Roger & Julie Corman Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from cinedig on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label alamo drafthouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alamo drafthouse. Show all posts
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
THE STUDENT NURSES
THE STUDENT NURSES (1970)
Written & Directed by Stephanie Rothman
Review by Anne Heller
When times are bad, the most economical way to enjoy oneself (other than masturbation) is to head down to the neighborhood independent video store and check out a gem from the past. Luckily, Austin has the two best independent video store chains in Texas (if not the United States) – Vulcan Video and I Luv Video, both with interesting and extensive collections. From the DVD racks at Vulcan Video South, one can rent ‘70’s liberated sexploitation classic THE STUDENT NURSES, written and directed by the first woman to be awarded the Director’s Guild of America fellowship, Stephanie Rothman. She started working for legendary low-budget filmmaker/producer Roger Corman in the late ‘60’s doing second unit work at AIP and New World Studios.
Screened on 35mm as part of the Alamo Drafthouse’s Weird Wednesday series in May, THE STUDENT NURSES (1970) is not a typical sexploitation movie. Sure, the nudity and sexual openness is there, but it’s not all for laughs. Stephanie Rothman scripted a socially compelling, well-written tits & ass movie which confronts the topics of racism, socio-economic inequalities, rape, abortion, medical ethics, public health issues, human rights, the Vietnam war, free love, LSD and drug experimentation.
Four sexy college roommates are taking their nursing internships at the same time. Sharon (Elaine Giftos) is assigned to the terminal care ward, Lynn (Brioni Farrell) to public health administration, Priscilla (Barbara Leigh) to gynecology and Phred (Karen Carlson) to psychiatry. Lynn falls for a local leader of La Raza Latino resistance movement and starts a health clinic in the barrio. Sharon falls in love with her patient, a brooding young poet with cystic fibrosis to whom she teaches the ways of sexual fulfillment. Priscilla has an affair with a rogue pharmacist and gets pregnant from their shared acid trip on the beach. Phred encounters her own psychiatric difficulties when she vehemently opposes the abortion her gynecologist lover gives Priscilla in their apartment bedroom. These four beauties have ample opportunities to disrobe and fornicate, of which they take advantage, much to the delight of male viewers. These are liberated women at the height of the sexual revolution, after all, and are as intelligent as they are horny and beautiful.
The action quotient is quite high as well. There’s a very bloody gunfight at the resistance movement headquarters in which two policemen are shot and killed and several members of the group are badly hurt. An anti-(Vietnam) war protest consisting of spookily-dressed young people of all races painted like skeletons becomes violent, with cops beating protesters. The trip sequence on the beach consists of confusing sensory and memory montages with hyper-sensual overtones.
In short, THE STUDENT NURSES is a thoughtful and compelling reflection of the times, expressed through real women’s perspectives. But, it’s still fun and titillating, despite its sobering treatment of subject matter.
#################################################
Written & Directed by Stephanie Rothman
Review by Anne Heller
When times are bad, the most economical way to enjoy oneself (other than masturbation) is to head down to the neighborhood independent video store and check out a gem from the past. Luckily, Austin has the two best independent video store chains in Texas (if not the United States) – Vulcan Video and I Luv Video, both with interesting and extensive collections. From the DVD racks at Vulcan Video South, one can rent ‘70’s liberated sexploitation classic THE STUDENT NURSES, written and directed by the first woman to be awarded the Director’s Guild of America fellowship, Stephanie Rothman. She started working for legendary low-budget filmmaker/producer Roger Corman in the late ‘60’s doing second unit work at AIP and New World Studios.
Screened on 35mm as part of the Alamo Drafthouse’s Weird Wednesday series in May, THE STUDENT NURSES (1970) is not a typical sexploitation movie. Sure, the nudity and sexual openness is there, but it’s not all for laughs. Stephanie Rothman scripted a socially compelling, well-written tits & ass movie which confronts the topics of racism, socio-economic inequalities, rape, abortion, medical ethics, public health issues, human rights, the Vietnam war, free love, LSD and drug experimentation.
Four sexy college roommates are taking their nursing internships at the same time. Sharon (Elaine Giftos) is assigned to the terminal care ward, Lynn (Brioni Farrell) to public health administration, Priscilla (Barbara Leigh) to gynecology and Phred (Karen Carlson) to psychiatry. Lynn falls for a local leader of La Raza Latino resistance movement and starts a health clinic in the barrio. Sharon falls in love with her patient, a brooding young poet with cystic fibrosis to whom she teaches the ways of sexual fulfillment. Priscilla has an affair with a rogue pharmacist and gets pregnant from their shared acid trip on the beach. Phred encounters her own psychiatric difficulties when she vehemently opposes the abortion her gynecologist lover gives Priscilla in their apartment bedroom. These four beauties have ample opportunities to disrobe and fornicate, of which they take advantage, much to the delight of male viewers. These are liberated women at the height of the sexual revolution, after all, and are as intelligent as they are horny and beautiful.
The action quotient is quite high as well. There’s a very bloody gunfight at the resistance movement headquarters in which two policemen are shot and killed and several members of the group are badly hurt. An anti-(Vietnam) war protest consisting of spookily-dressed young people of all races painted like skeletons becomes violent, with cops beating protesters. The trip sequence on the beach consists of confusing sensory and memory montages with hyper-sensual overtones.
In short, THE STUDENT NURSES is a thoughtful and compelling reflection of the times, expressed through real women’s perspectives. But, it’s still fun and titillating, despite its sobering treatment of subject matter.
#################################################
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
CINEMAPOCALYPSE Day 2 Part 1: Eddie Deezen & Co. at SURF II
I was lucky enough to go on the CINEMAPOCALYPSE road trip that Zack and Lars of the original Alamo Drafthouse took up the West Coast back in April of this year. The footage from the first day of the CINEMAPOCALYPSE tour is the very first post of this blog, before my intro to EXPLOITATION CINE DIGEST.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Quentin Tarantino Introduces SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA
Quentin Tarantino says a few words about biker movie THE LOSERS before introducing Brian Trenchard-Smith's SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA at CINEMAPOCALYPSE screening in August at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz.
Welcome to EXPLOITATION CINE DIGEST
EXPLOITATION CINE DIGEST is a collection of articles, reviews and video clips concerning exploitation cinema (mainly of the 1960's and '70's) written, produced, edited and compiled by film scholar (and filmmaker) Anne Heller. The video posts are culled from my video archives of director and actor audience interviews at various theatres (mainly Austin, Texas-based original Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas). I hope you will enjoy and visit often!
Friday, April 24, 2009
EXPLOITATION CINE DIGEST Presents CINEMAPOCALYPSE West Coast Tour Day 1: New Beverly
Here are the three youtube posts I put together of the first night in L.A., two of which feature Sybil Danning. This trip is fun!
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