1 Seventies (1971 1980) Bo Co All Reviews By Michael J. Weldon
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SEVENTIES (1971-1980) BO-CO
All reviews by Michael J. Weldon
BONNIE’S KIDS (Alpha Blue, 73) D/S Arthur Marks, P Charles Stroud
In this hate filled drive-in film noir, Ellie (Tiffany Bolling), a waitress, and her
younger sister Myra (Robin Mattson) flee after killing their scary, mean drunken
would be rapist stepfather (Leo Gordon). They move into the ranch of their rich
model agency owner uncle (Scott Brady), but he's a gangster out to use them for
deliveries. Ellie falls for a private eye (Steve Sander) and Myra helps drive their
uncle's lonely wife (Lenore Stevens) to suicide (“I’m going to tell the whole world
that you’re a goddamn queer!”). As Myra becomes more deranged, the sisters take
a case of money and end up on the run from hitmen Eddie (Alex Rocco) and
Digger (Timothy Brown). It’s set in El Paso. The dialog is mean and sarcastic, the
score is interesting and the theme is by Sam Neely. Also with Casey Adams as a
gun dealer, Christine Murray (from THE DEAN'S WIFE) and future TV stars Sharon
Gless and Richard Geary. Mattson, later a soap opera regular, has topless scenes.
This and Marks’ DETROIT 9000 (PV #29) and CLASS OF 74 (PV #30) were all from
the short lived General Films.
THE BOOGIE MAN (Anchor Bay, 80) P/D/S Uli Lommel
People die in various ways in and near the tobacco farm where Lacey (Susanna
Love, the director’s wife at the time) and her mute brother Jake (Nicholas Love)
are living with relatives. Jake had killed their mother as a child (see disturbing
flashbacks), nearly kills a woman who comes on to him, collects knives and has
pet snakes and a tarantula, but it’s his sister, possessed by the glowing fragment
of a mirror, that is causing the deaths. She also is tied up in her underwear during
a nightmare. It features John Carradine as a hypnotizing psychiatrist, death by
pitchfork, and a double impalement and borrows from THE EXORCIST (priest),
CARRIE (hand from grave…), HALLOWEEN (synth score…), and THE AMITYVILLE
HORROR (the house). I saw this Jerry Gross release (filmed mostly in Maryland)
when it opened on 42nd St. The new tape version is letterboxed.
BRUCE LEE, THE MAN, THE MYTH (Sinister, 75) D Ng See Yuen, P Pal Ming
This once very popular bio of Lee starts when he moves to Seattle. Major events
are mentioned or shown in passing to make time for more fights. He (Bruce Li)
battles a school run by an evil, cheating Japanese master, a Thai kick boxer,
arrogant jogging Brits, a cheating Italian working for the mob and various Chinese
guys. Some unlikely fights take place on movie sets. Lee is shown dying in his
sleep after his girlfriend gives him a pill for headaches. After a look at the actual
funeral, we see enactments of rumours that he was beaten to death or faked his
death. The strangest part is when Lee trains with a bizarre electronic device. The
fight sound FX are loud and laughable and the music is 70s funky. Ng also
produced ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA and several Jackie Chan hits. Li (aka Ho
Chung Tao), from Taiwan, also starred in BRUCE LEE, SUPER DRAGON, FISTS OF
BRUCE LEE, SPIRITS OF BRUCE LEE and many others. The print has no credits.
BUMMER! (SW, 72) P/D William Allen Castleman, S Alvin L. Fast, P/act David F.
Friedman
Janyce (Carol Speed from ABBY), Dolly from Ohio (Diane Lee Hart) and their rich
blonde friend Barbara (Connie Strickland) become groupies for the mediocre L. A.
based soft funk rock band The Group. Kipp Whitman (brother of Stuart) is top
billed as Duke the lead singer (“We just want to be free to do our own thing!”),
but the main character is the pathetic, obnoxious, overweight, drunken “sick
jackoff” psycho rapist bass player Butts (Dennis Burkley - later a regular on MARY
HARTMAN and SANFORD AND SON) who likes to be whipped, cries, pukes and
eventually kills Barbara leading to a climactic series of deaths. The R rated
BUMMER! has little nudity (except for an anonymous club dancer), a true love
sequence (stills backed by a sappy ballad), bong smoking and a Raspberries
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poster. Friedman and Bob Cresse play cops. Screenwriter Fast later wrote Greydon
Clark movies. Gary Graver was cinematographer.
