Ultimate Dolph

During White’s zine days, his first interview would be with cult film icon Bruce Campbell. After interviewing one of his idols, he was prepared to take on many popular guests, including the ones mentioned previously. With so much talent, who would be a favorite? White comes forth with an answer to that particular question which was, in a way, shocking, but also not. “We had Dolph Lundgren on to talk about Red Scorpion (1988). I couldn’t believe I was talking to him. We’ve talked to so many people, and I’ve enjoyed talking with many folks. But I always default back to Dolph Lundgren; it’s a name that everybody knows, right? When people like Peter Bogdanovich or Jeff Goldblum agreed to be interviewed, they just blew me away. I couldn’t believe I was talking to them. Sometimes I can’t believe I’m talking to someone, but my main goal is to just be prepared.”

João Fernandes was adult film’s first true cinematographer.

He started in New York in the 1960s shooting black and white soft-core sexploitation films.

Then he was the man looking down the camera when Deep Throat, Devil in Miss Jones, The Story of Joanna and other groundbreaking Gerard Damiano films were made.

He worked with Doris Wishman, Armand Weston, Jonas Middleton and many others. He was responsible for the visual flair of films like Through The Looking Glass and Take Off.

But his talent and success was a double-edged sword. How could he hope to turn his underground fame in a semi-legal industry into a mainstream career?

After years of struggling, he did find success in Hollywood, working as Director of Photography on Chuck Norris films, shooting movies starring people as diverse as Tony Randall, Tom Berenger and Christopher Lambert, and even directing episodes of the hit TV show Walker, Texas Ranger.

But all the time, he wondered: What would happen if Hollywood found out about his adult film past?

For years he denied his involvement in adult film – even when it eventually seemed to be an open secret. So when Ron Howard’s production company came knocking in 2005, looking for an interview for their documentary, Inside Deep Throat, he continued to resist, still determined to keep his decades old secret.

As a result the man himself has been a mystery. No one knew much about him. How did a Brazilian become porn film’s first visual artist, what does he remember about the notorious and fabled films he worked on, and does he have any regrets?

On this episode of The Rialto Report, the artist also known as Harry Flecks breaks a 50 year silence.

In a special extended interview, we speak to the man himself. Joao Fernandes.

Red Scorpion



Dolph Lundgren’s career never quite hit the heights he deserved and in part down to rotten luck with distribution problems and perpetually unlucky choices. Most of his best films only gained their cult following years after release, such as The Punisher or the growing appeal of Dark Angel (I Come in Peace). If Dolph appeared to drop down the budget range in advance of his contemporaries like Seagal and Van Damme, it must be said that he still had a number of films full of the kind of excess carnage that make these films enjoyable. The Punisher has a ridiculous kill count, Dark Angel annihilates a comical amount of cars and Army of One (Joshua Tree) balances John Woo-inspired shootouts with James Bond-inspired car chases.

Red Scorpion was yet another film choice, which on paper should have proved more successful, but as with everything Dolph did, probably came 2-3 years too late, whilst the decision to cast him as a Russian hero to trade off his Ivan Drago fame, would alienate theatrical audiences (though the film was a huge success on video).