The Young Graduates

A typical exploitation effort from Crown International Pictures, in that it's not particularly exploitational and it has very little to distinguish it from a dozen other similar products. As is the norm for the plotting of these films, the leads are a couple of rebellious college students engaged in various affair with older men, including teachers. When one of them suspects she might be pregnant, the two girls decide to go on a wild road trip of sorts and encounter various people along the way.

This is a low budget production throughout that promises to offer plenty of titillation, although there's hardly any flesh on show aside from one openly gratuitous high school shower scene. No, instead the characters (and viewer) contend with violent motorbike gangs, hippies, and various run-ins with the law. It's all very straightforward stuff, hardly enlivened by below-par acting, although a couple of mildly famous faces like Dennis Christopher and Bruno Kirby have minor roles. As with many Crown productions, it's also entirely missable.

I watched THE YOUNG GRADUATES as part of BCI Eclipse' Drive-in Cult Classics (featuring Crown International Pictures releases) on DVD.

This movie features Patricia Wymer, who I liked in THE BABYSITTER. Like that film, this feature packs a lot into a short time. However, unlike that movie, this one really has no story. Yes, you have hippies, rock music, bikers, sexual impropriety, attempted rape; and, a road-trip. But to what end?

The acting is flat – except for Bruno Kirby who is one of my all-time favorite actors! This was his first; and, I really think he deserved better during his career.

The musical score is inane and silly. Especially when the girls are in the gas station bathroom; and, another couple is desperate to use the loo. And, after the girls wash the truck; and, "burn rubbeer" leaving. Both scenes made me groan.

In any case, Robert Anderson, who directed and produced this movie, did just as bad a job on this one as he did on CINDY AND DONNA. I saw that film as well; but have not yet reviewed it…

If you like 70s cinema, race car or motorcycle driving scenes, psychedelic era, youth or teen culture, then try THE BABYSITTER or "WEEKEND WITH THE BABYSITTER.

Although THE YOUNG GRADUATES was apparently filmed in 1971, it didn't play theatrically in Seattle until 1973, when it was shown as the co-feature with CLASS OF '44. It is a picaresque story of two cute teenage girls who have just graduated from high school. Patricia Wymer stars as Mindy, a precocious and beautiful blonde who's ripe for adventure. The film follows her many counter-culture activities as she enjoys an affair with a slightly older teacher while still hanging out with bikers, hippies, dopers, etc. The two girls themselves don't do drugs, other than sharing a spiked birthday cake with some hippies.

The film presents some young talent who later became famous, such as Bruno Kirby and Dennis Christopher. A special shout out must be added for the great girl group Pat Russell's The Spare Change, who are seen playing rock and roll in some high school dance scenes. They were one of the first girl groups to play their own instruments, although there are a couple of male sidemen as well. One of the film's cinematographers was John Toll, who later won Oscars for BRAVEHEART and THE THIN RED LINE.

Although a bit corny now, the film remains as a wonderful period piece that reflects the early 1970s youth culture. Although there is a bit of nudity, the film is surprisingly non-exploitative and non-judgmental about its subject matter. THE YOUNG GRADUATES was released on DVD on January 6th, 2009, as part of the BCI box set DRIVE-IN CULT CLASSICS VOL. 4 (available through Amazon.com, and Best Buy's website as well).

I first saw this movie on a winter Saturday afternoon around March of 1979 when I was 14 years old during the time when they used to air those 1960s Frankie& Annette beach movies but I liked this movie and didn't think it was flaky and phony as the other 1960s beach movies were I could at least identify with these girls or knew someone like them in this early 1970s movie unlike the 1960s beach movies which were played by adults well into adulthood.

I remember it being about 2 girls who were skipping school, running away from home or something and smoking dope(maybe not)and running away from bikers and there were sex themes which I couldn't understand. One actress reminded me of Joyce Dewitt from Three's Company which was a popular show at the time

I thought this was a really cool movie even though it was about a different generation which even during the late 1970s we were told had so much fun back then.I even remember the girls riding somewhere and some music & singing going "doot doot doot da do, bah bah bump dada datta do" and the girls seemed all high & hazy from pot-smoking but maybe that was just my perception of them at the time. It's a good reminder of a time when that type of life could be experimented with with few repercussions like drug violence.

I thought this was a cool movie but never saw it out on VHS when all the retro movies were being put on that format in the mid 1980s when everyone was buying their VCRs. This was available on some internet movie website long before Netflicks.

This is a perfect movie for a channel THIS TV. I like early 70s movies made for teens and young adults even though it is a decade before my time. I never forgot about this movie I enjoyed it so much now if we could just know what happened to the actresses in this film and who sang the motorcycle ride music.

The early 1970's was on one of the few periods of American cinema where films were often truly anarchic and free-spirited without the morals and the messages or the emphasis on tight, efficient plots. This film is very much a product of its time, but while it may not seem to have much of a purpose or a point by today's standards, it certainly is refreshingly different from a lot of American movies.

Patricia Wymer, who had earlier appeared in "The Babysitter" as the titular (and ass-ular)character who has a sexual affair with the middle-age father of her charge, at first seems to be playing a very similar role here as a high school senior who, right before graduation (and on her eighteenth birthday), has an affair with her handsome but dorky married gym teacher, and thinks she might be pregnant. While in a modern-day film this would result in all kinds sturm und drang, this isn't really what happens here. Instead while she's literally waiting for the rabbit to live or die (pregnancy detection has obviously come a long way), she and a friend decide to escape her problems and the friend's abusive alcoholic father by hitch-hiking to Big Sur to watch their boyfriends (one of whom is Bruno Kirby) drag-race. What follows is kind of a free-spirited "sexy hitchhiker" road movie. The pair meets up with a foppish flute-playing flower child who calls himself "Pan" (Dennis Christopher), they are attacked and nearly raped by a vicious motorcycle gang, and they hang out with a bunch of hippies and get arrested by the police. There is a lot of groovy music, some dope, but not nearly as much nudity as you'd expect (aside from some brief skinny-dipping and a truly gratuitous high school shower scene that involves none of the leads). Wymer wears some pretty short mini-skirts, but I don't recall her ever putting on hot-pants and really justifying the "hot-pants generation" tag-line.

Mostly, this is just a fun period movie. Wymer is an appealing if somewhat limited actress. Bruno Kirby is good in a small role (He was also in the more famous but frankly inferior counterculture film "The Harrad Experiment" that same year). Dennis Christopher was one of the most under-appreciated young actors of the 70's and early 80's. This movie is hard to find, but I'd definitely recommend it.