BUTTERFLIES (E.I., 74) D/S Joseph W. Sarno
Blonde, bored and overworked young farmgirl Denise (Maria Forsa), leaves her
boyfriend (Eric Edwards) behind (after two sex scenes) and hitches to Munich.
After modeling see through underwear in the woods for one sweaty driver, she
moves in with superstud nightclub owner Frank (Harry Reems). Meanwhile Frank
also has sex with the jealous British Maria, before throwing her out, then tall
blonde dancer Winnie, then Natascha. His business partner (Nadia Henkova) takes
Denise shopping for clothes, then seduces her. She finally yells “You must think
I’m just a stupid country girl!,” before heading back home. This near hard X
German/American movie features at least 10 sex scenes, usually with many
positions. Forsa and Henkova were also in Sarnos’ GIRL MEETS GIRL and
VAMPIRE’S ECSTACY and Forsa was also in BEL AMI (‘75) with porn star Reems,
who was later “reborn.”
BYE BYE MONKEY (Image Ent., 77) D Marco Ferreri, S Gerard Brach, Rafael Azona
(CIAO MASCHIO) Good luck trying to figure out what this odd movie (which seems
partially improvised) is about. Luigi Nocello (Marcello Mastroianni) finds the dead
King Kong holding a chimp near the World Trade Center. He cares for the chimp,
which is later killed by rats and works in a loft in a bad neighborhood where
seven eccentric stage actors live. One of them (Gerard Depardieu) has an affair
with Abigail Clayton (from SEVEN INTO SNOWY, MANIAC...) who becomes
pregnant. Both have nude scenes. James Coco is killed and his ancient Rome
theme wax museum is burned. Geraldine Fitzgerald sings Irish songs. Also with
Mimsy Farmer (with curly blonde hair) and Clarence Muse. The French/Italian
production was shot (in English) just after the overhyped DeLaurentiis KONG, at a
time when NYC’s reputation was bankruptcy and murders. Various southern
Manhattan locations are no longer recognizable. The late Ferreri made many
unique controversial features that remain unknown in America. Brach wrote many
screenplays for Polanski.
THE CAMPUS CORPSE (Vestron, 76) P/D Douglas Curtis, P/S Bruce Shelly, S David
Ketchum
(THE HAZING, THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE...) Track scholarship winner Craig (Jeff
East) is asked to join the Delts fraternity at college. During hazing rituals, he and
Barney “the Brain” (Charles Martin Smith from AMERICAN GRAFFITI) have to find
their way home in the snow wearing only jockstraps. When Barney falls and dies,
creepy frat leader Rod (Brad Davis, but not the late actor from MIDNIGHT
EXPRESS) makes it seem like an accident, but the police suspect Craig. What seems
like a decent anti-hazing movie has one effective surprise scare followed by a half
assed ending. It was filmed at North Arizona University. With David Hayward and
Kelly Moran. Curly haired, wide eyed East was known for starring in TOM SAWYER
(73) and HUCKLEBERRY FINN (74). Curtis later directed THE SLEEPING CAR (PV
#6).
CAMPUS SWINGERS (SW, 72) D Ernest Hofbauer, S Gunter Heller, P Wolf C. Hartwig
(SCHULMAEDCHEN REPORT 4) A half dozen narrated “true” tales show examples of
underage schoolgirl sex. Four girls (part of a hooker ring) run around naked in the woods
after seducing a short comic Italian guy (Rinaldo Talamonti). A girl who fails to seduce
her brother has a nightmare featuring the execution of his latest girlfriend. Most of the
tales are light and comic (despite blackmail, prostitution and incest themes) but the one
about a black girl being submitted to daily racism and an attempted gang rape is pretty
depressing. Her (white) boyfriend saves her but we’re told he soon left her to fend for
herself. With Ingrid Steger (from THE SWINGING STEWARDESSES), Margrit Sigel
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and Evelyn Traeger. Hemisphere released this to American drive-ins in 74. The popular
(in Europe) softcore sex “documentary” series from Munich went all the way up to
SCHOOLGIRL REPORT #13 (in 80).
