The teen sexploitation comedy had its heyday in the early 1980's with movies like "Porky's" and a brief revival years later with "American Pie" (and perhaps we're experiencing another right one now with the new movie "Superbad"). But these movies can really be traced back into the 1970's,(and perhaps even earlier in a much tamer form). The 70's movies were a little different, however, in that it was never clear whether they were trying to "exploit" the actual teenage audience of the era or just exploit the bodies of the "teenage" characters (almost always played by older actors) for the benefit of perverts of all ages. (Just look, for instance, at all the 1970's movies about cheerleaders, babysitters, and sexy female hitch-hikers).
This movie is somewhat unique then because, though it certainly fulfills its quota for female nudity, it really does seem to be aimed at actual 70's teenagers. It has a believable (relatively) and likable (very relatively) protagonist with a (somewhat)realistic problem: he wants to improve his love life by buying a customized van. It doesn't work too well at first, but eventually he has some success although not in the way he planned. This movie is not particularly funny, nor is it exactly neo-realism, but it does capture the spirit of the times enough to achieve a kind of nostalgia (which certainly can't be said about stuff like "The Cheerleaders"). I was actually just a kid at this time, but I remember being disappointed when I reached adolescence in the "just say no" Reagan era that my female peers weren't quite as, uh, fun as my teenage babysitters seemed to be back in this era. (At least, I personally never owned a van with a waterbed, a mirrored ceiling, and, for some reason, a toaster).
I'm sure this isn't a totally realistic movie about being a teenager in the 1970's, but it's as close as THESE kind of movies are probably going to get.
