Night Call Nurses

If there was ever any proof that Roger Corman's New World Pictures would produce anything to make a buck, Night Call Nurses is it. Although, how this made money is beyond my comprehension (it is common knowledge that Corman never lost money with any films he produced). But then again, I assume this would have been predominantly show at drive-ins, and how many spectators would actually be watching the film? Anyway, the film begins with a topless girl jumping from the roof of a hospital, and then is never mentioned again, as we are introduced to our trio of "sexy" psychiatric nurses, Barbara (Patty Byrne), Janis (Alana Stewart), and Sandra (Mittie Lawrence).

The film is simply a series of non-sequential, rambling, unconnected stories (and story is too strong a word for the concept). We see a cowboy-style trucker, Kit (Dennis Dugan), who comes in cause he is tripping, starring at his hands (this scene is repeated later, as he enters a lighting fantasy in a truck cab, as he stars at his mirrored hands). Bathrode Benny (Martin Ashe) exposes himself at regular intervals, and the nurses break several doctor/patient restrictions by have relationships with patients (Janis with the tripping trucker, and Sandra with a black revolutionary that wasn't pleasant when they first met).

Barbara however, bizarrely gets therapy, but is then forced into psychosis, which manifests itself in a group meeting, where a bunch of clichéd hippie-types sitting round a living room, as the male doctor encourages the women in the group to take their clothes off, in a bid to shake off any lack of confidence - it's this side of the sexual revolution that is rarely talked about, the lecherous side of men. There are also a series of car chases, explosions and smuggling out a revolutionary, but it's all just very silly and pointless. Kit does however, have one great (but very silly) piece of dialogue. Being seen out of the hospital by Janis, he reads her name badge: "Janis. Is that your name, or the name of your left titty?" Yeah, it's juvenile, but within the context of this pointless drama, it is a joy amongst the nonsense.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

I don't know what to say about "Night Call Nurses". The experience of watching it was so light and negligible I was barely aware I was watching a movie. And it was so dull that mostly, I wasn't really watching it anyway, I was just waiting for it to end.

The movie seems to be about three nurses at a psychiatric ward. One becomes obsessed with a charismatic psychiatrist... or cult leader, another has an affair with a truck driving good ole boy with a cowboy hat, and another nurse does something with a black militant or something.

Let's be real: there's only one reason why anybody would watch "Night Call Nurses" when it came out, and only one reason why they'd watch it now. In both cases, it's the nudity, and particularly coming from nurses, whom men fantasize about like women fantasize about firemen.

So how's that nudity? It's pretty underwhelming. For some reason they weren't allowed to do full frontal, and thus it seems oddly restrained. There's too much... plot (?) and it's impossible to care about any of it.

Sure, "Night Call Nurses" is essentially a relic of the typical product thrust upon drive-in theatres in the 1970s. There isn't much of a plot, just a whole lot of nonsense about three nurses and their exploits. There is a lot of nudity, a little humor, some slasher-film elements and a truck driver who does psychedelic drugs. Pretty ridiculous stuff overall, but not without some amusing parts. (I was scratching my head, however, with the "human machine" segment; it was interesting yet pointless).

"Night Call Nurses" was merely one entry in the New World Films "Nurses" cycle which included "Candy Stripe Nurses" and the original "Student Nurses." While those films had a more coherent plot than this one, it is difficult to criticize this one for being so episodic and meandering because the film delivers what it promises: nude women. There are plenty here, no complaints in that category.

And George Armitage, who went on to make the cult classic "Miami Blues," infused some wit and social commentary into the script which are also present in his own foray as writer-director into the "Nurses" cycle, "Private Duty Nurses."

The music is all pseudo-rock and gutter-guitar blues.

Overall, "Night Call Nurses" is a mindless time-waster, but as far as time-wasting goes you could do far worse.

This very episodic little exploitation flick from the '70's has three nurses of the psych ward of a local hospital as they go about their duties which revolve around dealing with flashers, suicides, horny drug-taking cowboys, ex-con black prisoners, and death threats among other things. Competently directed by Jonathan Kaplan (whom would go on to direct one of the best Blacksploitation films of the era, with "Truck Turner), this is not tightly plotted in the least bit and feels more of an excuse to get the ladies topless, which is not a detriment to the movie in the least. If you're a fan of the kitchy '70s and mostly innocent exploitation then you could do a lot worse than this mindless fluff.

My Grade: C

DVD Extras: Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "the Young Nurses" & "Student Nurses" (the latter two featuring nudity)

Eye Candy: Patty Byrne, Mittie Lawrence, Lynne Guthrie, Dixie Peabody, & Alana Stewart all get topless; Barbara Keene supplies the T&A

Three young nurses by the names of "Barbara" (Patty Byrne), "Sandra" (Mittie Lawrence) and "Janis" (Alana Collins) work in the psychiatric ward of a major hospital. Initially, all three nurses were hoping to find young, single doctors for a relationship. However, as things turn out Janis becomes romantically involved with a truck driver named "Kyle Toby" (Richard Young) who is in the ward because he took too many amphetamines during in the course of his work. Likewise, Sandra falls in love with a black militant by the name of "Jude" (Felton Perry). Barbara, on the other hand, decides to attend a form of group therapy in order to overcome her sexual inhibitions. Unfortunately, while all of the young ladies are doing the best they can to realize their potential; a crazed stalker appears and threatens all of their efforts. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a mediocre entry into the "Nurse Series". For starters, the three main actresses were all quite attractive and there were some decent scenes here and there-but there were also some rather bizarre scenes which certainly didn't help the movie as well. That said, I suppose this movie deserves about an average rating all things considered.