3 A.M. [1976]

It is not quite the present and it is the middle of the night.

We slowly move toward a large beach house barely discernible in the distance. All we hear are the sounds of surf pounding, wind blowing, a man and woman breathing.

We are now inside the house. It is 3 A.M. and the man and the woman are making love . . . beautifully, earnestly working towards mutual orgasm. Their names are Mark and Elaine. They are married. Their light, after-sex banter develops into a bitter argument, whereupon Mark leaves and goes to the family yacht.

It is now the present. Mark is dead-the victim of a mysterious accident aboard his own yacht. We realize what we just saw and heard was a flashback-Elaine has been listening to a tape recording which Mark has playfully recorded the last time they made love . . a recording which Elaine plays over and over. Now Elaine, her son Ronnie, 17, her daughter Stacey, 15, and her sister Kate are trying to somehow continue their lives in the lonely beach house. It is not easy, and to ease the pain, they turn to sex, as we shall see.


Elaine, unhappy and confused, attempts suicide, but is thwarted by Kate. The following morning Elaine decides to sell the yacht and goes to see Morgan, a yacht broker. He realizes she misses Mark and in a poignant scene, he seduces her. After a torrid sexual sequence,.~ Morgan tells Elaine not to feel guilty about it but not to jump from man to man to assuage her loneliness.

Concurrent with this, we see Kate in Elaine’s bedroom, remembering a time that she and Mark made love in that very room. We see the couple in a deep sexual embrace that leaves no doubt as to the love this clandestine couple feel for one another. Kate, highly agitated, goes into her own bedroom and proceeds to engage in a frenzied masturbation. Late in that day, an incredible scene occurs while the family is out and Kate is in the shower. A young and vivacious beach girl comes to the house to use the telephone and, discovering Kate in the shower, literally attacks her in a female rape that has no precedent in film history. The total effect is breathtaking to Kate and to the viewer.

The next day Stacey and Ronnie are at the beach, and after an exhausting horseback ride, they discuss the loss of their father, their future, and sex. (When the effect of having Stacey sit in front of Ronnie on the horse has given Ronnie an all-to-obvious erection!)

Later Ronnie runs into Vickie, their voluptuous neighbor. Thunderstruck by her beauty and overall sensuality, Ronnie, that night, sneaks over and peeks into her window as she undresses. Vickie catches sight of him (unbeknownst to Ronnie) and she proceeds to strip and masturbate in front of him-the ultimate tease.

The following evening Ronnie calls on Vickie, ostensibly to play some new records for her, but we soon realize he is in for his first sex affair. Vickie invites him in, serves him wine and seduces him (in front of a burning fire and on a white bearskin rug!). The vision of a woman of the world seducing a seventeen year old boy is absolutely staggering. Afterward, Ronnie expresses concern for his mother, and Vickie tells him, “Just worry about ‘YOU’ - live your own life.”

Now we see Stacey alone in her bedroom sketching, very pensive and sad. Kate comes in to console her, and begins by singing a lullaby . . . but slowly, as though neither has any control of the situation, Kate’s gentle consolation turns to a sexual game-beautiful, explicit, completely honest.

Ronnie, now armed with the knowledge of things sexual (thanks to Vickie) proceeds to teach his sister Stacey what he has learned. If a scene can be at once tender and totally sexual, this is it.

The next afternoon, Ronnie and Kate are discussing the circumstances of Mark’s death and Kate becomes more and more agitated. She rushes to Elaine’s room, resolutely picks up “The” tape recorder, and confesses all-we see in a flashback that Kate and Mark have for years been engaged in a clandestine love affair. After their final sexual encounter-partly by accident, partly through anger, Kate kills Mark on the boat.

We see Ronnie standing in the doorway overhearing Kate’s confession …

Production notes by Robert McCallum:

“Very simply, I want 3 A.M. to be the unflinching story of the sexual activities of the members of an American family. A story told with utter honesty, but never cheap sensationalism. The film will deal with, amongst by the other things, the sexual games between a 17 year old boy and his 15 year old sister; the first love affair of their still strikingly beautiful mother; the seduction of the young daughter by her own aunt; and the ‘maturing’ of the 17 year old son at the velvety hands of a voluptuous female who lives next door.

“I want the film to operate on two levels: one, the purely erotic motion picture-the final exercise in visually explicit cinema, and two, the straight forward study of the most intimate workings of each member of the film, and to depict these events with total candor.

“By treating each person as his or her real life counterpart, I want to achieve such an overwhelming intimacy that the scenes and situations go beyond embarrassing portrayals and become natural and alive.”

About Georgina Spelvin:

To her millions of fans, Georgina Spelvin’s performance as Kate is her most satisfying achievement. Georgina has become internationally famous as the star of THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES. Growing up in the Louisiana Bayou country, and living in New York and Hollywood, Georgina has achieved a wonderful balance of country earthiness and modern sophistication which she blends magnificently in the role of Kate. Her dramatic scenes with Claire Dia who plays her niece, as well as a scene in a glassed-in shower will provide film buffs with an erotic precedent for years to come.