Review

At last! Joe Gage has found a new home. Ever since he came out of retirement, he’s been wandering from studio to studio, but 100° in Tucson proves that Gage was made for Titan, and "vice" versa. It is an unqualified triumph for both the director and studio, and it’s a must-have for anyone who likes porn with both style and substance - and soaked in unbridled masculinity.

Tucson is the third in Gage’s modern trilogy of men on the road, starting with Mens Room: Bakersfield Station, and followed by Back to Barstow. But it’s in Tucson that Gage’s and Titan’s styles truly meld. Gage’s early films were famous for exploring the sexual tension between men as much as the sexual acts, and while there was some anal, cocksucking was king. Titan specializes in capturing the raw energy of men in the throes of lust. The films do have great scenarios and imagery, but they waste little time in getting to the hard stuff, and nobody is better at filming men pounding ass.

In Tucson seduction between older and younger men is a theme, and Gage is the undisputed master at man-on-man "mentoring." The older men are all ruggedly handsome, with naturally muscled and hairy bodies; the younger are also "real" guys, not A&F fantasies, and everyone sports throat-stopping rock-hard erections.

Nobody moves fast; it’s too hot for that. Instead they stalk each other, slowly and deliberately, certain of their success. (Don’t even think of touching the fast-forward button.) The sex itself is near-perfect: the cocksucking is extreme, and nowhere has Gage filmed a fuck better; there are spectacular close-ups of exquisite assholes. The camerawork, editing, lighting are all at Hollywood standards. This is porn for grown-ups who like to use the "brain" above their waist while watching sex.

Tucson is over three hours long, with five scenes tied together by images of young man (Andy Hunter) jogging, the voice of a radio DJ (Bryce Pierce), and haunting original songs written specifically for the film by famed gay troubadour Mark Weigle, among others. The songs give the film its singular style as much as anything. (Titan had better have a soundtrack ready!)

In Scene One, beefy straight cops Ivan Andros and Ray Dragon (the Ed Harris of gay porn - he gets better looking as he gets older) rent a motel room for some innocent jerking off between buddies. They are discovered by young motel clerk Devon Cade, so they intimidate him down to his knees for some serious sucking. Ivan bends Devon over the bed for some full-force fucking before Dragon flips the kid over and rams him hard.

But then Gage really shows his stuff: Dragon turns on Andros. The two cops have dropped their hetero pretense and finally do what they’ve always wanted. Dragon gives Andros a fuck that he - and you - won’t forget.

Scene two introduces us to Titan’s latest sensation, Spencer Quest. Forget the Holy Grail, Spencer is the only "quest" I want: blonde, mature, a killer smile, a hot body, well-hung and a man’s ass that is sumptuously sphinctered. He’s the whole package. Here’s he’s remodeling a house with apprentice Luke Pearson. The boss says it’s too hot to work and suggests they go back to his place for some beers.

There Quest puts the moves on the kid, and soon Pearson’s head is between Quest’s legs, tasting man-meat for the first time. Each savors the other’s ass before the kid slowly slides down on his boss’s pole, screaming with each disappearing inch. That’s one way to learn the trade.

Two young guys are driving around, bored on a Friday night: shaggy blonde Hunter James and lean, dark Jacob Riley. They stop for a long piss before heading to a warehouse to sneak some brews. Catching them in the act is watchman (and porn vet) Matt Majors who orders them to pull their cocks out; it makes sense when you see it. Hunter secretly has the hots for his buddy, so he doesn’t mind being forced to suck Riley off. But he doesn’t expect his buddy to respond so enthusiastically. Watching Hunter bouncing on Majors’ nightstick gives Riley ideas, and he takes his buddy’s place. There aren’t going to be any more boring Friday nights for these two.

Next comes a father-son scene that’s going to get attention. Redheaded, nerdy and closeted teen Blu Kennedy jerks off his mega-long dick before bed. Through the window comes burglar Taurus who decides to teach him the “ins and outs” of gay sex. He slides his dickhead into the boy’s mouth and then gives the kid his first blowjob. He pulls a dildo out of his tool bag to loosen up the kid’s hole before giving him the real thing. "Don’t. Stop!" eventually becomes "Don’t stop."

But then in comes Dad (Nathan York) with his own unending hard-on (like father, like son). This guy really is old enough to be a teen’s father, but his body would be the envy of any 25-year-old. He grabs the thief and doles out some serious punishment, first with the dildo, then with his foot-long down the throat and up the ass. Yet father and son can’t keep their eyes of each other, as Kennedy jerks off while watching Dad before York turns Taurus over (literally) to the kid for his first time on top. Again, their eyes lock as they spill the family seed. There’s no overt incest - it’s all in the eyes, and the scene will have you squirming.

The film ends with the type of classic orgy that Gage practically invented 25 years ago with Closed Set. Pizza Boy Damon DeMarco arrives with dinner for Bryce and his crew (Dax Reed, Tyler Kane) and drops trou for his tip. Pierce comes out of the DJ booth and displays his moniker: the undershaft of his cock is lined with piercings. Jogger Hunter walks in and soon everybody is sucking everybody, before Hunter fucks DeMarco and DeMarco fucks Pierce. They all shoot big loads, but then they get their second wind when Cade shows up just in time to be pounded by Hunter. The coup de grace is a double penetration of Reed by the inexhaustible Hunter and DeMarco.

(Editor's note: The extras described below only appear on the now out-of-print 2-disc set.) The bonuses are plentiful: Three interviews (Quest, Pearson and singer/songwriter Weigle), deleted scenes of a second Quest cumshot and more orgy action, including Pierce fucking Hunter (can you imagine those steel piercings rubbing against your ass canal?) and DeMarco fucking Cade; behind-the-scenes action; a fluffing montage; footage of Brian Mills’ photo shoots (as well as the shots themselves); a music image gallery; a cumshot review; and previews of the trilogy’s other titles. Whew!

In one of the bonus feature interviews, Luke Pearson described the film as "real men having real mansex." That’s exactly what Gage gives us, in multiple pairings and innumerable orgasms. 100° in Tucson is top of the line in every way, from the sex to the songs. It’s going to set a standard that will be hard to top.

If this is what happens when the heat goes up, then fuck air conditioning!

 -- Jameson Rodgers