User reviews

A hot-looking female teacher seduces a student while a psycho stalks them. In a plot that is not grounded in reality, the most implausible element is that this beautiful teacher practically throws herself at the doofus student but he avoids her like a scared puppy. Former child star North is terrible as the clueless student. Tompkins, a B-movie actress of the 1970s, is gorgeous and sexy as the "older" woman trying to impart carnal knowledge. She also gives a pretty good performance and is the main reason for watching this low-budget film. James is creepy as the psycho, but serves more as comic relief than as a scary villain.

Not much to add from the mish mash of reviews. I will give it a shot anyway. First off, I do not think this film was meant to be taken seriously. I sense the irony in having Jay North as the naive teen being seduced by his lovely teacher. Added irony is that Jay North aka Sean and his teacher are being stalked by vet Anthony James aka Ralph. Hmmmm wasn't 'Dennis the Menace' the kid that just would not leave Mr. Wilson alone. Perhaps I am reaching, perhaps not. In any event, the acting did not stand out , except for Anthony James, who I felt was brilliant as the stereotypical psycho vet. For male viewers like myself... You have to love the 'generosity' of Angel Thompkins , showing off her natural assets. This was part of my set and I felt it was better than I expected. As you can see I do not expect much from these bulk movie deals . Worth a watch. I must admit , it was refreshing to see a film go against the tide of PC. I do not think film makers would have much guts to do a film like this today. This was a very average flick and please folks , accept it for what it is. I do think it was meant to be somewhat spoofy.

I first saw "The Teacher" at a drive-in. I have owned it on VHS video and have ordered it on DVD. It is one of my all-time favorites and I guess, a guilty pleasure. I agree that Angel Tompkins carries the film and that Jay ("Dennis The Menace") North was a strange and rather ironic choice for her co-star. I don't recall any scene where they have sex on a rooftop in the rain, as someone else has previously commented and I have seen the film quite a few times. It is a breezy and enjoyable film, despite the strange, unexpected, out-of-place and unnecessary subplot about a psychotic admirer of Angel Tompkins character and an unexpected finale.

"The Teacher" has been sitting in my film collection for several years now, as part of the "Drive-In Cult Classics" box, but I was never in a particular hurry to see it. That is until I watched a joyous 80s flick named "They're Playing with Fire" a couple of days ago and learned that it was a remake of this film, and by the same director Howard Avedis. Since the 80s version was so much fun, and simply because I don't like the idea of having seen a remake but not the original, "The Teacher" received some priority.

For the record, though, they are quite different movies. Both do indeed revolve around an incredibly hot female teacher in her late twenties seducing one her clueless senior year students, but that's where the similarity ends. "They're Playing with Fire" has a convoluted plot in which the teacher has a sneaky reason to manipulate her boy-toy, and there's a psychotic killer roaming around. "The Teacher" is much simpler since there's only one pervy stalker. Certain sequences are identical, though, like when the confident teachers ask their shy young lovers to kiss them for the first time. And, it must be underlined, writer/director Avedis has a great talent for casting the ideal cougar-teachers! Angel "my-first-name-is-accurate" Thompson was one of the finest exploitation starlets of the 70s, and Sybil Danning is the ultimate queen of the 80s.

Thompson is also the only real reason to recommend "The Teacher" to fans of exploitation cinema. The story is rather tame, and the amount of action is minimal, hence the highlights include - shallow as it may be - Angel sunbathing topless on a boat, or Angel undressing for the nervous kid. I kept waiting for a twist about why the beautiful woman messes around with her student's feelings, but apparently the script wants us to believe she's genuinely in love with him. That's not exactly ethical of you, Mrs. Marshall, but okay. The sub plots of the accidental death of Sean's friend and the crazy stalker lead nowhere. Apart from staring viciously and popping out of nowhere, Anthony James doesn't have much to do. Let's file this under "watchable but unmemorable".

