The Naughty Stewardesses

"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.

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Such is the dilemma(above) that Debbie must face at the close of this Sam Sherman production Naughty Stewardesses. Debbie has just hit town, become a stewardess, slept with an elderly rich man(who she describes is in his 50's but obviously hit that mark a decade or two ago), shoots nude scenes for a photographer she just met, and then is the central element to a kidnapping/extortion plot. Through it all and amidst all that emotional upheaval and soul-searching, what in heaven's name will Debbie do? Well, I cannot give it away completely but don't expect any real epiphany here. Let's face it. Naughty Stewardesses is just what it wants to be(at least two-thirds through): a soft core porn film with lots of topless women and a funny in that kitchy 70's way film. There is no grand art here. The movie was designed to make money and exploit a growing trend at the time to put nymphomaniacal stewardesses in films so that the audience could live out vicariously their voyeuristic tastes. By todays standards, the film is pretty tame. What this film DOES do wrong is try to be some kind of statement film at the end. C'mon, anyone here believing that little diatribe by Debbie while on the beach contemplating life. She would spend more time picking out which halter top she will wear that day then do that. And what about the ridiculous plot to steal 50 grand? It didn't make sense to me so how on earth did these characters "dig" it? Anyone buying Cal as a member of the PLO(something like that) or even as a director for hardcore pornography? He would be luck to get work at Seven Eleven! This is, as another reviewer noted, more of a Sam Sherman piece then and Al Adamson piece. You can tell when Al is in complete charge. There is virtually no budget and the film doesn't look nearly as polished as this. Adamson does a decent job directing this time and I have to give Sherman credit to a degree. While this film is bad just for what it was meant to be, it has a certain style to it. I liked the opening credits with the animation and photographs. I even liked the music of Sparrow. "Silver Heels" was a somewhat catchy tune. The movie doesn't look cheap really at all. Compare that to ANY of Al's horror films. As for the cast, yes, Bob Livingston is a bit old for the lead, but some examination went into his character and the obvious thread that young women are attracted to men with money was explored as well. I had major problems with Robert Smedley who was just plain awful in his role. The girls have all got great sets, so what else was required of them huh? Naughty Stewardesses is relatively harmless exploitation film from the 70's and will serve as a living time capsule for certain aspects of life during that decade. By the way, did I mention it is a pretty bad picture?

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.

From the start, you know this is a Sam Sherman film more than an Al Adamson film because as the credits roll, "A Sam Sherman Production" appears in letters as big as the title credit. Not only that, Mr. Sherman co-wrote the screenplay and it was his idea to use Bob Livingstone, a washed-up, 69 year old Western star of the old Hollywood era to be his male lead in a picture that Sherman thought would capitalize on the recent success of "Swinging Stewardesses".

Now why would you want to have a wrinkled old man as your male lead in what is supposed to be a soft-core exploitation feature? It defies explanation, but that is Sam Sherman for you. His obsession with old Hollywood colored a lot of his films for Independent International Pictures, and he and Al Adamson frequently tried to get has-been actors for their films (e.g. J. Carrol Naish, Russ Tamblyn, Lon Chaney Jr.,etc.). But Bob Livingstone? Tell me the drive-in demographic knew who this '40's second-rater was; it's ridiculous!

But then again, "Naughty Stewardesses" was a successful picture for them, so we can't just write this off as a Sherman fiasco. Still, by any aesthetic standard, it's an incoherent mess. Al Adamson wanted out of this picture, and it is easy to see why. First off, it has no genre focus at all and drifts around from super soft core (tits and ass/simulated sex only) to a kidnapping thriller (shades of Steckler's "Rat Pfink and Boo Boo"!) In between, we get subjected to painfully boring sequences of the stewardesses traipsing around Vegas to the hackneyed music of Sparrow, or Richard Smedley and Connie Hoffmann on a photo shoot in San Francisco. Worst of all, we get Bob Livingstone as a Jack LaLanne wannabe in a blue jumpsuit trying to be sexy...gag! (Thankfully, his big sex scene with Connie Hoffmann was deleted, but you can catch him slurping on her titties on the DVD in the Special Features section. Creepy.)

This is a terrible, terrible movie, but I'll give it three stars for Gary Graver's photography and out of sympathy to Connie Hoffmann for having to make it with "Wrinkles" Livingstone. "Naughty Stewardesses" is for Al Adamson completists and/or scholars of exploitation film as Sam Sherman's commentary offers vital inside info. All others, BEWARE.

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.