Candy Stripe Nurses

Roger Cormans' wife Julie produced this final entry in his "Nurses" sex comedy series. It's actually got a decent enough, easy to follow story (by director Alan Holleb), and even though it might not be trashy enough for some people, it serves up the expected sex and nudity in adequate fashion. Certainly Holleb does a commendable job at following the established formula.

Once again, the magic number of nurses whom we follow is three. Candice Rialson is Sandy, who is intrigued when an insufferable rock star (Kendrew Lascelles) is brought to the hospitals' sex clinic for some sort of dysfunction. Robin Mattson, sporting an appealing pixie cut, is Dianne, who is turned on by a jock (Rod Haase). And Maria Rojo is Marisa, a trouble making girl who's given a volunteer job as a candy stripe nurse to keep her occupied. Marisa is moved by a young man who is implicated in a service station robbery, and determines to clear him.

Overall, not as memorable as earlier entries in the series, which had more developed social commentaries, but it's very easy to take, very sexy, (with an attractive female cast showing off the goods to great effect), and well paced, with Holleb cramming a fair amount of action and exposition into the final act.

Rialson, Mattson, and Rojo are sufficiently appealing, and ably supported by a cast including some old pros (Bill Erwin, Don Keefer, and the great Dick Miller, who once again works his magic as a basketball spectator) and an up and comer (Sally Kirkland makes an appearance as a wife in a clinic).

An entertaining romp, with bouncy music by Eron Tabor (the head rapist in the rape-revenge classic "Day of the Woman") & Ron Thompson, and slick photography by Colin Campbell.

Seven out of 10.

This movie--which is the fifth (and last) film in the "Nurse Series"--revolves around 3 young women who for various reasons volunteer to become candy stripers at their local hospital. While there they meet some interesting people and get deeply involved in the lives of some of the patients. Billed as a comedy this movie is really more of a low-budget exploitation film than anything else as the humor isn't that sharp. It might also be worth mentioning that during this particular period in time drive-ins were starving for just about anything they could get because the regular theaters were acquiring all of the mainstream films. So, this type of movie was a staple for outdoor theaters during this time. Unfortunately, the quality of these films was often lacking, and this movie is no exception. Even so all 3 of the young ladies were somewhat attractive with Candice Rialson (as "Sandy") standing out the most in my opinion. But none of them were able to bring this movie up to even an average rating.

Let's see if I got the plot to "Candy Stripe Nurses" correct. I believe it went something like this: topless woman, topless woman, naked woman, topless woman, naked woman, topless woman, 2(!!) topless women. There was also a subplot about one of the nurses trying to help a patient beat a charge of armed robbery.

In all seriousness, I rather enjoyed parts of this movie. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but the acting by the women playing the nurses was wonderful. Usually the women in these types of movies simply have to speak English and look good without their clothes on. (Although sometimes the speaking English part isn't necessary.) Every one of the actresses in "Candy Stripe Nurses" did an admirable job and all of their characters were sympathetic ones. That really helped to partially overcome the cheesy plot. I've seen A LOT worse '70s movies similar to this one. Kinda fun little flick...but nothing that'll blow you away. 4/10

A sex-comedy following the exploits of three volunteer nurses, or 'candy stripers'.

Marisa, who has been ordered to do volunteer work as a punishment for assaulting her teacher, falls for a young man who has been accused of knocking over a gas station, and does some investigating to try and clear his name.

Sandy, on the other hand, has taken the job in order to be with her doctor boyfriend, but also takes up with a few of her handsomer patients as well before transferring to a sex clinic.

Dianne, meanwhile, falls for a basketball player, whom she tries to talk into giving up drugs for good.

This movie was yet another follow-up to the hit Roger Corman quickie The Student Nurses and went along similar lines, but had a completely different cast and no story carry-over. Instead of young professionals trying to succeed amid the temptations of the swinging early 70s, though, this time we have high school aged volunteers. The cast are all inexperienced unknowns (Candace Rialson went on to do a fair amount of TV work over the next few years), but the real problem is that while the advertising promises laughs, the script doesn't provide any. The box copy suggests a hospital romp along the lines of Carry On Doctor, but the movie just gives us 90 minutes of following the girls around in their silly peppermint striped uniforms, and then off to parties where they smoke dope, take off their tops and have sex. Tame sex. Nothing else of much interest happens. Unlike the first movie, where every major character had a proper character arc, there is little here in the way of character development. We just get a few familiar types (the rebel, the serious student who wants to be a doctor, the party girl) and some standard antagonists (insensitive sexist doctors, rigid administrators etc.) for them to conflict with. The result is more hospital soap than romp and not very interesting or entertaining. The girls are pretty hot, though, and this one isn't quite as insanely trashy as Private Duty Nurses, making it a little more watchable (or a little less watchable, depending on what you're looking for).