One of the handful of pictures made by Hikmet Avedis, a classifiable low-budget director of not-quite schlock and drive-in flicks, The Teacher is ostensibly about a 28 year old teacher (lovely Angel Tompkins)- the hottie of the town without a husband as he's a drifter/biker somewheres- who bonds with the shy 18 year old former student neighbor (1/2 dimensional Jay North) and start up a passionate affair. This part of the story is basically more or less just a Penthouse letter extended to feature length (and, oddly enough for a drive-in flick, the amount of sex is actually shown to a minimum, above the belt as it were). What makes it just a little bit more interesting, if also insane, is the character Ralph (crazy-eyed Anthony James), who comes off like a 2nd string James Bond villain missing a couple of acting classes.

He's weird and a snoop, with an obsession with Diane holding a torch for her unofficially while also trying to hunt down Sean after the death of his younger brother. It seems stranger still why Ralph would be so distraught over his brother's death when all Ralph seems to do is sit in his warehouse by the harbor, take out a pair of binoculars from his coffin (which comes out of the mysterious hearse he drives around) which also has a rifle. But he's a villain nonetheless, creeping up at pretty much any instance Sean and Diane are out, or even while they're on her boat making love as he creeps up like a Z-grade Aquaman.

If nothing else his ridiculous performance of an even sillier, deranged cat makes it watchable, when all else is just kind of mundane romance (North especially can barely act his way out of a paper bag, at least Tompkins has her sex appeal). It's nothing very special, or memorable, but if the title ever came up in conversation it would be fun to wax poetic about Anthony James as Ralph, or to contemplate the ways it could make a decent self-made MST3K feature.

Got this as part of a Grindhouse double feature DVD and found it to be a fun representation of 70's exploitation. The movie tag line says something about the teacher (Diane, played by Angel Tompkins) corrupting the school with her "lessons". In fact, during the movie, the fact that she is a teacher is very much downplayed. This is not a movie about a horny young high school teacher who screws her way through the male students. It is actually a love story/soft-core/stalker drama.

The movie is very awkward in places, especially the love scenes, and the fight sequences. Remember, this is still a "B" movie. The plot deals with a teenage boy (Sean) fresh out of high school and the hot teacher who comes on to him. For suspense they add a storyline about a dead friend and the friend's demented brother who is in love with the teacher as well.

The whole thing is harmless really. Liberal breast action from Ms. Tompkins keeps things titillating, but the acting is totally ham-fisted by all, especially Sean's father. Much has been made about Jay North's role, but I think the movie would have been better without him. He basically sucks.

Thirty plus years later seeing The Teacher gives one a good idea what kind of seedy movies teens were trying to sneak into in the early 70's. There is an innocence about the movie that is refreshing. It does not set out to shock and it is not mean spirited. Just an interesting way to spend an evening. The Teacher is a must for 70's exploitation buffs not looking for a major shock, but rather a slice of sleaze gone by.

One of those movies that gives 1970s film-making a bad name. It also gives us a topless Angel Tompkins, the return of Anthony James (the "Fowl Owl" on-the-prowl diner counterman from "In the Heat of the Night"), and the strangulation murder of Jay North (the fulfillment of every long-suffering "Dennis the Menace" viewer's fantasy).

From a budget and production value perspective this thing is about as rough as they get; even "Billy Jack" looks stylish and slick in comparison.. It looks like they shot it over a long three-day weekend. The score is so bad that it is actually amusing. When you figure 1974 was the heyday of groups like Deep Purple" and "The Allman Brothers" you wonder where they found someone still composing lounge music.

Given the recent activities of several young female teachers the main story is fairly credible although it was probably inconceivable and exploitative back in 1974. And teacher salaries must have been different back then because this young woman lives in a house with a large swimming pool, owns a nice boat, and drives a new corvette.

Unfortunately the movie has one story too many, with a obsessive psycho subplot that just doesn't fit with the teacher-student seduction stuff. The psycho (Mr.Fowl Owl himself) lives in an abandoned grain elevator across from the marina and spends his time spying on the teacher. He watches her through a pair of binoculars that black out everything but two circles (ever notice that this is not what you see with real binoculars?). In case that isn't enough to convince you that he is nuts, he drives a white hearse and stores all his possessions in a candy apple red glitter coffin.

