The Naughty Stewardesses

The Naughty Stewardesses (1974)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Cheap sexploitation film from Al Adamson has four different stewardesses living together and becoming friends as we learn about their various pleasures in life. The main attraction is country girl Debbie (Connie Hoffman) who finds herself in a new world of sex, alcohol and various men including two that want her attention. Brewster (Robert Livingston) is a rich old man while Cal (Richard Smedley) is a low-life creep.

If you're familiar with the work of Adamson then you know he made some pretty bad movies throughout his career but at the same time, like Edward D. Wood, Jr. and Jerry Warren, some find them entertaining because of how wild and crazy they were. This film was obvious a rip-off on Roger Corman's "Nurse" pictures that were out at the time as well as several other imports that were coming in from places like Germany.

Recently I watched the film PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES and there's a scene where Steve Martin was ripping into John Candy because his story never had a point to them. Well, that scene really stuck in my mind while watching this film and others from Adamson because more times than not the director just throws everything into them hoping something will work.

A lot of times it leads to a downright crazy movie but it can also drag them out to the point where you really just want to blow your brains out, which is what happens here. THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES starts out like your typical sexploitation picture but then it quickly disolves into much more and it just leaves you scratching your head and wondering what the director was thinking. This sex movie eventually turns into a crime picture and eventually grows rather violent in the third act as the "bad guy" turns out to be a complete loon.

The problem with so much going on is that it just keeps adding onto the running time, which at 103-minutes is about twenty minutes too long for a picture like this. I will say that the one thing the movie has going for it is the cast including Hoffman who is downright adorable in her role. Marilyn Joi is also on hand and does a nice little striptease. Smedley makes for a good villain and it's funny to see Livingston in a role like this, rolling around the bed with young woman. Livingston was retired for about two decades when Adamson talked him into appearing in three movies.

THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES features some good nudity but attractive women but in the end it's just a real mess of a picture.

I give Naughty Stewardesses a 5 out of 10 primarily because the acting in this move is a trifle sluggish. Other than that, Naughty Stewardesses offers a variety of good things such as a wee spice of comedy, good scenery from many parts of the United States and even some suspenseful moments such as later in the film as tensions between the washed-up film producer in the story and the movie's leading male character build up to a boil.

It's also refreshing that the dialogue in this movie is fairly clean with very few expletives. A nice break from what is usually expected from many of today's movies.

It's cool to revisit the trendy styles, the clothes and the sights from the early 1970s, that's what makes this film rather nostalgic. The music in this film consists of great original songs with a kind of a late 1960s groove.

So all-in-all, and beyond the sluggish dialogue, you'll find Naughty Stewardesses to be an entertaining package that offers many facets of entertainment in one film.

"Debbie" (Connie Hoffman) is a new stewardess who comes from Kansas City and is trying to figure out what she wants in life. So she rents a room with three other stewardesses and whenever she gets some time off goes out either with them or sometimes with one or two men she has met recently. One particular man named ""Cal" (Richard Smedley) really interests her but he begins to act a little weird and so as a result she tries to avoid him. Yet another man by the name of "Brewster" (Robert Livingston) also seems interested in her and even though she feels comfortable around him she doesn't quite get the feeling that he really cares about her. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film starts off slow and proceeds at that speed for almost the entire length of the picture. Fortunately, it picks up a bit towards the end but not enough to drastically change the movie for the better. Likewise, although Connie Hoffman was certainly attractive enough her performance wasn't enough to improve this film to any great degree either. In short, it was kind of dull and boring. Below average.

"Where do I go from here?" ponders protagonist Debbie (Connie Hoffman) in the final scene of the film, "everywhere or nowhere?" Ironically, this is precisely what The Naughty Stewardesses spends its hefty 107- minute running-time going, everywhere, and more accurately, nowhere. Amongst the thread-bare 'plot', the film shifts gears and genres faster than the film's leading ladies get out of their clothes, going from the familiar small-town-girl-hits-the-big-city story, to soft-core exploitation flick, to relationship drama, to kidnap thriller, and disappointingly, none of these themes work at all.

Debbie arrives in Los Angeles to become a stewardess. She is a wandering soul, we learn this as she explains her situation to a hitch-hiker, and if she doesn't like it, she will simply hit the road again. Her first night in her new stewardess dormitory sees her fellow stewardesses indulge in a bit of man-eating at a house party, as a naked man covered in cream is brought out as the cake. Repulsed, Debbie embarks on a 'journey' on self-discovery, getting close to 70-odd year old Brewster (Robert Livingston), a rich and horny old dog who takes an interest in the beautiful Debbie. She also meets photographer Cal (Richard Smedley), who, after a nice day of photographing Debbie, reveals himself to be the psychopathic, jealous type.

Director Al Adamson, whose back catalogue include titles such as Psycho A Go-Go (1965), Satan's Sadists (1969) and Horror of the Blood Monsters (1970), doesn't do much to dismiss his reputation as one of cinema's most inept, as he brings very little titillation (which is what these type of sexploitation films we're made for) to the proceedings (Adamson was shockingly murdered in 1995). What we do get in a sex scene involving a 70 year old (who Debbie describes as being in his 50's - who is she f*****g kidding?), wrinkly man boobs and all. The film isn't actually that awful. It's rather nicely filmed (given it's budget), and the script is far better than it should be, but at 107 minutes, it's a tough watch, and even the out-of-nowhere kidnapping and blackmail sub- plot fails to spice up what is ultimately a boring mess.

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

Connie Hoffman is very pretty and is attractively topless at times.

That's it, folks. The sole reason for even considering whether to watch this film or not.

These 70s sexploitation period pieces are sometimes entertaining by virtue of their very datedness (flared trousers, big hair, Zapata moustaches etc.). This one isn't.

The script is bad, the acting is bad, the direction is bad, and the idea of having a senior citizen romantic leading man is exceptionally bad.

The title, hinting at a sex comedy, is grossly misleading.

I heartily recommend avoiding this one like the plague.