I understand though that Jerry Douglas is a legend in the business for coming out with movies where the plot is nearly as important as the shagging scenes. While it may be a gay pornographic film, Diamond Stud is also a very quaint and surprisingly heartfelt love story between two closeted men. I really like how the sex scenes in this movie all build up to the two men finding the courage to break down the barriers between them, so to speak, which is why I'm writing this review, by the way. If you like some good-old fashioned explicit gay love story, Diamond Stud is actually a good way to go. It sure beats all those depressing gay soft-porn movies flooding Cannes and what-not with their contrived depressing endings.

Diamond Kincaid is a popular teen heartthrob. Oh, and let me warn people out there: this movie has some of the worst singing and dancing I've ever seen, period. Rick Thomas is a handsome man with an above average endowment, ahem, but he cannot sing and he really should not be allowed to "dance" like that. His Diamond Kincaid is gay but for the sake of his career, he marries a beard and devotes his attention to callboys. Let's try not to speculate on the parallels between Diamond and a certain couch-jumping Eiffel-Tower save-the-world movie star, shall we? Diamond's bodyguard Mack insists that he has two kids (no mention of a wife, however) but he's clearly infatuated with Diamond. In this movie, Diamond's indiscretion with his callboys and shagbuddies lead Mack to use his wiles and even his body to protect Diamond's secret from coming out. But with Mack so heavily in denial and Diamond's career on the line, can love ever pervail?

Steve Marks, who plays Mack, has this rugged Marc-Singerish look around him. He's a horrible actor, which is to be expected from movies like this, I suppose, and I strongly suspect that he is under the influence while he is filming the movie. However, whether or not he's stoned to the gills, he nonetheless manages to make Mack come off as this reliable, masculine, but oh-so-conflicted man - Mack is quite attractive as a character, really, and I'm not talking about how he looks without clothes.

In the first scene, Mack walks into Diamond's dressing room to remind him that the concert is about to start only to find Diamond's dresser Merle just finishing up in his fluffing duties. As Mack and Merle watch Diamond perform (horrifically) on a TV screen, Merle reveals that he and Diamond aren't having any relationship between that of an employer and an employee (with benefits, of course). Merle is in love with himself. He demonstrates to Mack what he means by performing fellatio on himself. Let's just say that my neck still hurts when I actually tilt my head that way as I squeal, "Oh my goodness, people can actually do that?" Merle then encourages Mack to try and do the same but Mack isn't as flexible as Merle, alas.

Trouble begins when after a lusty coupling, Diamond's callboy Clint turns out to have a camcorder in his bag recording the whole ordeal. Mack has been spying on Diamond and Clint, which is how he realizes this. He chases after Clint for the camcorder and tracks it to Clint's buddy. Mack then seduces this man, Les, in a scene that culminates in a public shag in a theatre that is Mack's first time with a man. Mack manages to remove the tape from the camcorder and Diamond, touched by Mack's willingness to go the distance for him, gifts Mack with a diamond stud that Diamond wears as his trademark on his ear. This pattern continues one more time when Diamond is captured on camera in a threeway with an Olympic swimmer Chris and the swim coach Ben in Chris' private mansion.

Eventually, Diamond and Mack realize that they both share a love of fast bikes and Diamond decides to buy Mack a fast bike as a gift. They reach the bike shop - more like a workshop, actually - where they witness through a window the owners Jack and Fred going at it like nobody's business. I never knew beer can actually be used in liberal amount as lubrication until now, I tell you. Jack and Fred are two very hirsute and steroidal examples of musclebound lugheads but there's something really sweet in how they are both in love and don't care who knows it. Watching them, Mack finds the courage - or is too aroused to care, I suppose - to press his hands over Diamond's on the windowpane and breathes deeply over Diamond's neck as if he wants to inhale the man's scent. I really like the way this scene captures the tentativeness of Mack's shy touching of Diamond and Diamond's quick glance of surprise at Mack in response.

When they learn that Jack and Fred are men that are similar to Mack in the sense that they are gay and they also have kids from previous marriages, Mack finds the courage to approach Diamond and they both take turns showing each other how much they love the other person (if you know what I mean). It's a rather nice touch that Diamond has always topped his other lovers but here both Mack and Diamond take turns at being the top. The movie ends with Diamond publicly announcing that he's gay and he loves Mack in a scene filled with horrifying singing and dancing that are only for the strong of heart.

I really like this movie. Rick Thomas plays Diamond Kincaid with always a wink and a smile, making Diamond come off like a rogue with an infectious smile. Mack is the perfect foil to Diamond in that Mack is responsible, calm, and steady while Diamond is impulsive. Diamond makes Mack take risks while Mack reins Diamond in. While there is a strong romantic theme in this movie that works very well, the star of the movie is clearly Rick Thomas. He plays Diamond as one cocky but likeable guy. Even when he's fucking other people, he actually remembers to ask Mack whether Mack wants to join in (how thoughtful of him, and Mack of course always refuses because he's scared that way) in a manner that suggests that he has always subconsciously wanted Mack. From incorporating the use of a condom in his sex scenes and making it a sexy part of the foreplay to his infectious cheer as he goes about shagging his partners, Mr Thomas seems to be genuinely into his scenes and having the time of his life. He brings a much-needed sense of irreverance, mischief, and exuberance into this movie.

Because Diamond Stud manages to be romantic as well as explicit, this movie doesn't feel sleazy, exploitative, or tawdry. All in all, it's a nice little movie to escape into if you're old enough and you're looking for something to enjoy in-between Oz and Queer As Folk slash. The fact that the guys are hot is only icing - pardon the pun - on the cake. Just keep the remote control at hand for those horrific "singing" and "dancing" scenes.