This film opens with a truly awful, ear-grinding, song; probably called 'Every Boy Needs a Teacher', but thankfully it doesn't completely give an early warning sign of what's to come. While both the film and the song are very low rent and lacking in quality; there is actually a solid story lurking somewhere behind the crappy script and ridiculous acting; and that makes The Teacher a very enjoyable slice of drive-in cheese. The story is rather tame by today's standards; and given some of the films I've seen from the early seventies; it's pretty tame for 1974 too. The plot focuses on an eighteen year old lad named Sean. Sean and his friend Lou go to the top of an old warehouse to borrow Lou's crazy brother's binoculars in order to spy on Diane; their teacher, sunbathing topless. However, tragedy strikes when the brother catches the pair; and Lou ends up tumbling to his death. The summer improves, however, when Diane; who happens to be a friend of Sean's mother, begins to take an interest in the lad. Meanwhile, Lou's crazy brother is still on Sean's tail.

First thing's first, the acting in this movie is some of the worst I've ever seen (and I'm no stranger to movies with ridiculously bad acting!). The two leads, Angel Tompkins and Jay North, are at least good looking pair, but they absolutely can't act (nor can anyone else in this film). The script is not much better and leads the bad actors into delivering silly and mistimed dialogue, which brings the film down further. However, the base plot is a rather good one - it's simply an older woman seducing a young man, but it's very sexy; and if anything the sexiness is increased by the lack of talented scriptwriting since we waste no time in getting straight into the main point. The sub-plot involving the crazy brother stalking the pair doesn't get in the way as much as it might have done; I preferred the parts dealing with the central relationship between the lead characters, but the two go together well. It all boils down to a real downer of an ending, however. I don't mind a sad ending; but when a film is as bright and happy as this one (to illustrate the point, the death towards the start of the film is barely given a moment's notice by any character in the film), I wasn't expecting it to end like that!

Former "Dennis the Menace" star Jay North and WIP-vet Angel Tompkins star in this ridiculous story of an affair between a student and a "teacher" (funny, we never see her actually teaching anything). Tompkins clocks some obligatory nude scenes, but anyone expecting a softcore sex romp is going to be pretty disappointed--this movie has an actual (if completely deranged) plot where both characters are being stalked by a crazed Vietnam vet who's obsessed with the teacher and blames the kid for the death of his younger brother (don't ask). Any entertainment value is purely unintentional, however. The kid's parents are especially hilarious. The mother foists her son on this "older woman", saying things like:"I know he's my son, but I find Sean very attractive." His father on the other hand is totally alarmed that his boy might be making the beast with two backs with a sexy, 28-year-old woman (every father's worst nightmare I'm sure). It all ends completely preposterously. This is evidently supposed to be a tragic drama, but I would recommend it as a so-bad-it's-good comedy were it not for the very slow final act and the wretched, vomit-inducing theme song. OK, but not great.

THE PLOT: An 18 year old virgin (North) is seduced by his teacher (Tompkins) while fighting off a weird stalker (James).

THE NEGATIVE: This film is excruciatingly dull and is loaded with too much meandering dialog and scenes that go nowhere. The story itself is too simple and offers no surprises or interesting twists. It has no business taking up ninety-eight minutes of time to get where it is going. The sex scenes are not titillating at all and their confrontations with the psychotic James are uninspired. There is also a syrupy sweet theme music that is absolutely awful and it gets played over and over again during the whole movie.

THE POSITIVE: Seeing TV's Dennis the Menace all grown up and in a promiscuous role is fun for a few seconds as well as seeing Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes mother's in a brief cameo during a restaurant scene.

THE LOWDOWN: This movie needed a lot more sex, scares, and humor to make it even halfway entertaining. This is basically just a one note story that takes way too long to play out.

THE RATING: 1 out of 10.

Oh brother, was this movie cheesy! The soundtrack was especially bad. This is the story of a young high school teacher, Diane, who seduces her neighbor, Sean (Jay North of Denise the menace fame). What's funny is that Sean's mom suspects the two are getting it on and kind of likes the idea while the unreasonable dad doesn't. There are sex scenes and the teacher really is pretty hot but the way those scenes are shot don't even work well which will immediately turn off the viewer who watched this for the erotic scenes. Part of the story involves a friend of Seans' falling to his death. Sean gets blamed for the accident by his friends psychotic brother who happens to have a crush on Diane. This sets up for the inevitable meeting of the three at the end. The acting felt very much like watching an industrial film. I recommend staying away from this one.

