Customer Reviews

Slumber Party 57 [VHS]

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Probably conceived as a sexier version of American Graffiti, this film seems to have been a modest success when videotape made it more generally available. It stars Debra Winger and a few other people you may recognize. Typical of its genre, it consists of a string of sexy vignettes involving a lot of tease and some nudity. It rises above its competition when one of the girls gets a bare-bottom spanking from her father (always a welcome break in movies about adolescent foibles), and a flimsy-underwear pool party. Ms. Winger's talents are largely wasted here, as she gets one of the least interesting stories. Still, it's an amusing romp with generally good production values.
Oddly, the numerous sexy films of the era (i.e. the ones with no pretense to actual hardcore), mostly comedies, seem to have made it to DVD from the extremes: the higher quality ones (Felicity, Eugenie, Radley Metzger's films) and the lowest quality ones (so-called drive-in films, though usually shown in cheap, inner-city theaters (50 cent triple-bills!)). The mid-range films, low budget but with competent acting and decent quality, seem to have fallen by the digital wayside. How To Succeed With Sex (with its acre of naked coeds running in slow motion) and Hollywood High (not the sequel), and a hundred like them, have disappeared. A pity.

Let's cut to the chase. The only nice thing about this movie is that the so-called actresses are dressed in one of the cutest collections of slinky babydoll nighties of any film ever made. The lingerie is comparable with Coppola's forgettable "bellboy" movie from the early '60s.

The acting is simply awful. There are several cameos by long-cancelled TV stars (Car 54's Ross, Sugarfoot's Hutchins, etc). It's a miracle that anyone's career could recover from such a bomb. It makes you really appreciate Debra Winger's drive as an actress.

Don't let the "57" date fool you. The only thing that seems particularly '50s about the movie is the music. The nighties are more mid to late '60s styles. There's also a scene where a movie marquee displays an "R" rating for a movie -- a rating that didn't exist till the end of the '60s.

I don't think that this DVD version is much better quality wise than my VHS copy, but it is nice to finally have it on DVD. Pity it is in full frame and not in anamorphic wide screen. Really fun to see Debra Winger in her first movie roll also.

Great Grease knockoff. I really enjoy watching this movie. It reminds me of when I was in school, not High School, but middle school, and what good time were to be had in those years.

This movie is so totally without merit as to be almost unwatchable. I bought this film for one reason only: I had really enjoyed the all too brief appearance of Mary Ann Appleseth in 'Planet of the Dinosaurs', and this was the only other movie that she was credited in; the tape was cheap, so I bought it. I should have guessed that there was a reason that it is not available on DVD, but I had no clue how boring a movie starring six attractive women (and some very homely men) could be. Made in 1976, this film is actually pretty tame, no more provocative than an ad for underwear in the Sunday paper is today.

The plot basically consists of the girls sitting around a living room telling made up saucy stories, interspersed with comedic hijinks involving (among other things): drag racing; a cat burglar who steals only feather boas; hillbilly moonshiners; the least scary motorcycle gang since 'Horror of Party Beach' (a much better film); and extremely ugly lingerie. Lingerie, as a general rule, should not be green with feathers.

The film is less offensive than just plain stupid, and would have been much more interesting with a couple of decent looking leading men and/or a serial killer. I let the movie run to the end, but spent most of the last half reading a technical magazine about airplane engines due to the stupor inducing boredom.

Did this movie have pretty girls? Yes, it did, including Debra Winger and the gorgeous Mary Ann Appleseth. Did the presence of these women make this movie worth watching? Not even for a second.