Call Her Mom (1972)

Sadly Over-hyped

Beautiful, moving film.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

"Call Her Mom" is a kooky college movie. However, although it was made in the same decade that brought us "Animal House", this made for TV film is much more like a Disney film of the era. In other words, this 'bad' fraternity looks amazingly nice...other than just being sloppy. The guys are decent enough--not the degenerates of many other campus comedies. When the film begins, the Dean (Charles Neslson Reilly) is taking delight in telling APE fraternity that he's revoking their charter because they don't have a house mother. So the guys go on a fast search for one and come up with a waitress, Angie (Connie Stevens). However, the administration is aghast because this house mother is hot...and they do their best to get rid of her. But she sticks with it and everything seems fine...until one of the young men falls in love with her.This is the most sanitized bawdy fraternity film of all time. It also comes off as more of a sit-com instead of a movie--with some incredible mugging from not only Reilly but Van Johnson. Mildly entertaining...and a bit stupid at the same time.

So here is the story of a Waitress (Connie Stevens) who after getting fired or 'quit' ends up being a housemother to a fraternity house where the students belong to a college that has a president (Van Johnson) always trying to find out new ways in how to get himself on television or 'famous'. Of course, the fratboys all fall in love with her, in fact one of them ready to leave school, whilst an eager professor (Jim Hutton), tries to figure out if she is right for the school, the boys or himself. College President is always looking for a new angle to get publicity with his egomaniac assistant (Charles Nelson Reilly) as well as a former showgirl wife (Gloria DeHaven) and tries to get rid of and then hire back Connie Stevens after initial complaint of her duties. Apparently all fraternity housemothers are supposed to be old and unattractive, so she brings in a new twist (an earlier version of the movie, House Bunny). This can be found on youtube and is pleasant, but terribly silly and is worth a look to see a lot of old timers (including William Bakewell, Kathleen Freeman) and TV stars of the 70's (Mike Evans, John David Carson) hamming it up for the cameras.