CAN I DO IT TIL I NEED GLASSES (Media, 76) D I. Robert Levy, S Mike Price, P/S
Mike Callie
This pathetic “sequel” to IF YOU DON'T STOP IT YOU’LL GO BLIND (also 76) runs a
very long 73 mins. and plays like a series of local TV comedy skits. Gags deal with
hillbillies, Jews, Indians, fake Orientals, gangsters, fairy tales, ugly women and a
nudist colony, although there is precious little nudity shown. A running gag is a
man jacking off to a Hustler issue on a bus. The human germs bit is copied (very
badly) from Woody Allen’s EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED... Most of the actors
play multiple roles. They include Jeff Doucette (later a regular on NEWHART), big
Vic Dunlap (in a record number of unfunny comedies), Patrick Wright, and a few
seconds of Uschi (probably from IF YOU DON'T...). Robin Williams made his film
debut in this mess (and was featured in re-issue ads) but is not in this version.
Thank Charles Band for the (80s) video release. I pity the horny fools who paid to
see this in theaters.
THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS (Media, 74) D John Peyser, S Robert Petee, P Charles
Stroud
Andrew Prine is a psycho killer in a suit with two-tone shoes and a Beatle hair cut.
During three “stories,” he calls victims (all had posed for Bachelor magazine) and
says “I want to help you”). Some loud, irritating guys and their girlfriends invade
a remote house where a nurse (Jaime Lyn Bauer) is staying. Janet Wood and Teda
Bracci appear and Aldo Ray is a local rapist. Models Jennifer Ashley and Ruthy
Ross (from Playboy) pose outdoors on an island. Ray Danton and Francine York
are the battling couple in charge of the photo shoot. With Jeremy Slate as a cop
and Mike Mazurki. The final part stars Tiffany Bolling as a blonde stewardess who
finally offs Prine after being drugged by some sailors. With Connie Strickland and
Dan Seymour. Most of the men in this sleazy drive in classic are almost as bad as
the killer. Ashley and Bolling have the main nude scenes. Also with Anneka De
Lorenzo (from Penthouse). Arthur Marks (who wrote the story and was executive
producer) also put Bolling in BONNIE’S KIDS (73). Peyser also made two obscure
late 60s movies starring Pernell Roberts.
THE CHEERLEADERS (Shocking, 73) P/D/S Paul Glicker, S Tad Richards, P/cine.
Richard Lerner
This soft X release from Jerry Gross’ Cinemation looks similar to THE
STEWARDESSES (69), with many clever shots of naked females. High school girls
shower, strip, pose, dance naked, have sex (on a school bus, in a car wash, with a
friend’s father...) and throw a pot smoking slumber party orgy. A memorable
highlight is two naked girls using a vibrating exercise belt, then a rowing machine
together. Jeannie (star “Stephanie Fondue”), a cute virgin with a shag haircut,
wants to be a cheerleader. Her close call initiation is to shower in the football
team’s shower room. Others are curly haired Debbie (Brandy Woods), red haired
Susie (Sandy Evans, also in porn movies), blonde Patty (Kim Stanton), Claudia
(Denise Dillaway), and Bonnie (Jovita Bush). Patrick Wright (from Boxoffice Int.
movies) is a coach. With a black market stud student who talks in rhyme, a fat
voyeur janitor, a bear suit, a biker, a dwarf, a “Let’s Go” cheer, a visible boom
mike, and a scene from I DRINK YOUR BLOOD!. Glicker also made the hard X HOT
CIRCUITS.
