Red Shoe Diaries

Before The X-Files brought David Duchovny to television prominence, he starred in this Zalman King Showtime movie as Jake Winters, a successful architect whose fiancé Alex (Brigitte Bako) commits suicide. After the funeral, Jake finds her diary and reads it to discover why she took her own life. He's shocked to find explicit descriptions of how Alex cheated on him. Control issues caused her to engage in a secret liaison with sexy construction worker Thomas K. Butler (Billy Wirth), who also sells women's shoes as a second job. Of course a pair of red high heels is involved, and King pays a little homage to the Powell-Pressburger classic "Red Shoes" with a can't-stop-dancing scene and a little bit of ballet.

This film gained surprising popularity in early 1992, serving as the progenitor for a five-season TV series and 19 separate R-rated "Red Shoe Diaries" videos, many of them featuring Duchovny in the role he established here. The erotica bears resemblance to other work by King, such as his directorial debut, "Two Moon Junction," and his most famous screenplay, "Nine and a Half Weeks."

Fans of beefcake may enjoy the shirts-off one-on-one basketball match between Jake and Tom, which ends up in something of a wrestling match. Also keep an eye out for 1976 Oscar nominee Brenda Vaccaro as Alex's domineering mother Martha and Sweden's Anna Karin in her American debut as Heidi

Director: Zalman King.
Stars: David Duchovny star of X- File series, Brigitte Bako, Billy Wirth

Another erotic by Zalman King: Pleasure or Pain