2514 Sunset Blvd
(Enter through rear)
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Joe Gage, L.A. Tool & Die, 16mm on VHS, 88min, 1979
Joe Gage concludes his “working man’s trilogy” on a high note with LA Tool & Die – a road movie and simultaneous hardcore game of cat and mouse that is as tender as it is steamy.
We follow stud Hank (Richard Locke) as he meets his match, stumbling upon an aloof Vietnam War vet with PTSD (Will Seagers). And love is the drug. He weaves in and out of American truck stops in hot pursuit, tailing hot encounters with Casey Donovan, Michael Kerns, Paul Barresi in a hetero scene with Becky Savage, and featuring a soundtrack that includes Claudio Simonetti of Goblins fame.
LA Tool & Die is 1970s gay hardcore filmmaking at its most sophisticated. It’s heartwarming the way it carves out a space for rugged men to fill their hearts as well as their man hole. And vigilante, not shying away from putting straight guys in their place, showing them who's boss, “If there’s anything I like more than sucking cock, it’s kicking ass!” It’s the film that sealed the deal for Joe Gage’s legendary status in adult film and a brilliant cap on the trilogy that included Kansas City Trucking Company and El Paso Wrecking Corp.