CHERRY HILL HIGH (MCA, 76) P/D/edit Alex E. Goitein, S William Shears, Wylie
White
High school teacher Miss Woodruff (Linda McInerney) takes five girls on a two
week biking and camping trip and encourages a lose your virginity contest. All the
students and Miss Woodruff have supposedly comic sex scenes. One is in a race
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car, one is with a shark fighter in a pool, and one is in a coffin with a “ghost” in a
“haunted” mansion. Another has her first sex with a female biker while the others
watch. All of the unknown stars appear topless, but body doubles were used for
several scenes and a swim in a lake was obviously shot in a backyard pool. Also
with a man in a chicken suit and a UFO. I’ve never seen a review of this dumb R
rated obscurity. Cannon had something to do with it though (figures).
CISCO PIKE (J4TH, 71) D/S Bill L. Norton, S Robert Towne, P Garald Ayers
Cisco (Kris Kristofferson), a long haired “former teen idol” musician, has decided
to stop being a drug dealer in Venice. Corrupt narco squad Sgt. Holland (Gene
Hackman), who had busted him, forces him (at gun point) to sell 100 keys of “rip
your head off” grass in just two days. Cisco hides the solid bricks in his guitar
case and his car and sells them for $200 (!!) apiece. The sweaty desperate, crazy
seeming Holland eventually ruins his own plan for easy profits. Cisco sells some to
the rich Myrna (Viva) and her lover/friend (Joy Bang). They swallow drugs when
a cop stops them and go to The Troubadour club, but a scene with the three of
them in bed has been cut. Cisco’s former musician buddy Jesse (Harry Dean
Stanton), now a wasted junkie, shows up at the worst time. Sue (Karen Black), who
meditates, sings and has a brief topless scene is Cisco’s disapproving live-in
girlfriend. Antonio Fargas is a dealer who says “The nose knows.” The Columbia
release also features Doug Sahm, who is seen briefly recording with his Sir
Douglas Quintet, Allan Arbus (his manager), Severn Darden (Cisco’s lawyer),
Roscoe Lee Browne, and Hugh Romney (aka Wavy Gravy). The soundtrack features
then new Kristofferson songs and Sonny Terry playing harmonica. The theme
song (“Loving Her Was Easier”) made it to #26 on the pop charts. Writer Towne
was uncredited. Cinematographer Vilis Lapenieks (from Latvia) started his career
with THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON (59) and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (60).
Kristofferson, who had been in THE LAST MOVIE (71) was in PAT GARRETT AND
BILLY THE KID (73) next, which made three interesting slow moving money losers
in a row. Viva and Bang were both also in PLAY IT AGAIN SAM (72). Sahm was also
in Norton’s MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI (79). Norton still directs TV episodes,
which is where he started.
CLASS OF ‘74 (Alpha Blue, 72) D Arthur Marx, Mack Bing, P Charles Shroud
Three liberated L.A. college students teach their “conservative” friend Gabriella
(Barbara Caron) how to become “a modern woman.” All four relate tame sex
flashbacks or even flashbacks inside of flashbacks inside of flashbacks (!). The
actresses have lots of amusing dialog and most have nude scenes. “Screaming
liberal” (Sondra Currie) says “Life stinks!” and talks Gabriella into a friendly
threesome. The others are black beauty Marki Bey (SUGAR HILL), who dances
wildly in a bikini and Pat Woodell from THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (in a blonde wig).
Also with Gary (HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER) Clarke, Luanne Roberts (as a
filmmaker), GABRIELLA producer/writer Jack Mattis (relating his first gay
experience), Johnny Legend (read about his experience in Something Weird’s Blue
Book catalog #1) selling the Free Press by a Tower Records store, a funk band at
Gazzarri’s on Sunset Strip, topless dancers, lots of mini skirt and hot pants close-
ups and devil scenes from a silent OUR GANG comedy. The print is worn. General
Films also released Marx’s DETROIT 9000 (PV #29) and JESSIE’S GIRLS, also with
drive-in star Currie (the older sister of twins Cherie and Marie). Note: Legend says
50% of this was footage from GABRIELLA (PV #19).
