User reviews

On the beach, three single guys and Jackie Bissett in her 20's - what more could you hope for. Tony Franciosa (good actor) plays aging tennis bum who skirt-chases, Bob Denver as the nebbish who's not dumb, and Michael Sarrazin (who was Ms. Bisset's real-life love interest back then) and the stunning Jackie in her beauty prime. Watching this flick is like hanging out with friends you like for the weekend that make you want to go home after a while. Furtive glances abound. There's definitely not enough women in this plot.

A 6 out of 10. Best performance = Tony Franciosa. He works the room in the most shallow 60's way (like Tony Curtis did), but you like the guy because he never gives up. A fun flick with great locale!

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.

****SPOILERS***** The movie "The Sweet Ride" begins with a ride on a Malibu highway where pretty actress Vickie Cartwright, Jacqeline Bisset, is dumped on the road from a speeding car and left to die or be run over and killed by the highway traffic.

The Malibu police round up three persons who knew and lived together with Vickie at a beach front house owned by tennis pro Collie Randsom, Anthony Franciosa. Collie was picked up by the police together with his two room-mates surfer Danny McGuire, Michael Sarazzin, and Choo-Choo, Bob Denver, an on and off professional musician whenever he can find work.

It turns out that Vickie left the trio some two weeks ago at Las Vegas when she had a big fight with her lover Danny over her secret life that she kept from him. Vickie depressed and hurt was even more hurt when Collie, who was Danny's best friend, found her alone in her hotel room and tried to make a play for her. Which showed Vickie just what a heel he is instead of the friend that she thought he was up until then.

Danny finds out from him being interrogated by the police that a local biker gang, The Freaks, were seen on the Malibu beach partying last night and may have been responsible for beating and raping Vickie. Danny going with Collie to the bar where The Freaks hang out to talk to Mr. Clean. Charles Dierkop, the gangs top honcho to finds out what he knows about what happened to Vickie.

Mr. Clean agrees to meets the two at a deserted warehouse but as soon as he shows up he's beaten by having his head smashed through a window and having a number of beer bottles broken over his skull. Mr. Clean tells Danny & Collie that he and his gang did have sex with Vickie on the beach last night but it wasn't rape it was Vickie herself who voluntarily conceded to have sex. Mr. Clean tells them it seemed as if she wanted to die and be killed by him and his biker gang.

Mr. Clean also told Steve & Collie that Vicki was in a big house on the beach that turned out to belong to her agent or producer a guy named Bradly Caswell, Warren Stevens. Caswell may well have been abusing Vickie to the point where death was an option for her. Danny thanked Mr.Clean for the info by breaking another beer bottle over his already cracked and bleeding skull with him, after he kicked Collie out of his station-wagon, driving to the Caswell Estate.

Danny has it out with Caswell as a movie of Vickie's is playing on Caswell's movie screen, this was 1968 before there were VCR or DVD's, with Caswell getting the hell beat out of him. Later Vickie, recovered and out of the hospital, breaks off her relationship with Danny with Danny leaving Collie for a job at a hardware store in Malibu. Choo-Choo also leaves Collie by getting married to his long time girlfriend Thumper, Michele Carey, as well as being drafted into the US Army. Poor and dejected Collie is left alone all by himself at his beach-front house with an unlimited supply of young and curvy beach girls for him to play with.

"The Sweet ride" is an uneven film that never explains just who dropped Vickie on the highway to die as well as beat her to the point where she had a concussion and six broken ribs. Mr. Clean if you believe him said that he and his gang only had sex with Vickie and left her on the beach covered up with a blanket; could it have been Caswell who beat and dumped Vickie on the highway?

I also couldn't understand why Vickie left Danny since he did everything to help her and she was in love with him. Why leave him now when you would think that she would need Danny more then ever? The scene with Mr. Clean and Danny & Collie in the empty warehouse was really insane. Why would Mr. Clean meet with the two alone and end up getting his head bashed in? When he had about twenty tough bikers who could have come to his aid stay in the bar and not at least be within earshot if anything happened to him where they would come to his rescue?

Mr. Clean also came across very sympathetic and it was both Danny & Collie, who are the good guys in the movie, who came across as vicious thugs by attacking and beating Mr. Clean when he came in good faith to talk to them. Poor Mr. Clean didn't even have a chance to open his mouth as he was brutally attacked by the two as soon as he walked into the warehouse!

The only two reasons I can give for watching "The Sweet Ride" is to see beautiful Jacqueline Bisset topless and the movie title song "The Sweet Ride" sung by the late Dusty Springfield.

A word of reassurance to anyone who's just read Mr. Stockett's plot summary: The character played by Jacqueline Bisset is NOT murdered, although she comes close enough. Actually, she's raped by a cycle gang leader, beaten by a Hollywood producer, then dumped in the street to be run over (a near miss results); the rest of the film unfolds mostly in flashback. This story of assorted aimless young folk who hang out at a tennis bum's beach pad could have been a real pain to sit through, but thanks to a good cast and understanding direction it holds the interest all the way, and accurately captures a certain American lifestyle. (Most critics hated this film, which is always an encouraging sign.) The talented cast makes the characters real and interesting; you really like most of these people, and their interplay is always interesting. And that terrific title song (performed by the late Dusty Springfield) should have been a big hit!

