Wild Cactus is a 1993 film directed by Jag Mundhra.
Alexandria "Alex" Edwards is a scorchingly sexy young woman somehow married to a boring drip of a botanist husband, David. Alex is frustrated that David doesn't pay enough attention to her, and specifically that he isn't satisfying her strong sexual urges. David is not impervious to his wife's charms—in one scene maple syrup is used for something other than pancakes—but clearly the marriage has gone stale. David gets a chance to take a working vacation at a house in the remote desert, one which will give him a chance to study the local fauna, and the two of them go off.
Enter Randall Murphy, a violent criminal, bent on revenge against his ex-girlfriend Celeste after she got him arrested and chucked into prison. He picks up a hooker named Maggie, who pulls a gun on him and tries to rob him. When he takes the gun from her and points it back at her, she submits and becomes his moll. Randall heads off for a dusty desert town, looking for Celeste. He finds her...in the same desert town where Alex and David are staying.
Wild Cactus is typical of the T&A movies that used to play on pay cable networks like Cinemax before internet porn made them obsolete. Two different Playboy Playmates of the Year appear in this film: India Allen, who stars as Alex, and Kathy Shower who plays Celeste. Paul Gleason, who made a career of playing a-holes in more mainstream movies like Trading Places and Die Hard, appears as the sheriff.
Tropes:
- All Women Are Lustful: The mega-hot Alex struggles to attract her husband's interest. In one scene she tries to initiate sex but he's too wrapped up in the papers he's working on. In another scene he gets annoyed when she starts feeling up his crotch as they're driving through the desert.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's left ambiguous just how much Alex enjoyed it when she has sex with Randall. The way she caresses him and murmurs about leaving together rather suggests that she did.
- And Starring: Paul Gleason, easily the most successful actor in this film, get an "And Paul Gleason as 'Brenner'" credit.
- Bond One-Liner: A raving Randall screams about how this is no place for soft city boys like David, and out in the desert "I'm the king!". Right after this he's distracted by the rattlesnake David hid in the bag, which allows Alex to shoot him in the chest. As he does his Wall Slump of death, Alex hisses "Hail to the king."
- Couldn't Find a Pen: A Traveling Salesman appears at the door, and Randall tells Alex to get rid of him. Alex gets some lipstick and scrawls "HELP ME" on her breasts. When she exposes her chest to the salesman, he does not get it, thinking it's a come-on. As a result he gets killed.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: Alex has just finished listening to the radio report of the gas station robbery when Maggie shoots the radio. She then points the gun at Alex, dramatically cocks it, and says "Is that any way to treat a guest?"
- Drop Dead Gorgeous: Celeste's unfortunate fate, left naked and with a bullet hole in her forehead, as David discovers when he makes it back from the desert.
- Erotic Eating: In a scene stolen from 9½ Weeks, Alex pours syrup all over her breasts and David...removes it.
- Erotic Film: A sexually frustrated wife has an encounter with a murderous but very virile criminal.
- Establishing Character Moment: It's not clear whether Randall is a bad guy or a charming rascal type, until the scene where he murders poor Inga for threatening to tell the cops on him.
- Exact Words: When Celeste begs for her life Randall says "I'm not going to hurt you." As Randall and Maggie are leaving the next morning, he gives her the gun and tells her to kill Celeste, because Randall said he wouldn't hurt her and "I'm a man of my word." Maggie obeys.
- Fanservice Extra: The strippers in the sleazy bar are rather more attractive than one might expect to find in a tiny desert town.
- Food Slap: David rather unwisely throws his drink in the face of an enormous biker who took Alex's seat at the bar and refuses to give it up. He is clearly about to take a beat down when Randall intercedes and rescues him, which leads David to make the mistake of trusting Randall.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Randall watches from the doorway as Alex and Maggie have sex.
- I Have a Family: "I got a family," says the traveling salesman, as he's begging for mercy from Randall. Randall shoots him.
- It Works Better with Bullets: At the climax Randall hands Maggie the gun and orders her to shoot Alex. Instead she points the gun at Randall and pulls the trigger, only for the gun to go click. Randall laughs and shows her the bullets that he has in his hand.
- Rape as Drama: A rare female on female instance of this, as Randall, at the point of a gun, forces Celeste to have sex with Maggie.
- Shower Scene: Some more Fanservice has Maggie take a shower before she comes out unclothed in an attempt to seduce Alex.
- Stock Desert Interstate: A more barren than usual version of this trope, being an area that doesn't seem to consist of much more than a trailer park, a sleazy bar, and desert.
- Stocking Filler: Inga wears stockings which she slowly peels off before sex with Randall.
- Thirsty Desert: David wakes up in a very hot and dry desert, after Randall pushes him off a bluff. He manages to make it out on foot.
- Vorpal Pillow: Randall might have been only going to take Inga's car, but when she spitefully says she'll call the cops on him, he smothers her with a pillow.
- Western Rattlers: David, conked on the head and thrown down a ravine in the desert by Randall, wakes up and starts walking back home—only to come across a rattlesnake on the way. David is able to trap the snake in a bag, and during the final confrontation with Randall, David lets the snake loose, distracting Randall long enough for Alex to shoot Randall.
- You Can Leave Your Hat On: Alex drags a reluctant David to the local watering hole, which also has naked ladies dancing. David the repressed stiff is uncomfortable.
