The Swinging Cheerleaders

So I sat down to watch this expecting a waste of 90 minutes of my life. Surprisingly I found myself actually enjoying this seedy little mid seventies sexsploitation piece.

The plot is nothing to speak of - journalism major decides to do a piece on swinging cheerleaders and their jock boyfriends.

Where the film surprises is in it's scripting - surprisingly liberated considering this was 1974 and somewhat witty with a bevy of interesting performances from a game cast, this turned out to be far more entertaining than expected.

Fun seventies drive-in fair and somewhat more layered than you may think. A solid six out of ten.

I had this movie confused with another one called "The Cheerleaders," which was basically a raunchy exploit flick that looked like a hardcore movie, with the hardcore cut out. But "The Swinging Cheerleaders" is surprising in that it has a plot; several interlacing dramatic stories actually, and it's truly a fun movie. And the "Raincoat crowd" will be disappointed in the fact that this is VERY tame in the sex department. I searched this out because I'm a devoted Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith fan, and she is her usual sweet, beautiful self here, as the last cheerleader to lose her virginity, which she does in a sad way. Yes there is actually some good drama here to accompany the comic elements, and it's all really tasteful. So check out this early 70's time capsule; it's one of the good ones. I'm excited to see the sequel. "Revenge of the Cheerleaders."

In order to write an expose on how cheer-leading demeans women, a reporter for a college newspaper (Jo Johnston in her only role) infiltrates the cheer-leading squad.

By 1974, Jack Hill was looking to escape being typecast as a "blaxploitation director" after making "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" for AIP. They were pleased by the success and gave him a script called "Rape Squad", which he turned down. This film was given to him with financing attached, although he was only given a title and had to develop the script from scratch (with help from David Kidd, who ironically also re-wrote "Rape Squad").

According to co-writer / director Hill, the film had a 12-day shoot, which meant every inch of film shot ended up in the final product. They started work on the script at the end of January 1974 and the movie was in theaters by May (at other times he says February and June, but the idea remains the same). The original title of the script was "Stand Up and Holler" so actresses would not think the film was about cheerleaders.

I do love Jack Hill, and the fact he is called an "exploitation auteur" really sums him up. But this has to be one of his few misfires. The primary plot of the undercover cheerleader is not very interesting, though the booking subplot makes up for it to a point. You might expect this to be nothing more than an excuse for cheerleaders to get naked, but even in that department it is arguably tame compared to many 80s comedies. This more or less amounts to a cheesy made-for-TV movie that probably was never shown on TV.

Arrow Video offers up a deluxe 2k restored blu-ray of the film. While the movie itself is not great (sorry), the Arrow Video version is worth picking up simply for all the extras, because it's always good when we have Jack Hill doing new interviews and providing new commentary. If he hasn't already, he really ought to write a memoir, because he is full of stories about Roger Corman, Francis Ford Coppola and many others. (The disc also has a 2006 archive interview with DP Alfred Taylor, archive interview with Johnny Legend, and a Q&A with Hill, Colleen Camp and Rosanne Katon recorded at the New Beverly Cinema in 2012.)

The last time I saw this movie was in 1991 on USA "Up All Night" and I haven't seen it since. I first saw it in 1983 on cable when I was 12 years old,I had to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to watch it,because it was a "dirty movie". Those were the days. It may be cheesy as hell,but I like it. I noticed that Colleen Camp is in this,and no, there are no nude shots of her. One thing I've wondered about this is what type of movie this is: Comedy? Drama? Action? I think it's all three. I miss this movie and I wish it was available on VHS. I see SWITCHBLADE SISTERS is! Why isn't this one?! SWINGING CHEERLEADERS is way better than SWITCHBLADE SISTERS!

"The Swinging Cheerleaders" may not be one of cult filmmaker Jack Hills' best, but it's still a solidly engaging film of its type. It probably won't be nearly trashy enough for some people, but for others it should prove to be an agreeable way to spend just over an hour and a half.

Hill and David Kidd wrote the story (using female pseudonyms), about the cheerleading squad for a college football team. Their newest recruit is an uptight gal named Kate (Jo Johnston), who initially is only becoming a cheerleader so she can get inside information for an expose that she wants to write. Among other story threads, the coach (Jack Denton), an alumnus (George Wallace), and a stats professor (Jason Sommers) are lured by the prospect of big winnings and begin to bet on the outcomes of the games.

Once again, Hill does understand that there are requirements for this sort of entertainment, and some of the lovely young ladies do take off their tops. The yarn that he and Kidd spin here is actually pretty straightforward and enjoyable, and things never, ever get overly serious. Not that characters come out unscathed, however, as the virginal Andrea (ever adorable Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith) is taken advantage of by lowlife guys, to use one example.

The performances are uniformly solid from the whole cast. Of the main cheerleader performers, sexy blonde Colleen Camp (playing the catty Mary Ann) went on to what is easily the most notable mainstream career of any of them. Future Playboy Playmate Rosanne Katon rounds out this foursome. Ron Hajak and Ric Carrott are fine as personable jocks Buck and Ross, Ian Sander is perfectly odious as creepy and arrogant campus radical Ron, John Quade and stunt coordinator Bob Minor are good as nasty security guards Belski and Ryan, and Mae Mercer is memorable as Professor Thorpes' scary wife.

An amiable if somewhat mild example of 70s sleaze.

Seven out of 10.