The premise... and I'm being intentionally brief so as not to give away some of the plot.

18 year old Sean (Jay North) is being stalked by an insane Vietnam era army vet (Anthony James) who wants revenge for a crime Sean did not commit. At the same time Sean is being seduced by his 28 year old former(literally JUST former) high school teacher Diane(Angel Tompkins).

This 1974 grindhouse drive-in, taboo classic is poorly made with uninventive camera work and the very thinnest definition of acting but there is something in the plot and story here that deserves a serious analysis. In a typical movie you get the main A plot and then a B subplot woven in. This film is disturbing on two levels, not just because of the subject matter but also because they ingeniously pull a bait and switch by giving the A story, the revenge, less depth and spending much more time on the sleaziness of the B story, the seduction. The A and B story then collide at the end. The director pulls no punches and chooses not to romanticize the teacher/student relationship and instead shows her for what she is... a calculating predator.

The nature of their relationship is even more awkward if you keep in mind Sean is played by Jay North who was widely known for his portrayal of the preteen 'Dennis the Menace' on the classic 1960 TV sitcom, a family show. So shocking was the casting at the time, that growing up in the eighties ten years after this movie was made, even I was aware of the rumors that Jay North had starred in a 'porno'. This is NOT a porno; Ms. Tompkins delivers copious nudity and sexuality but the sex is only implied.

The themes of this movie, PTSD, revenge, seduction, sexual awakening, May/ December romance, delivered within the confines of a $65,000 budget, put it squarely in the grindhouse genre. It is also elevated, slightly, by Tompkins' portrayal of a femme fatale child predator. There are no awards to be won here but she delivers a truly memorable performance based on her screen presence and sexuality. Anthony James uses his uniquely sinister face and lanky physique to embody a genuinely creepy villain with severe mental health baggage. Together they carry the movie but barely.

It's a must see for grindhouse fans.

Just an afterthought... while watching the film, which honestly got so uncomfortable I turned it off a few times to digest it, my thoughts kept drifting to Todd Field's 'In the Bedroom'. It could be a Quentin Tarantino style reimagining of 'The Teacher'; Tarantino rewrote history so The Inglorious Bastards could kill Hitler and rewrote history again so Brad Pitt and Leo DiCaprio could kill the Manson family. Perhaps Field made 'In the Bedroom' to give the parents of 'The Teacher' the ending they deserved.

Now if you just want to see some really nice shots of Angel Tompkins's bosoms than The Teacher is definitely your kind of film. It's barely half a step above soft core porn when she and Jay North get down to the deed.

I'm sure Jay North was seeing this as some kind of comeback film for him after Dennis The Menace and Maya where he could finally establish himself as an adult star. And what better way than to finally have some screen sex with an older woman.

But the acting in this film was some of the worst ever put on celluloid and the photography looked like it was shot with my father's old Bell&Howell movie camera.

Angel's is a 28 year old high school teacher on her summer vacation with the rest of her peers and she's also a neighbor of one of her recently graduated students, Jay North. Her husband has up and left her both miserable and horny. She lights on North and the two of them go at it hot and heavy.

Not that North hasn't noticed here, but so has creepy Anthony James. He spies on her occasionally from his crib in an abandoned warehouse. One day North and friend Rudy Herrera who is James's younger brother go up to the crib to take a gander for themselves and James spots them, while fleeing Herrera falls off a catwalk and James in his twisted sociopathic logic holds North responsible. Both for the death of his brother and the fact he has taken up with the object of his voyeurism.

Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster wrote a truly insipid song for this film and it saddens me that two Oscar winning songwriters got reduced to this in order to find work in Hollywood.

It all ends badly for the protagonists as Angel the cougar learns the error of her ways.

For fans of Angel Tompkins's bosoms only.

