The Cheerleaders

Aside from horror , 70's sexploitation is my second favorite genre and The Cheerleaders is a real winner in the "so bad it's good " category. This movie has it all , girls that seriously look real young instead of movies where the "highschool" girls are reaching mid 30's these girls look actually 18...hell Stephanie Fondue looks actually 16..it's scary. So we've got raunchy comedic sex , the sex in this movie is more on the bizzare comedic side rather than the hardcore explicit side..this is most notorious in the football orgy , and the memorable sex scene between the cheerleader coach and the blonde on the gym bike while bad classical music plays in the background. The film itself gets boring in some parts that just draaaaaaag...but it has enough sex to keep you interested. This is not for people seeking quality filmaking , or even for hardcore porn fanatics...it's just the perfect popcorn film for late night viewing..

Oh I also taped this off The Movie Channel late at night after learning it and Showtime air the complete uncut 84 minute version instead of the reportedly heavily edited video version..so if you want a copy of this until this comes on DVD unedited I suggest making yourself a copy...

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 only reason I like this film is that part of it (outside shots) were done at my alma mater, Monta Vista High. In fact, when the film came out, I was too young to see it.

Our School District, anxious for the money paid for use of the school during the summer months as a setting, thought that the film was about life in high school (it was tentatively titled High School Daze) and didn't bother to read the script.

Of course, they changed the name of the school for the film, so for the Yearbook in 1973 we snuck in all sorts of references to the film that managed to slip by the faculty. I still have a copy of an ad for the film in my old yearbook.

Sometimes, it's fun to see how easily bureaucrats can be fooled.

I found "The Cheerleaders" to be the best of the sexploitation films, much more entertaining than 'Flesh Gordan', 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls', 'Fritz the Cat' The crowds really loved the picture, the laughter tended to drown out some of the following lines. Everyone left with a smile on their face. We played it to a packed house nightly. The print that we has was x-rated, though soft core. I do not believe it was a self imposed x, as the beginning of the had the MPAA X rating with the blue background preceeding the title and credits. I was operating the Star Theater in Coshocton, Ohio. We opened the film the first week of January 1974. The prosecuter saw our advance advertising and threatened to arrest us if we showed the film. I had a partner, and we first decided to 'pull' the film and got 'Lady Sings the Blues' as a backup-even changed the marquee to 'Lady Sings the Blues'. We reconsidered and called the prosecuter's bluff, showed 'The Cheerleaders', we did not get arrested. The Coshocton Tribune's lead story on 01/04/74 was 'Theater Told to Pull X Rated Feature'. We sold out in 15 minutes of opening, the film held the house record until beaten by 'The Exorcist'. We brought it back a few months later with equally good ticket sales. Why? word of mouth, it was a crowd pleaser, this was before videos, DVD's, cable was basic, the raunchy language and nudity still had shock value-especially in a small town.

I saw this film for the first time since 1986 just today. It was all restored, too. There's not much of a plot here except for a bunch of sexually active teen cheerleaders at Amorosa High School who cheer on the football team to victory when they're not sexing it up. The real gem of the film is Jeannie (Stephanie Fondue), the newest cheerleader who wants to go from wallflower to vixen. She's a definite hottie who looks better than the rest of the cheerleaders. I also liked the running joke that is her boyfriend Nick, who goes from job-to-job.

Don't expect much, but it's a film to watch when you want to turn the old brain off. There's lots of flesh to see, some goofy humor, some crazy sexual situations, some great dance sequences, and as my online pal Cory Smith has said to me while playing NCAA Football 2004 on our PS2s some great money shots. It's too bad that Ms. Fondue didn't do much else in her career but she certainly will go down as one of the cutest and sexiest vixens in the history of B-moviedom.