Jeunes filles impudiques

This movie recently showed up on the DVD collection "The Grindhouse Experience" (as if I haven't bought enough Jean Rollin's movies on purpose) under the unlikely title of "High School Hitchhikers" because apparently the original English title "Schoolgirl Hitchhikers" sounds too perverse or politically incorrect by today's standards (don't worry though--the lead actresses look mature enough that this could have easily been called "Post-Doctoral Hitchhikers"). Actually though it would probably have been more accurate to use directly translated the French title "Impudent Young Girls"--I don't know if the protagonists are all that "impudent" but at no point are they ever seen hitch-hiking.

The "plot" (people familiar with Jean Rollin's body of work should be rolling around on the floor laughing right now) involves two female drifters who go into a strange château for no apparent reason. After some typical girl-on-girl action they run into some criminals on the lam who. . . well, that's pretty much it. It is similar to a lot of better Rollin's movies like "Requiem for a Vampire" with the gratuitous lesbianism and silly and unconvincing bondage and torture scenes, but it lacks the bizarre surrealism or more "fantastique" elements that mark the director's more interesting work. This is just a knock-off softcore sex flick along the lines of "Bacchanales Sexuales" but with shorter sex scenes (which may or may not be a plus depending on your motives for watching it).

The best thing about this movie is that the two lead actresses are very appealing (at least, if you're not some drooling pervert drawn in by the lurid title). Joelle Couer had a short but memorable career in early 70's French sexploitation film, including Rollin's own (much better) film "The Demoniacs", but she refused to make the leap to hardcore and was supplanted by much less attractive actresses like Claudine Beccaire. The other, more obscure lead looks like a 1970's French version of Mena Suvari. She is wearing a plaid skirt at the beginning of the film (though not for long!), which might partially explain the misleading title. I guess this movie isn't a TOTAL waste of time but just about.

It had been a bad Monday when I popped this one in to the 'ol DVD player. I just wanted to wind down and be entertained and this film delivered. Grindhouse veteran Jean-Jacques Renon was the cinematographer for this film (credited as Oscar Lapin) and gave the film the only hint of class it has. Honestly, great camera work and lighting here with some gutsy angles.

On to the film. We open with two Eurobabes walking through the French countryside when they come upon a stone wall. For reasons unknown to me, the director (Jean Rollin) decides we must watch every excruciating second of the girls' navigation of this wall but I digress. On the other side of the wall is a French Baroque manor that, in spite of its dilapidated looks outside, is surprisingly tidy inside. After a quick tryst, Joëlle Coeur (the characters names aren't mentioned I think) needs a ciggy and discovers a slimy Euroguy with a pornstache and a gun staying in one of the downstairs rooms. Not put off by either the stache or the gun, Joëlle dances in the sheets and when her friend discovers the two, she joins in! The next morning a "plot" ensues and we find out guys with mustaches and guns aren't always worth a roll in the hay. Somehow, this idiot and two other idiots managed to burgle some jewels, I assume from some more idiotic idiot. Those jewels wind up missing and the thieves assume it was our Eurobabes what done it. After some torture and some more torture we are introduced to a French PI and his Eurogirl (I believe she is actually wearing a cheerleading outfit) assistant. From here on the plot has more lead changes than a girls basketball game with the good guys getting the drop on the bad guys only to lose it again.

The film is mindless trash but an entertaining 70 minutes none the less. If your looking for polished soft-core, go elsewhere, but if you just want to vedge at the end of the day with a cold one, this is a good film to use.

Not that it matters, but the "plot" is about two "schoolgirls/ high school" girls (who look like they're in their early 20s) out hiking in the woods and stumble onto a once lavishly furnished but now seemingly abandoned house and make themselves at home. Their little night of lesbian fun is interrupted by a balding, stick-skinny guy who, after they have a three-way with him, turns out to be involved with jewel smugglers. The two girls are then suspected of taking their loot, and are then (mildly) tortured to get them back. There's also a voice-over narrative, as though the lead girl was recounting the story to the audience at a later time, but, why?

Let's be honest here: nobody is going to watch a movie with a title like "High School Hitchikers/ Schoolgirl Hitchhikers/ Jeunes filles impudiques (Impudic Young Girls)" because of its plot, acting, photography, or elaborate effects. People are going to watch this film to see a bit of nudity, and maybe have a few laughs at the film's expense. On that level, the film works fairly well. The girls are cute and nude often enough, and none of the violence is overpowering, so it never goes off into torture-flick territory. A few laughs can be had with this one, if watched in the right frame of mind.

Schoolgirl Hitchhikers (1973)

** (out of 4)

Jean Rollin directs this crime film with a touch of lesbians and sex. Two young girls hitchhiking through the country stop at a house, which they think is empty. Later that night, after some hot lesbian sex, they discover three people are also at the house and they turn out to be thieves missing some stolen jewelry and naturally they think the girls have stolen it. This isn't that bad of a film, although the English dubbing really doesn't do it any justice and the actual budget looks less than a McDonald's value meal. The two female leads are both very attractive so watching them nude half the running time doesn't hurt matters either.

Two hiking girls, apparently teenagers based on the film's title (though we never see them "hitchhike"), reach a wall in the woods. What mystery lurks on the other side? A mansion, abandoned and waiting for a client? Hmmmm...

Directed by Jean Rollin, who is known for this stuff.

The tone is set from the opening credit cards, which each show two women engaged in some sort of lesbian act... after a dozen or so of those pictures, you might be surprised if the picture was completely clean and family friendly. And do not worry, ten minutes in the girls are undressing each other.

Yes, this film has close-ups on nipple-licking, among other things. It is really only one step about soft-core pornography. Not long after a lesbian scene, a thief named Fred (who looks like a French Tom Savini) shows up and the girls have their way with him.

The plot does develop when the girls are accused of stealing something valuable from Fred and his associates. But by then the film is half over. And it devolves into stripping and torturing...

In the end, what is the point of this film? No idea. My guess is the director and writer conjured up a story that involved girls being naughty and tried to find two girls who would meet their demands. Successfully doing that, they filmed it. It has really no artistic merit whatsoever.