Year: 1981
Language: English
Format: 35mm Colour
Runtime: 98 min
Director: Bob Clark
Producer: Don Carmody
Executive Producer: Harold Greenberg, Melvin Simon
Cinematographer: Reginald Morris
Editor: Stan Cole
Animation: Bob Clark
Sound: Kenneth Heeley-Ray
Music: Carl Zittrer, Paul Zaza
Cast: Doug McGrath, Dan Monahan, Mark Herrier, Wyatt Knight, Roger Wilson, Cyril O’Reilly, Kim Cattrall
Production Company: Astral Bellevue Pathé, Melvin Simon Productions (USA)

Arguably the template for every raunchy teen gross-out comedy made since its release, Porky’s follows a group of horny high-school students in fifties Florida and their desperate attempts to get laid. Their lives mainly consist of watching girls in the school shower and making life a living hell for their teachers and for each other. After being humiliated at Porky’s, the local roadhouse strip joint, they vow revenge on the owner – not an easy task, since his brother is the town sheriff. Only by forgetting their internal differences and working together can the boys get their revenge on Porky and his gang.

More than two decades after grossing more than $100 million worldwide, the unabashedly low-brow Porky’s remains far and away the highest-grossing Canadian movie of all time. Vicious reviews – Variety called it “astonishingly vulgar … has to be seen to be believed” – weren’t enough to prevent either the film’s success or the making of two sequels. Its combination of artistic vacuity and financial success have made Porky’s one of the most reviled and resented films in the Canadian canon.

Porky’s received the Golden Reel Genie Award for having the highest gross at the Canadian box office. It was also the third highest-grossing movie of 1982 at the North American box office.

By: Andrew McIntosh