Sunday, February 22, 2009

Movie review – Nurses #5 - “Candy Stripe Nurses” (1975) **1/2

The fifth last in New World’s student nurses cycle, but the first one I actually saw. It’s bright, breezy fun, albeit with the inherit dodginess of 70s "tits feminism" exploitation filmmaking.

Three candy stripe nurses (hospital waitresses, apparently - do we have such things in Australia?) find themselves having a series of adventures – the sexpot blonde (Candice Rialson) tries to root a famous rock singer (the sexy comic plot), the uptight brunette (Robin Mattson) falls for a college basketball player who is being given speed by his coach (the kinky/medical issues plot), and the ethnic (Maria Rojo) tries to prove the innocence of a supposed robber (the political plot). These are the youngest characters in the series as they are all still in high school (at least I think they were - Rojo's character definitely felt like a high schooler). It doesn't stop them taking off their clothes and having lots of sex.

Rialson was as winning as ever - bright, cheerful and pretty... you only wish she had a better plot. (I was confused by what she was trying to do with the rock singer at the end - what prompted her to take that approach in arousing him?) Mattson also gives good value, and her romance with the jock (she's an uptown girl who wants to be a doctor, he's a sporty moron) is one of the best in the series. Both look terrific naked - and their seduction scenes in the gym are downright hot, because they're both clearly into it, and their characters have great inherent conflict.

However Rojo seemed a bit too uncomfortably young for this sort of thing (though am I right in thinking that her sex scene was a dream sequence?) Even if they are all schoolgirls, it doesn’t seem right when they’re played by actual schoolgirls.

It doesn't help that Rojo has to do her plot on her own whereas Rialson and Mattson get to be friends with one another. There is no sense of camaraderie between the three of them - it's like two movies, one with Rialson and Mattson, and Rojo off in her own movie. Also Rojo is the weakest performer (although her character is strongly defined).

I would count this as third best in the series, after The Student Nurses and Night Call Nurse. It's got an enjoyable theme song, Rialson and Mattson are a lot of fun, plenty of nudity and high spirits, even if it is a bit clunky. Dick Miller has a small role as a heckler at a basketball game.

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