Teenage Hitchhikers

Now this is a road movie. Two quick-witted teen girls, Mouse (kind of attractive but sexy) and Bird (more attractive) take to the road in search of adventure. Not really sure how far they got, as a few of the license plates on the cars we see are from New York and New Jersey. But off they go!

The first ride we see them get is in a small camper with a band and some of their groupies. The band of course want sex, but at least are pleasant about it. The girls refuse, and get out. Now, the funny thing is, soon after this particular reluctance to "put out" for a ride, our heroines are soon taking their clothes off and getting "busy" with just about anyone who can give them anything, from a ride to even food.

They proceed to encounter a lot of goofy characters, and pretty much have sex with most everyone. They also pick up a third girl, a virgin who is gorgeous but can't act, but who cares about that. Turns out her boyfriend was a clerk in a diner the gals stripped at for some food, and we see him again later pretend to be a rock star.

A few more of the characters they encounter are a horny cop, a wealthy socialite, and even a somewhat "lovable" rapist of all things. Eventually the three gals end up at an orgy, where porn legends Marc Stevens (who eyeballs the virgin while speaking with a much less attractive girl) and Eric Edwards making uncredited cameos, Edwards even speaking a few lines. Why there's even some cute cats hanging around the orgy (strictly as observers, no worries).

The finale of the film is even kind of clever and it all ties up rather nicely. There is a LOT of nudity of course, plenty of simulated sex, and despite the "X" rating at the end, the film never goes hardcore. But there is more than enough nudity to keep sleaze lovers happy.

The two leads have great comic timing and deliver their rapid-fire lines with great natural skill. They have decent chemistry that carries the film along as we watch them hop from episode to episode. It's a shame there wasn't a sequel made, it would have been great to see the gals make it to the west coast.

'Teenage HitchHikers' succeeds where many other seventies productions fail: putting down a true slapstick of 1970's ideals. Such as freedom, unrestrictive permissiveness, getting back to nature, and 'free' sex solving the world's problems.

To my knowledge, in this respect 'Teenage HitchHikers' must be unique. It presents us with a refreshing way to put our perception of the 1970-s into their right perspective. Which is pretty easy to do with our present knowledge -- but must have been difficult in 1975, the year this film was made.

That's all there is to say. For the rest this film all breathes true mediocrity. Right down to the acting of the girls, as well as the common looks of their naked bodies: no botox, no pumped-up breasts, no polished skins.

At the beginning of this movie, two young girls are hitch-hiking and get picked up by a camper van full of sinister, stoned-out hippies. They drive awhile and then stop. Since one of the girls is played by Sandra Peabody (aka Sandra Cassel) who played the ill-fated protagonist in "Last House on the Left", it seems for a minute like there's going to be a nasty gang-rape scene. But fate has something even worse in store (especially for the viewers)--the hippies all pull out musical instruments and play a REALLY terrible song, then they invite the girls to be their groupies! These sexy female hitch-hiker flicks were practically their own genre in the 1970's. Some were actually fairly realistic, but this one is pure exploitation as these two girls take their clothes off (i.e. they dance topless at a roadside diner for food, but then run away without eating anything) and have sex (i.e. after a very unattractive traveling salesmen gives them a ride, they BOTH give him a ride)at the proverbial drop of one of those floppy 70's hats. In the most potentially offensive scene, they come across rapist attacking a young girl, and decide to distract him by stripping off and helping him with his "technique" (OK, they eventually leave him tied to a tree, but still. . .). Obviously, I would only recommend this to hardened 70's trash aficionados, who don't take this kind tasteless exploitation too seriously.

The blonde lead is played by Chris Jordan who was in Joe Sarno's "Confessions of an American Housewife". She has a nice body, but is otherwise only marginally attractive, and she has a truly annoying voice. (She also manages to somehow ruin her topless dancing scene with some horrendously bad dancing--it looks like she's having an epilectic fit). Sandra Cassel, on the other hand, is a very appealing natural beauty (if not any better of an actress). I can't say I'm entirely disappointed to see her in such exploitative role, but I always thought she deserved something a little more high-rent after "Last House", but apparently she ended up in even more low-rent stuff like this. Both of these women are actually about five or ten years too old to be "teenage" hitch-hikers, but it's not like this movie isn't sleazy enough without casting younger-looking girls.

Claire Wilbur, from Radley Metzger's "Score", also shows up as a wealthy, older predatory lesbian, and there is a fifteen minute hippie orgy at the end that must be seen to be believed. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, of course, but if you dig these 70's flicks about female hitch-hikers with very tight shorts and very loose morals--well, you won't want to miss this one.