If the thought of a 28-year-old female amorously initiating an 18-year-old partner appeals to you, then I suppose you'll find something positive about this flick. An added element to the plot is that the weirdo older brother of the teen's dead best friend has a crush on "the teacher", who's husband is away much of the time, therefore, she feels neglected, in spite of the fact that she has a 'vette, an inboard boat, and an in-ground pool. (Must be a silver spoon somewhere - no "big deal" made about the spouse's success. Teachers - especially those who've been at it for only five years, or so - aren't paid enough to afford all that, are they? And this was 1974 - before the philosophy of bottomless debt, right?) In addition to this bit of illogicalness, some of the acting is a little uneven, particularly where (I'm assuming) the writing was "enhanced" by ad-libbing. Knowing all this, maybe you'll be better able to decide whether to check it out or pass it by.

Agree with most of the posts that it is a cheesy production, however Angel is the bomb!! She is the best. I first became aware of her via "Prime Cut" with the great Lee Marvin. She has a very natural approach and it really shows in this flick. In "Cut" she played a trophy wife, however still hot for Lee and dressed the part. As for this flick, I also think that Med Flory played a funny role. I love drive in flicks of the 70's (about the time I was hitting them) and this one and PC are two of the best. It's weird, 30 plus years later and I'm sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for Angel to unleash the rack!! Got it on DVD. Not sure what that other reviewer was talking about re: a rain fall love scene. I don't remember if that was in the original theatrical release, however I do know that it is not on the DVD. I will pick up other flicks by Angel and I wish I knew what she was doing now. It appears as if she stopped working around '91.

After his last day in a Southern California high school, shyly cute virgin Jay North (as Sean Roberts) goes out with a friend to spy on beautifully-figured Angel Tompkins (as Diane Marshall). Also watching the topless young teacher is psychotic Anthony James (as Ralph Gordon). The sleazy-looking stalker is in love with Ms. Tompkins. They (and we) get to see Tompkins rubbing her naked upper body with suntan lotion. Then, a tragic accident occurs as North's friend falls off a warehouse tower. The luckless lad is also the little brother of Mr. James, who blames North for the incident. Tompkins, who is no longer North's teacher, seduces him. This makes James jealous...

The three main characters proceed through the story without rhyme or reason. Considering how haphazardly writer-director Howard Avedis presents the action; they often appear, understandably, lost. The main reason to watch is seeing Tompkins topless. She's never convincing as a teacher or "older woman," but the show stops every time Tomkins takes her shirt off. Her upturned assets are highly appealing. North gets bits of genuine acting in here and there, but it's an aimless effort. Far from his famous "Dennis the Menace" role, North appears to enjoy himself as an "R-rated" movie star. Inexplicably popping in and out, James suffers most from the production's overall weaknesses.

***** The Teacher (5/29/74) Howard Avedis ~ Angel Tompkins, Jay North, Anthony James, Marlene Schmidt

"The Teacher" is every teenage boy's fantasy come true!! I have previously owned it on VHS video and currently await receipt of the film on DVD. I found the casting of 1950's tv child star Jay North (Dennis The Menace) to be a real surprise. It was however, a bigger surprise to see how his acting career had managed to continue up to this time, since he had certainly outgrown the effectiveness he had displayed as a troublesome small boy!! Angel Tompkins is competent and believable in the title role. The only thing that stretches believability is that a stunning and intelligent woman like her would be interested in a teenage boy!! Not to mention that she would be willing to risk her career and reputation!! The subplot involving a psychotic admirer of the teacher, played by Anthony James, seems out of place and drags down the film's breeziness somewhat. Most every teenage boy has probably admired an older woman, not unlikely a teacher, but more likely than not, few have ever had the opportunity to become involved with one!! The film touches on this quite realistically, but ultimately, the wrap-up is disappointing, unexpected and abrupt. In reality, most older women would find most teenage boys too immature for them and wouldn't give them the time of day. This film takes exception to that. Amazingly enough, "The Teacher" was sort of re-made in 1984, by the same director, as "They're Playing With Fire". It starred Sybil Danning and Eric "Private Lessons" Brown. In my opinion, it was even more unbelievable and unrealistic and at least as far as I am concerned, far inferior. I can certainly recommend "The Teacher" to every man who, as a teenager, ever admired an older woman, even a teacher!!