The film that got the whole 70's drive-in exploitation soft-core cheerleader comedy genre ball rolling -- and boy what an endearingly dippy start! The plot, such as it is, revolves around the five highly active and naughty cheerleader squad members of Amorosa High School in California who help a sweet virginal sixth new member get her cherry popped. (Interestingly enough, a majority of 70's cheerleader pictures take place in California, thereby suggesting that the Golden State was a veritable hotbed of blithely brash'n'brazen anything-goes hedonistic activity.) As usual, it's not the story that really counts; what makes this blissfully braindead affair so worthwhile are the following things: A) a nonstop barrage of eye-popping gratuitous nudity, B) an incessantly lewd'n'crude sense of humor (I loved the toe sucking gag), C) tirelessly moronic dialogue ("You look like a hag from the rag bag"), and D) an upbeat, spirited, lighthearted air that ensures that this inane beaut is a quick, peppy and most satisfying diversion.
Stephanie Fondue, Denise Dillaway, Jovita Bush, Sandy Evans, Brandy Woods and Kim Stanton are all quite cute, shapely, sexy and appealing as our titular hot young honeys -- and they happily doff their duds a lot, too. The sex scenes happen at regular intervals of roughly ten minutes and take place in an amusing assortment of unlikely places: a car wash, a fast food joint, the driver's seat of a moving school bus (!), even on somebody's front lawn. The technical credits are strictly so-so: the acting is generally flat and dreadful (top thespic honors go to Patrick Wright for his deliciously hammy turn as the lecherous macho dude football coach), plus both Paul Glicker's adequate direction and Richard Lerner's basic, scratchy cinematography (the constant use of wipes and freeze frames is lovably primitive) are merely passable at best. However, David Herman comes through loud and clear with an infectiously zippy score which alternates between eardrum-splitting fuzztone-drenched acid rock and zesty bubblegum pop slop (the too-goofy-for-words catchy theme song "I Like What You're Doing to Me" won't get out of your head for a week). Too cheerfully dopey to hate, "The Cheerleaders" rates as a very agreeable and enjoyable beginning for the admittedly slight, but always entertaining 70's cheerleader movie sub-genre.
Stephanie Fondue, Denise Dillaway, Jovita Bush, Sandy Evans, Brandy Woods and Kim Stanton are all quite cute, shapely, sexy and appealing as our titular hot young honeys -- and they happily doff their duds a lot, too. The sex scenes happen at regular intervals of roughly ten minutes and take place in an amusing assortment of unlikely places: a car wash, a fast food joint, the driver's seat of a moving school bus (!), even on somebody's front lawn. The technical credits are strictly so-so: the acting is generally flat and dreadful (top thespic honors go to Patrick Wright for his deliciously hammy turn as the lecherous macho dude football coach), plus both Paul Glicker's adequate direction and Richard Lerner's basic, scratchy cinematography (the constant use of wipes and freeze frames is lovably primitive) are merely passable at best. However, David Herman comes through loud and clear with an infectiously zippy score which alternates between eardrum-splitting fuzztone-drenched acid rock and zesty bubblegum pop slop (the too-goofy-for-words catchy theme song "I Like What You're Doing to Me" won't get out of your head for a week). Too cheerfully dopey to hate, "The Cheerleaders" rates as a very agreeable and enjoyable beginning for the admittedly slight, but always entertaining 70's cheerleader movie sub-genre.