film on the old 42nd street of New York then a chapter of Bill Landis’ novel “Sleazoid Express” details that experience and may save you a plethora of time and energy.
This whole discombobulated package is a rare treat that can’t help but make you laugh. None of it seems sincere and that never stopped Wishman from releasing the movie.
Maybe that is why her name endures in the exploitation universe.
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