A mystery begins to unfold in the first two minutes of The Sweet Ride (1968), as we try to figure out who, almost killed, Vickie (Jacqueline Bissett), and left her for dead on the side of the road. The film switches into flashback mode from there and eventually, returns us back to current-day, leaving the last half-hour of the film, to fill in the missing pieces. We also have Anthony Franciosa as Collie Ransom and Michael Sarrazan as Denny McGuire, the tennis fraud and the surfer kid, who both fall under the spell of the beautiful, sexy Vickie Cartwright. The Sweet Ride (1968), is a different kind of crime-drama. There is definitely comedy sprinkled into this film, but it's mostly a drama. I was surprised by the amount of nudity seen in this film for 1968, but it was released, just at the time, that the change to the MPAA rating-system was happening. 1967-1969 was the start of the modern era of film. I also was stuck with a poor-quality, blurry, 4:3 copy of his film, that I found on YouTube, so I couldn't tell how noticeable the nudity was.
Bob Denver plays the third friend of, Collie and Denny's, interestingly named Choo Choo Burns. He is a hippie musician, in this very 1968 movie. The Sweet Ride (1968), shows signs of the Vietnam War in the background, by taking humorous shots at the crazy old Army guy, who lives next door. There's also plenty of marijuana use. Wow, Gilligan smoking a bong. That was great. His role in the Sweet Ride (1968), is a different kind of film for him. He's busy figuring out if his girlfriend is pregnant through half of the film. Thumper (Michele Carey), Choo Choo's girlfriend, is really hot and enhances this interestingly, unconventional role for Denver, because we were so used to seeing innocent, young, Gilligan for three years and not seeing a pot-smoking, ladies-man, who ironically gets drafted into the Vietnam War. Gillian's Island (1964-1967), ended the year before this film was released.
By the way, Jacqueline Bissett does a good Russian impersonation in the middle of the film. The story begins to get out of control slightly, with too many characters coming and going. The last half hour brings us to current day and the mystery becomes an afterthought. They really ruin the excitement of the mystery, that they had been building up to, since the beginning of the film. The poor character development, continuity and editing makes it look like Choo Choo disappeared. The passage of time isn't handled well. I guess his denouement was going to the drafting office, with his pink colored dog. Then he disappears. The film ends on an unsatisfying, boring finish, not really solving anything. However, the film is good enough, because the music was good, the jokes were good, the dedicated performances by the cast were good and some of the scenes worked out well.
PMTM Grade: 5.8 (D) = 6 IMDB.