THE CLOWN MURDERS (TWE, 75) D/S Martyn Burke, P Christopher Dalton
Some former college buddies dress up like clowns during a party and kidnap
Allison (Susan Keller), the wife of a rich polo playing land developer (Lawrence
Dane, also in SCANNERS). Their leader (Stephen Young, who has flashbacks) had
lost his farm property and her. Ollie (a pre SCTV John Candy) is a good natured
conspirator who is teased constantly about his weight and eventually is tied up,
cries (a lot), freaks out and screams (a lot). It’s quite a performance, but I
preferred his Johnny LaRue (or Curley). This is no horror movie (as the video box
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claims), but it does have some killings using bloody squib FX. Also with Gary
Reineke and John Bayliss. CLOWN has been confused with the comedies (IT
SEEMED LIKE) A GOOD IDEA (75) and FIND THE LADY (76), both also with Dane
and Candy.
COME TOGETHER (SW, 71) P/D/S Saul Swimmer, P/S/star Tony Anthony
Tony (Anthony), an Italian movie stuntman, wears ridiculous “hip” clothes, a
floppy hat, has Shemp hair and resembles Judd Nelson. He meets two visiting
beauties (Luciana Paluzzi and Rosemary Dexter) and they both eventually fall for
him. They drive all around Italy in his red convertible and enjoy a romantic
threesome before the extreme downbeat ending. This very early 70s movie is
heavily padded with tourism scenes, voice overs, and flashbacks. All three
characters have flashbacks illustrating how much they’ve suffered in life, but
Tony’s Nam flashback is the real jaw dropper. Italian western fanatics will enjoy
his on the set stunt work flashback. The music includes the lush instrumental hit
“Love Is Blue,” “Games People Play” by Joe South, and a cover of “Get Together”
(by The Dells?). Apple released the soundtrack LP. The letterboxed widescreen
tape is from a flawless print. Anthony (Roger Tony Petitto) was also in BLINDMAN
with Ringo and starred in THE STRANGER series and COMIN AT YA!
CONFESSIONS OF A POP PERFORMER (Witching Hour, 75) D Norman Cohen, S
Christopher Wood, P Greg Smith
Every female seems to fall for the the clumsy, dumb, always cheerful Timmy Lea
(Robin Askwith). He enjoys sex with a redhead behind a two way mirror at a
party, then in a record store (with Roxy Music and Bad Company LPs on display).
His sister runs a pub, his father works in a gorilla suit and his brother-in-law
(Anthony Booth from the TIL DEATH DO US PART series) becomes the manager of
Kipper (with Timmy on drums). The pop band (kinda like Mott The Hoople for
mums) do “The Clapper,” experience record biz payola and groupies (“the climax
twins”), go on TV and debut in London (the Queen attends). Blimy! Also with
David Hamilton, Bill Pertwee, redhaired Rula Lenska (from the ROCK FOLLIES
show) and David Prowse in small roles. Askwith, who looks like Peter (Herman)
Noone’s shaggy haired mutant brother, played a schoolboy in IF (68) and was in
three Pete Walker movies before the series of four popular (in England)
Confessions sex comedies. This was released here by Columbia.
COUNTRY LOVE (SW, 72) D/S Jacob Cousseau, P John M. Thompson
If you like lots of athletic (soft core) outdoor sex and nudity you’ll love this one.
Marie (Marie Arnold) has moved from the city with her husband, who spends all
his time riding his tractor or shacking up with a blonde, an S+M redhead or a loud
gum chewing singing waitress (all played by Arnold in various wigs). Marie says
“I’m horny!” as she strips and walks naked though the woods where she
masturbates. She watches a bunch of carefree naked hippies swim, smoke pot then
fuck on the rocks, then has sex with some black guy who wanders by. But there’s
more - A concerned swinger couple take Marie back outside for a threesome, the
female friend seduces Marie’s husband, then there’s an orgy. With flashbacks
inside of flashbacks, excellent (really) cinematography (by “Dave A. Sprocket”),
and acoustic instrumentals, lead guitar playing and country folk ballads by
Chestnut Run.
Click for CR through DE
