The Cheerleaders

Comments like the one above from the movie should give you an idea of the campy, 1970's-specific fun you'll find here.

One thing not mentioned by the previous reviewers is how much certain scenes in this movie remind one of the sexploitation-comedy master, Russ Meyer. The cheerleading coach and one of her students riding naked on a stationary bike together. The football coach in his office in nothing but jockstrap and cap, continually blowing his whistle at one of the female students who's wearing nothing but shoulder pads. A friend and I kept noting during the viewing how much some of these scenes could've come straight out of Russ's classic, "Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens".

All Russ Meyer fans owe it to themselves to find a copy of this one, and anyone looking for a good 70's sex comedy should check it out.

After joining a local high school's cheerleading squad, a teenage girl (Stephanie Fondue) vows to lose her virginity to the right guy, but all her good-hearted attempts backfire. Meanwhile, her fellow cheerleaders come up with a plan to help their high school's football team to victory: sleep with the opposing team on the night before their most important game so that the opposition will be too worn out to play.

Suffering from heavy-handed script and incredibly amateurish performances, this silly teen sexploitation romp is good for a few laughs and dishes plenty of T&A to satisfy any jaded fan. My evaluation: ** out of ****.

I've watched this film twice and I cannot think of how much more daring this film is compared to something like "American Pie". Incredibly stupid script with just horrendous attempts at acting. This film does deliver the goods. More nudity than some porn films! Could a film like this get made today? All the actress's in those late night Cinemax movies seem to have stipulations regarding their career's and I'm not sure they would do it. I tried to look up the actress's in this film and see if they went on to do anything else and a couple appeared in one or two other low budget films but none seem to make a career out of acting. I keep thinking some went into real porn under different names. Anyway, silly and fun flick really is a statement of some of the exploitation that was made in the 70's and the attitude towards nudity in film.

On one hand this movie is as silly and ridiculous as so many others of its ilk. On the other, it stood apart because it went beyond the boundaries of the day's softcore films, finding a niche between them and hardcore. It reflected an "anything goes" sexual ethic of the time.

Apparently, it was too hot for many communities around the land. The local D.A. here went to a showing where he dutifully noted the number of sex acts depicted. I would have had difficulty keeping count. Nowadays it's usually seen in edited (or butchered) versions which only serve to emphasize the silliness and leave out the cheap thrills. Oh well.

This film wasn't the first to exploit the male fascination with cheerleaders but it did inspire numerous imitations and rip-offs, mostly of an inferior nature, if you can imagine that.

"The Cheerleaders" is a prime example of a great sexploitation film.

It has fun, does not take itself seriously and never goes too long without the promised "action".

Despite the frequent sex, the movie is overall light and innocent. A lot of the comedy arises from the sex scenes which is sort of unique. Usually in these films the sex scenes are played straight and/or romantic and the sthick is in the rest of the film. Here, sex is part of the sthick and because of that it mixes into the movie a whole lot better.

It's also unusual to have female nudity played for laughs. The rule of thumb in these movies is that male nudity is funny (like in Porkys or Private Resort)and female nudity is sexy. In this movie, female nudity is played for laughs at least a couple times.

Slapstick, sexual slapstick, goofy premise, total reality disconnect, pre PC freedom, impossibly short cheerleader skirts, this movie has it all.

What it also has is a leading lady who's cute with a capital CUTE. Willowy Stephanie Fondue plays Jeannie, a girl who is desperate to lose her virginity but whenever she tries, something goes wrong. That's where the suspension of disbelief begins and you'll have to keep it all through the film. Especially when the cheerleaders come up with thier grand plan of helping thier team win by tiring out the opposing team in a... er... special way.

This is a classic for the Joe Bob Briggs set, of which I am a part(Yes, I love the real classics, I love the high minded films but I love these type of movies too... so shoot me).

It's also full of ephemeral details like see through water beds, shag walls and pictures of teen stars in the lockers I can't recognize. It's a trip!

The girls playing the cheerleaders did not have Oscars looming over thier heads but they were appealing and often showed decent comic timing.

You are most likely to find this film on video edited to an R(the earliest video release was not edited. I've seen both). The original version, while not pornographic, would no doubt get an NC-17 today. I don't know if it was originally released as an X rating, unrated or if it did indeed squeak by with an "R" rating because of the MPAA's looser latitude on sex in films back then.

So, for those of you that liked "American Pie" and all those other recent so called sexploitation movies, rent this movie and see how much more fun these type of movies were when they were less self conscious to getting a particular MPAA rating or to treading (but not crossing) "the line" and much more "Hey! This is going to be wild! Let's have fun with this!".