A Free Ride

A Free Ride, also known as A Grass Sandwich,[1] is a stag film of the silent era, considered the earliest extant American hardcore pornographic movie.

Two contradictory theories have emerged regarding the identities of the cast: some sources suggest they were people with low social status, but others assert the opposite.

British author Dave Thompson, in his book Black and White and Blue: Adult Cinema from the Victorian Age to the VCR, notes that D. W. Griffith is credited by one source as director on A Free Ride.

He claims the crew strove to make the cast unidentifiable, noting that the actor wears a large fake mustache and a hat.

[3] Thompson notes that some historical accounts, which he describes as "casual histories", have suggested that the cast of early pornographic films were drawn from among people with low social status such as the homeless, drug addicts, the mentally ill, prostitutes, and petty criminals.

[2][7] Los Angeles Times columnist Jay Jones notes A Free Ride is believed to be the first pornographic film made for commercial purposes.

[11] Thompson says that the evidence presented to support the later production date is shoddy, but notes that some other experts agree with Brownlow's assertion.

Evidence cited in support of a 1923 production date includes the similarity of one of the women's hairstyle to that of Mary Pickford, an actress who dominated American film industry during the 1920s.

[13] At that time, it was not possible to screen stag films in public theaters due to the Victorian moral views of contemporary society.

[15] It was likely shown in brothels, gentlemen's clubs,[14] illegal gatherings of men in public places,[16] stag parties,[17] and other all-male venues:[18] the film was kept hidden from society at large and the government.

[15] According to Williams, A Free Ride is a typological representative of a genre of early pornographic movies that included voyeurism.

[21] Author Laurence O'Toole has described early stag films such as A Free Ride as "a muddle of jerky camerawork and slipshod editing".

[24] O'Toole writes that despite the elementary nature of movies like A Free Ride, stag films became "rigidified into a restricted visual experience" in a short period of time.

He identifies these basic constituents as a carefully planned but not complicated state of affairs to provide introductory motivation, visual stimuli to sexually excite the women, a theme that is generally rare in reality, a straightforward and very quick seduction, and the sex acts as the film's central theme.