Henri Pachard's latest entry, a steamy tale of deception and crime with shamus Randy West as a semi-private dick who gets down to business with one female client after another, is pretty "special" indeed. Even if it does start to run out of steam before a rather abrupt ending, getting there is more than half the fun.

In Saturday Night Special, detective West takes incriminating pictures of a philandering husband, only to become the patsy in a political campaign fund scandal. Along the way, femme fatales the like of Brandy Alexandre, Cheri Taylor and Ona Zee string West along for their own mostly carnal purposes. West's voyeuristic activities lead to some of the steamy encounters that are a Pachard trademark, and the cast assembled here are more than up to the task. Zee and Taylor in particular, two lovely women in what may be the "second layer" of female talents, should be elevated to the "A" list for their work here. Production values here aren't what they've been in the past for Pachard and Dreamland, but are still well done. This Saturday Night Special is not a cheap rip-off from off the street, but a high-caliber exercise in erotica that's mostly on target. Ripe packaging, too.