The Cheerleaders

I saw this film for the first time since 1986 just today. It was all restored, too. There's not much of a plot here except for a bunch of sexually active teen cheerleaders at Amorosa High School who cheer on the football team to victory when they're not sexing it up. The real gem of the film is Jeannie (Stephanie Fondue), the newest cheerleader who wants to go from wallflower to vixen. She's a definite hottie who looks better than the rest of the cheerleaders. I also liked the running joke that is her boyfriend Nick, who goes from job-to-job.

Don't expect much, but it's a film to watch when you want to turn the old brain off. There's lots of flesh to see, some goofy humor, some crazy sexual situations, some great dance sequences, and as my online pal Cory Smith has said to me while playing NCAA Football 2004 on our PS2s some great money shots. It's too bad that Ms. Fondue didn't do much else in her career but she certainly will go down as one of the cutest and sexiest vixens in the history of B-moviedom.

After joining a local high school's cheerleading squad, a teenage girl (Stephanie Fondue) vows to lose her virginity to the right guy, but all her good-hearted attempts backfire. Meanwhile, her fellow cheerleaders come up with a plan to help their high school's football team to victory: sleep with the opposing team on the night before their most important game so that the opposition will be too worn out to play.

Suffering from heavy-handed script and incredibly amateurish performances, this silly teen sexploitation romp is good for a few laughs and dishes plenty of T&A to satisfy any jaded fan. My evaluation: ** out of ****.

Comments like the one above from the movie should give you an idea of the campy, 1970's-specific fun you'll find here.

One thing not mentioned by the previous reviewers is how much certain scenes in this movie remind one of the sexploitation-comedy master, Russ Meyer. The cheerleading coach and one of her students riding naked on a stationary bike together. The football coach in his office in nothing but jockstrap and cap, continually blowing his whistle at one of the female students who's wearing nothing but shoulder pads. A friend and I kept noting during the viewing how much some of these scenes could've come straight out of Russ's classic, "Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens".

All Russ Meyer fans owe it to themselves to find a copy of this one, and anyone looking for a good 70's sex comedy should check it out.

On one hand this movie is as silly and ridiculous as so many others of its ilk. On the other, it stood apart because it went beyond the boundaries of the day's softcore films, finding a niche between them and hardcore. It reflected an "anything goes" sexual ethic of the time.

Apparently, it was too hot for many communities around the land. The local D.A. here went to a showing where he dutifully noted the number of sex acts depicted. I would have had difficulty keeping count. Nowadays it's usually seen in edited (or butchered) versions which only serve to emphasize the silliness and leave out the cheap thrills. Oh well.

This film wasn't the first to exploit the male fascination with cheerleaders but it did inspire numerous imitations and rip-offs, mostly of an inferior nature, if you can imagine that.

Anybody else out there completely sick and tired of the mindless, that's not even a strong enough word, how about aggravating, sex flicks that Showtime and Cinemax pump out nowadays. Using the same 4 actresses, and the same un-interesting storyline? And I've actually come to hate the 3 effeminate actors who are in every one. It's like a non-ending, awful awful, soap opera with nudity. Soft-core cinema, has hit an all-time low. The production values are great, but the storylines and sex conjure one word - Boredom. Somehow, the modern filmmakers have managed to take the sexual appeal out of women with perfect bodies. I mean I never thought I would see the day, when a skin flick on TV late night would force an involuntary roll of the eyes and send me straight for TV Land reruns, but its really come to that. What's missing, one of the things I can nail down at least is Raunch. Yes, soft core is now politically correct if you can believe that. Almost like its women who are making these to draw in both male and female audiences, and folks it just don't work. Kudos to Showtime for digging up movies like this one. It's totally nasty and wrong, but without going hardcore, that's what's needed to push the buttons. I know there are a zillion more, because I remember them when I was a kid. I would hope they start getting some airtime. Retire the silicon sleep inducers already please, and let the producers go back to making man-hating dramas on Lifetime.