California Big Hunks

Six Hot Hunks from 1985

Cast & Crew

Actors: Jim Kellogg, Reno Black, Donny Chambers, Dave Matthews, Prince Daniel, Michael Mednick

Producers: Mark Schulze, Patricia Mooney  and Dixie Crane

Studio: New & Unique Videos

VHS Release Date: 1985

Run Time: 60 minutes

IMDb

VHS

Welcome to the site of the original California Big Hunks!

This is the video that – unbeknownst to its creators – became a cult classic.

Way back in 1985, Mark Schulze and Patty Mooney videotaped six erotic male dancers, each dancing his own fantasy scenario. Jim the Cop, Reno in the Jungle, Dave the Cowboy, Donny in the Ruins, Michael in the Gym and Danny in the Haunted Disco. This video became very popular for Bachelorette Parties, and then it made a splash in Gay publications and for many years it sold successfully around the world on VHS tape.

DVD

When DVDs came along, followed by digital links, Mark and Patty were busy producing and shooting for corporate clients and set “California Big Hunks” on a shelf. Jay Leno occasionally bought clips of the Big Hunks for his Tonight Show; his editors would Photoshop Jay’s head on one of the guys and create golden comedy skits.

As Seen on TV

“Whose Line Is It Anyway” used the bedroom scene of Jim the Cop in one of their comedy sketches. Then the Found Footage Festival had their way with some of the hunks. And then last year, the Reddit guys “discovered” the California Big Hunks. So now, finally, you can access the entire show on Vimeo on Demand and purchase the original soundtrack by Richard Jan Plasko at Bandcamp.

Okay, okay, but where can you actually WATCH the original California Big Hunks video? You can access it at Vimeo on Demand by clicking on the video above.

Original Soundtrack

These tracks were written, performed, and produced by obscure musician Richard Jan Plasko in 1985 for “California Big Hunks” which featured “erotic male dancers.”

Musically, it reminds critics “a little of a mid-80s update of the gay porn soundtracks produced by Patrick Cowley – all throbbing, arpeggio-style sequenced basslines, lo-fi synth sounds, electronic colour and punchy drum machine beats. Basically, it’s energetic high-NRG sleaze,  featuring X-rated female vocal snippets, bubbling lead lines, undulating electronic bass and skittish proto-house beats.”

Total oddball production that has left a terrifying wake of mystery throughout many online digger circles which eventually even led to a mini documentary explaining the origin of the crown jewel “Dirty Cowboy” sound which is featured in this release along with another one of Richard Plasko’s tripped out involuntary lo-fi excursions on the B-side. Ron Hardy and the Village People walk into a bedroom studio…Thoroughly remastered from master tapes and brought back to life on vinyl for the first time.

Sound Metaphors

There are plenty of rippling muscles, humping hips and bare buns…  The fashion model teases viewers through a locker-room routine that recalls the spontaneity of Tom Cruise’s performance in “Risky Business.”  Females will stampede to the sell-through counter to experience these hunks firsthand. – Janine Coveney McAdams

Billboard Magazine

A dazzling production, giving the viewer, instead of frontal nudity, one clever sexual fantasy after another, well-conceived, well-choreographed, and extremely well executed.

Adult Video News

MEN

California Big Hunks is completely unlike everything that has come before: no frontal nudity, for starters. Each episode is really a short fantasy involving a particular type of man having a daydream in which he strips. A cop writing a ticket to a woman in a sports car imagines he is stripping in her bedroom. A fisherman nods off while waiting for the big catch and dreams he is a jungle lord. A street artist sees a photograph of Michael Jackson and becomes Michael Jackson. Those kinds of fantasies, each elaborately produced, and beautaifully photographed and edited. – John Rowberry

Critics' Choice Catalog

Six well-built erotic male dancers sensually strip and perform as a cop, wild nature boy, urban cowboy, fashion model, disco dancer and celebrity impersonator.

Video Excitement

San Diego’s New & Unique Videos ventures away from the How-To tapes with this season’s sensuous sizzler, California Big Hunks. This 60-minute full-color dance video drops the viewer into the sensuous fantasies of six talented erotic male dancers.

Bravo! San Diego

Their curves are more dangerous than the Indianapolis 500; their moves more teasing than a five-dollar hooker; and the appreciation shown to them is more overwhelming than a ticker-tape parade. They are not conquering heroes, or even Washington politicians… these are the HUNKS of California Big Hunks! Their performances are carefully rehearsed to get the most out of each bump and grind (though it seems that one-handed push-ups are status quo). These men are the “Misters” of the county: “Mr. Ocean Beach,” “Mr. Mission Beach,” and the like. Most have also been in the pages of International Male.