"The Sweet Ride" is a product of the permissiveness that had seeped into films in the late 1960s. Since 1934, Hollywood had adopted the rigid new Production Code...and all sorts of content in films was being banned outright. Overt sexuality was a definite no-no during this period. But with the mid-late 1960s, the Code began to vanish...and studios routinedly ignored its rigid constraints. So, in "The Sweet Ride" there is lots of nudity and cursing...though the nudity was rather restrained and the women often turned away from the camera so you didn't see that much. But it was clear the men and women in this film were having a randy good time...a definite taboo in the Production Code era movies! Unfortunately, while this movie is more permissive, this doesn't translate to it being a particularly good or enjoyable film.

The story is mostly set in a beachfront house where three ne'er do wells live and spend their time doing anything but work. Mostly, they drink and chase women. The leader of these guys, Collie (Anthony Franciosa), is a 40 year-old who is the least mature of them. Choo-Choo (Bob Denver) is a piano player who seems to spend much of his time avoiding work and fighting. And, Denny (Michael Sarrazin), is a surfer...and not even a professional one. How they can afford this house is a mystery and they all seem like 12 year-olds in men's bodies.

Their lives are disrupted when a topless woman, Vickie (Jacqueline Bisset), struggles to find her way to shore in the most modest way possible. It seems her bikini top was pulled off in the surf. Denny saves her from this predicament and soon the pair begin dating. However, Vickie is a real screwball...a woman whose life is made up of lies. The story begins with Vickie being discovered in the road...beaten badly and left for dead. The story also seems to imply she was molested...though they never say it in so many words.

While I did like how the film ended for Denny, I really tired of the characters. After all, they all seemed pretty pathetic and difficult to like. Additionally, many will dislike the vagueness of the ending...as apart for Denny, the rest seem to be stuck in their awful lives. Overall, a mildly interesting film but nothing more.

A heartfelt drama about all the different troubles one is faced with in life, the film is done in a superbly realistic manner. The characters are well developed and the relationships between them are well defined, but it is perhaps the acting of the characters that is the best part of the film, especially from Michael Sarazzin. However, the storyline itself is not all so great, as it is too familiar and too ponderous. The film also feels rather musty and B-grade, like a standard midday movie on television. But for the characters and the acting, the film is worth the watch. Great characters and acting… just not such a great plot.

Hollywood starlet, beaten down by the high price of glamor and success, is ready to leave her career for a mercurial surfer, who is under the thumb of a controlling tennis bum. Cheesy Twentieth Century-Fox answer to the youth movement in cinema of 1968, complete with swastika-wearing bikers and also a funny buddy (Bob Denver) straight out of the "Beach Party" movies from the earlier part of the decade. Jacqueline Bisset is obviously a beautiful women, but not so much here; the combination of gummy color cinematography and an unattractive part conspire to make the up-and-coming star look haughty and silly. Tanned, muscular Tony Franciosa gives the stilted proceedings a little kick, but Franciosa had already outgrown parts like this smug tennis hustler (it's the type of dumb role which would help kill off interest in him as an actor in the next few years). Although the picture is swill, there is some fascination (for buffs, at least) in seeing a major studio frantically trying to be 'with it'...keeping up with the kids, as it were. ** from ****

This movie essentially revolves around three men by the names of "Collie Ransom" (Anthony Franciosa), "Dennis 'Denny' McGuire" (Michael Sarrazin) and "Choo Burns" (Bob Denver) who share a beach house in Southern California and pretty much take the world as it comes. Then one day an attractive woman by the name of "Vicky Cartwright" (Jacqueline Bisset) appears and catches the eye of both Dennis and Collie but since Dennis was the first to meet her he is given the opportunity to date her first. What he doesn't realize, however, is that she is dealing with some personal issues that will make it difficult for anybody to get close to her at this particular time. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had an enormous amount of potential as it was gifted with talented actors and some good supporting musical numbers from both Dusty Springfield and the extremely talented but poorly managed rock group known as the Moby Grape. Unfortunately, the director (Harvey Hart) apparently had no idea what he was doing as the plot meandered all over the place with several sub-genres colliding with one another before ending on a dramatic and somber note. That being said, although I liked the overall late-60's atmosphere, I couldn't quite come to turns with the fragmented ambiance and for that reason I rate is as just average.

This film exemplifies its era both as an artifact, and in content. As the poster proclaims, it has it all: surfers, bikers, broads, not to mention Selective Service. (Maynard G.Krebs avoids getting drafted by pretending to be Gilligan-see for yourself!) A great theme song, too, written by Lee Hazelwood, and sung by Dusty Springfield.

The characters/actors really bring this together. Terrific chemistry all the way. The director was clearly not afraid to hang back and let the actors perform. And Tony Franciosa is great as usual. The film really captures the California beach bum/beatnik lifestyle. Highly recommended.