Young, pretty nurses and their hospital adventures.Young, pretty nurses and their hospital adventures.Young, pretty nurses and their hospital adventures.
Richard Gates
- Wally
- (as Rick Gates)
Frank Lugo
- The Fat Hood
- (as Frank R. Lugo)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
In the '70s Roger Corman and his wife Julie produced a series of sexploitation flicks with "Nurses" in the titles. They started with "The Student Nurses" and ended with "Candy Stripe Nurses" a few years later. The guy who directed "Candy Stripe Nurses" used to joke that he killed the series with this last one. It is hard to imagine that it's any worse than the others, though. I saw "Student Nurses" some time ago but have completely forgotten about it.
The plot of this one - and, in fact, all the Corman nurse films - is about a few young nurses who volunteer at a hospital and the lame hijinks that ensue. One of them is nearly raped by a basketball player, whom she rebuffs and then changes her might for no clear reason and has sex with him anyway. Another tries to seduce a British rock star who looks a bit like Frank Zappa, who rebuffs her, but then possibly changes his mind, or something. And another one is looking after a guy who is recovering from injuries sustained in a robbery he is under arrest for, but the nurse believes he's innocent.
At least the women are attractive, and there's decent nudity, though none of them get fully naked, which is typical. I don't know what the deal is with that. Breasts and bare butts - fine. Pubic hair - not allowed. It's the same in most US sexploitation stuff; you have to go to European flicks to get the full frontal stuff.
The plot of this one - and, in fact, all the Corman nurse films - is about a few young nurses who volunteer at a hospital and the lame hijinks that ensue. One of them is nearly raped by a basketball player, whom she rebuffs and then changes her might for no clear reason and has sex with him anyway. Another tries to seduce a British rock star who looks a bit like Frank Zappa, who rebuffs her, but then possibly changes his mind, or something. And another one is looking after a guy who is recovering from injuries sustained in a robbery he is under arrest for, but the nurse believes he's innocent.
At least the women are attractive, and there's decent nudity, though none of them get fully naked, which is typical. I don't know what the deal is with that. Breasts and bare butts - fine. Pubic hair - not allowed. It's the same in most US sexploitation stuff; you have to go to European flicks to get the full frontal stuff.
A sex-comedy following the exploits of three volunteer nurses, or 'candy stripers'.
Marisa, who has been ordered to do volunteer work as a punishment for assaulting her teacher, falls for a young man who has been accused of knocking over a gas station, and does some investigating to try and clear his name.
Sandy, on the other hand, has taken the job in order to be with her doctor boyfriend, but also takes up with a few of her handsomer patients as well before transferring to a sex clinic.
Dianne, meanwhile, falls for a basketball player, whom she tries to talk into giving up drugs for good.
Marisa, who has been ordered to do volunteer work as a punishment for assaulting her teacher, falls for a young man who has been accused of knocking over a gas station, and does some investigating to try and clear his name.
Sandy, on the other hand, has taken the job in order to be with her doctor boyfriend, but also takes up with a few of her handsomer patients as well before transferring to a sex clinic.
Dianne, meanwhile, falls for a basketball player, whom she tries to talk into giving up drugs for good.
This movie was yet another follow-up to the hit Roger Corman quickie The Student Nurses and went along similar lines, but had a completely different cast and no story carry-over. Instead of young professionals trying to succeed amid the temptations of the swinging early 70s, though, this time we have high school aged volunteers. The cast are all inexperienced unknowns (Candace Rialson went on to do a fair amount of TV work over the next few years), but the real problem is that while the advertising promises laughs, the script doesn't provide any. The box copy suggests a hospital romp along the lines of Carry On Doctor, but the movie just gives us 90 minutes of following the girls around in their silly peppermint striped uniforms, and then off to parties where they smoke dope, take off their tops and have sex. Tame sex. Nothing else of much interest happens. Unlike the first movie, where every major character had a proper character arc, there is little here in the way of character development. We just get a few familiar types (the rebel, the serious student who wants to be a doctor, the party girl) and some standard antagonists (insensitive sexist doctors, rigid administrators etc.) for them to conflict with. The result is more hospital soap than romp and not very interesting or entertaining. The girls are pretty hot, though, and this one isn't quite as insanely trashy as Private Duty Nurses, making it a little more watchable (or a little less watchable, depending on what you're looking for).
Let's see if I got the plot to "Candy Stripe Nurses" correct. I believe it went something like this: topless woman, topless woman, naked woman, topless woman, naked woman, topless woman, 2(!!) topless women. There was also a subplot about one of the nurses trying to help a patient beat a charge of armed robbery.
In all seriousness, I rather enjoyed parts of this movie. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but the acting by the women playing the nurses was wonderful. Usually the women in these types of movies simply have to speak English and look good without their clothes on. (Although sometimes the speaking English part isn't necessary.) Every one of the actresses in "Candy Stripe Nurses" did an admirable job and all of their characters were sympathetic ones. That really helped to partially overcome the cheesy plot. I've seen A LOT worse '70s movies similar to this one. Kinda fun little flick...but nothing that'll blow you away. 4/10
In all seriousness, I rather enjoyed parts of this movie. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but the acting by the women playing the nurses was wonderful. Usually the women in these types of movies simply have to speak English and look good without their clothes on. (Although sometimes the speaking English part isn't necessary.) Every one of the actresses in "Candy Stripe Nurses" did an admirable job and all of their characters were sympathetic ones. That really helped to partially overcome the cheesy plot. I've seen A LOT worse '70s movies similar to this one. Kinda fun little flick...but nothing that'll blow you away. 4/10
This is the kind of thing that passed for a skin flick in the '70's. They do a lot better job these days. The title is a lot more titillating than the film itself. Candice Rialson and Robin Mattson, both veterans of this type of mild fare, star in this forgettable entry in a series of "Nurse" movies that Roger Corman put out, which doesn't even have a lot of funny '70's fashions and hairstyles to laugh at. Only for those serious students of the history of drive-in movies.
Did you know
- GoofsDianne wakes Cliff and explains that she needs to go home. His face does not move but his voice is heard "Yeah, sure, let me know when we get to Bakersfield."
- Quotes
Marisa Valdez: Hey, I know you. You're the guy that held up the gas station last night... excuse me!
Carlos: I'm innocent, in case you're interested.
Marisa Valdez: And I'm Jackie Onassis; drop by the yacht sometime!
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Directors: The Films of Roger Corman (1999)
- How long is Candy Stripe Nurses?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Angel of Mercy
- Filming locations
- 3240 East Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA(Boys steal Marisa's purse. Chases insues northwest down street.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 20m(80 min)
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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