The Student Nurses (1970)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Stephanie Rothman

Writers:

Stephanie Rothman (story)
Don Spencer (writer)
(more)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Sexy young nurses apply special therapy in their daily rounds.

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Sex | Erotica | Female Nudity | Exploitation

Cast

Elaine Giftos	...	Sharon
Karen Carlson	...	Phred
Brioni Farrell	...	Lynn
Barbara Leigh	...	Priscilla
Reni Santoni	...	Victor Charlie
Richard Rust	...	Les
Lawrence P. Casey	...	Jim Caspar
Darrell Larson	...	Greg
Paul Camen	...	Mark
Richard Stahl	...	Dr. Warshaw
Scottie MacGregor	...	Miss Boswell
Pepe Serna	...	Luis
John Pearce	...	Patient
Mario Aniov	...	Ralpho
Ron Gans	...	Psychiatrist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean Mason
Ashley Porter

Directed by
Stephanie Rothman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stephanie Rothman		story
Don Spencer		writer
Charles S. Swartz		story

Produced by
Paul Rapp	....	associate producer
Stephanie Rothman	....	producer
Charles S. Swartz	....	producer
Roger Corman	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Clancy B. Grass III

Cinematography by
Stevan Larner

Film Editing by
Stephen Judson

Production Design by
David Nichols

Special Effects by
Conrad Rothmann	....	special effects

Production Companies

• New World Pictures

Distributors

• New World Pictures (1970) (USA) (theatrical)
• Charter (video)
• New Concorde (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Pictures (TV)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Convalescent Harbor, Torrance, California, USA

Company:

New World Pictures

Movie Connections:

Followed by Private Duty Nurses (1971)

For those who dig 70's exploitation flicks

This is an early entry into what became a veritable genre of low-budget exploitation movies focusing on a group of sexy young women working as nurses, teachers, flight attendants, models etc. These movies offered some sop towards the women's liberation movement of the era, but were usually far more interested in liberating the gorgeous actresses in them from their clothing. As you might expect, this movie is about the lives and loves of student nurses. The blonde is torn between gynecology and psychology (and two handsome doctors that work in each field). The Hispanic girl (Brioni Ferrell) gets involved with a Chicano activist and ends up on the lam from the police. The sensitive redhead falls in love with a terminally ill patient. And the hippie girl (Barbara Leigh) goes to a "love-in", drops acid, and gets pregnant after a one-night stand with a hippie creep.

This is definitely a pretty dated movie. There is a whole abortion subplot that seems pretty jarring by today's standards (but are things really so much better today in movies where everybody has lots of sex but nobody ever seems to get pregnant and has to make these hard choices?) The director of this was the underrated Stephanie Rothman who directed stuff like "The Velvet Vampire" and "Sweet Sugar". Rothman has never gotten her due as a great female director because she never really emerged from the Corman exploitation school, but then she also never sold out like Penelope Spheeris or Katherine Bigelow (who started out with stuff like "Decline of Western Civilization" and "Near Dark", but ended up making the worst Hollywood crap imaginable after they finally "made it"). This is one of Rothman's first movies, and definitely not her best, but I always have time for one of her movies.

The most recognizable actress here is probably Barbara Leigh who was once slated to be "Vampirella" in a tragically aborted Hammer production. Leigh is absolutely gorgeous, but is much more famous for her many celebrity love affairs (Elvis, Steve McQueen, ad infinitum) than any acting she ever did. She does have a great LSD freakout scene on a beach here (and it helps to no small extent that she's naked the whole time). My personal favorite though was Brioni Farrell, who regrettably was the only one of the quartet not to get naked. Actually though, I wouldn't really recommend this as a nudie/soft porn movie, but I would recommend it to anybody that digs 70's exploitation flicks.