The Naughty Stewardesses

From the start, you know this is a Sam Sherman film more than an Al Adamson film because as the credits roll, "A Sam Sherman Production" appears in letters as big as the title credit. Not only that, Mr. Sherman co-wrote the screenplay and it was his idea to use Bob Livingstone, a washed-up, 69 year old Western star of the old Hollywood era to be his male lead in a picture that Sherman thought would capitalize on the recent success of "Swinging Stewardesses".

Now why would you want to have a wrinkled old man as your male lead in what is supposed to be a soft-core exploitation feature? It defies explanation, but that is Sam Sherman for you. His obsession with old Hollywood colored a lot of his films for Independent International Pictures, and he and Al Adamson frequently tried to get has-been actors for their films (e.g. J. Carrol Naish, Russ Tamblyn, Lon Chaney Jr.,etc.). But Bob Livingstone? Tell me the drive-in demographic knew who this '40's second-rater was; it's ridiculous!

But then again, "Naughty Stewardesses" was a successful picture for them, so we can't just write this off as a Sherman fiasco. Still, by any aesthetic standard, it's an incoherent mess. Al Adamson wanted out of this picture, and it is easy to see why. First off, it has no genre focus at all and drifts around from super soft core (tits and ass/simulated sex only) to a kidnapping thriller (shades of Steckler's "Rat Pfink and Boo Boo"!) In between, we get subjected to painfully boring sequences of the stewardesses traipsing around Vegas to the hackneyed music of Sparrow, or Richard Smedley and Connie Hoffmann on a photo shoot in San Francisco. Worst of all, we get Bob Livingstone as a Jack LaLanne wannabe in a blue jumpsuit trying to be sexy...gag! (Thankfully, his big sex scene with Connie Hoffmann was deleted, but you can catch him slurping on her titties on the DVD in the Special Features section. Creepy.)

This is a terrible, terrible movie, but I'll give it three stars for Gary Graver's photography and out of sympathy to Connie Hoffmann for having to make it with "Wrinkles" Livingstone. "Naughty Stewardesses" is for Al Adamson completists and/or scholars of exploitation film as Sam Sherman's commentary offers vital inside info. All others, BEWARE.

I sought out this film for one reason--Al Adamson. He is among the worst directors of all time--right up there with Ed Wood, Jr. and Ray Dennis Steckler and the pantheon of awfulness. However, I was a tad disappointed because although the film was indeed bad, it never approached the levels of awfulness of some of his earlier schlocky movies. Because of that, this film wasn't particularly fun to watch for us bad movie fans.

Now I was wary about watching this film, as the title "Naughty Stewardesses" makes the film sound like a pornographic film--something I wouldn't be reviewing on IMDb. However, this film appeared to be this at times--particularly the first 10 minutes. But, you could tell that the script underwent many changes, as for much of the film there isn't any titillation at all and towards the end of the movie there is a plot that comes out of no where that is violent and certainly NOT sexy! The result of all this is total confusion.

Sadly, none of the many parts are even good. For example, as a porn video, it shows surprisingly little AND it's incomprehensible why they would put a 71 year-old guy in some of the love scenes. Sure, for a 71 year-old Mr. Livingston looked pretty good--but he was still an old man and no one would want to see him getting it on with young nymphet! Then, when the final 20 minutes becomes very violent, as Livingston became a Rambo-like guy! Talk about weird and inappropriate.

Overall, there is little to recommend this sad movie. It's not bad enough or sexy enough to care about and the film manages to be rather boring even with such a crazy title like "Naughty Stewardesses".

The Naughty Stewardesses (1974)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Cheap sexploitation film from Al Adamson has four different stewardesses living together and becoming friends as we learn about their various pleasures in life. The main attraction is country girl Debbie (Connie Hoffman) who finds herself in a new world of sex, alcohol and various men including two that want her attention. Brewster (Robert Livingston) is a rich old man while Cal (Richard Smedley) is a low-life creep.

If you're familiar with the work of Adamson then you know he made some pretty bad movies throughout his career but at the same time, like Edward D. Wood, Jr. and Jerry Warren, some find them entertaining because of how wild and crazy they were. This film was obvious a rip-off on Roger Corman's "Nurse" pictures that were out at the time as well as several other imports that were coming in from places like Germany.

Recently I watched the film PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES and there's a scene where Steve Martin was ripping into John Candy because his story never had a point to them. Well, that scene really stuck in my mind while watching this film and others from Adamson because more times than not the director just throws everything into them hoping something will work.

A lot of times it leads to a downright crazy movie but it can also drag them out to the point where you really just want to blow your brains out, which is what happens here. THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES starts out like your typical sexploitation picture but then it quickly disolves into much more and it just leaves you scratching your head and wondering what the director was thinking. This sex movie eventually turns into a crime picture and eventually grows rather violent in the third act as the "bad guy" turns out to be a complete loon.

The problem with so much going on is that it just keeps adding onto the running time, which at 103-minutes is about twenty minutes too long for a picture like this. I will say that the one thing the movie has going for it is the cast including Hoffman who is downright adorable in her role. Marilyn Joi is also on hand and does a nice little striptease. Smedley makes for a good villain and it's funny to see Livingston in a role like this, rolling around the bed with young woman. Livingston was retired for about two decades when Adamson talked him into appearing in three movies.

THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES features some good nudity but attractive women but in the end it's just a real mess of a picture.

Connie Hoffman is very pretty and is attractively topless at times.

That's it, folks. The sole reason for even considering whether to watch this film or not.

These 70s sexploitation period pieces are sometimes entertaining by virtue of their very datedness (flared trousers, big hair, Zapata moustaches etc.). This one isn't.

The script is bad, the acting is bad, the direction is bad, and the idea of having a senior citizen romantic leading man is exceptionally bad.

The title, hinting at a sex comedy, is grossly misleading.

I heartily recommend avoiding this one like the plague.

I give Naughty Stewardesses a 5 out of 10 primarily because the acting in this move is a trifle sluggish. Other than that, Naughty Stewardesses offers a variety of good things such as a wee spice of comedy, good scenery from many parts of the United States and even some suspenseful moments such as later in the film as tensions between the washed-up film producer in the story and the movie's leading male character build up to a boil.

It's also refreshing that the dialogue in this movie is fairly clean with very few expletives. A nice break from what is usually expected from many of today's movies.

It's cool to revisit the trendy styles, the clothes and the sights from the early 1970s, that's what makes this film rather nostalgic. The music in this film consists of great original songs with a kind of a late 1960s groove.

So all-in-all, and beyond the sluggish dialogue, you'll find Naughty Stewardesses to be an entertaining package that offers many facets of entertainment in one film.