The Cheerleaders (1973)

Very well executed

good back-story, and good acting

A different way of telling a story

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It's Fall, which means football season as well as back-to-school. It also means cheerleaders for both whether in high school or college. So I'm reviewing movies featuring high school cheerleaders for the occasion starting with this one which was a drive-in staple for '73. A personal note: during my high school years, I had a massive crush on one as I saw her blossom from 5th grade on up but I never got anywhere with her though I had some fond memories of dancing with her and occasionally talking to her. Anyway, this was quite a sexy movie to watch back in the late '80s when I rented the VHS tape from Blockbuster. I just saw it again on YouTube and saw one scene there that I remember was cut for the VHS one. It was the scene where the red-headed girl was having sex with the hamburger stand boy as this version was allowed to play to the end on YT as opposed to the one from Blockbuster which only briefly played the beginning of that scene. While I'm not surprised this was originally rated X, I was surprised this was really allowed at Blockbuster as they didn't allow such rated films there! (This one did have the 18+ classification on the label so children weren't allowed to rent this without an adult present) Nice twist having the janitor being some kind of loan shark for the class pimp (I think that's what he's supposed to be, I don't know). I'm guessing some of the girls didn't use their real names when appearing in this since they're credited as Stephanie Fondue, Jovita Bush, and Denise Dillaway! (I guess two of those names are real, I don't know.) Anyway, this was quite silly and very unbelievable concerning the plot but, hey, it's a nice fantasy for any male who'd love to make it with a cheerleader...

I'm actually surprised that films like "Porky's" and "American Pie" are so popular and notorious while there also exist movies like this! Watch "The Cheerleaders" ONCE and you're guaranteed to have a new 'standard' – if you can call it that – for insignificant sexploitation comedies. This is a shamelessly gratuitous and incredibly indecent comedy that makes you wonder (with great sadness) why this sort of stuff never happened to you in high-school. I never got attacked on the school bus by a horny redhead because she wanted to show her friend how to grab a guy's attention. None of my sister's hot friends never walked into my room half naked and requesting if I needed any help with masturbation, neither. What went wrong during my adolescent years?!? Anyway, the plot of "The Cheerleaders" is relatively unimportant. The girls of the Amorosa high school cheerleader team take their duties very seriously. They spend most of their days, not with studying of course, but with pom-pom practice and hanging out at the local diner to pick up hunky guys to have meaningless sex with. Young Jeannie dreams of joining the cheerleader club, as she's the last virgin in school and being a cheerleader reputedly helps to get laid. I guess losing your virginity can be the biggest and most essential mission for an intelligent and beautiful young high school girl… You can guess how the rest of the movie evolves. Jeannie narrowly has sex numerous times, but something always prevents it from happening at the very last moment, like peeping tom daddies or exploding water beds. But have no pity for poor Jeannie, as there's a great mission awaiting her on the days of the football team's most important game. The main reason why "The Cheerleaders" was (and still is) such an genuine drive-in crowd pleaser is because the film is a 100% unpretentious and ecstatic piece of entertainment. You know how this sort of films usually look like they feature a lot of playful sex and sleazy footage but eventually don't offer all that much? Well, "The Cheerleaders" completely isn't like that. There is a lot of sex, varying from sort-core to slightly-harder-core, and a whole lot of downright raunchy insinuations. All the cheerleaders look irresistibly ravishing – except for the tall blond lesbian wench who actually looked more like a transvestite – and they spend their entire screen time wearing either a very enticing cheerleader outfit or … nothing at all. The redhead is the crazy one (she has sex with the bus driver on the job), the brunette is the kinky one (sex with the coach amidst his playing tactics), the black girl is the gorgeous one and Jeannie is the one with "enough wool to knit a sweater with" ; if you know what I mean. If you ain't convinced yet, I don't know what will.

After joining a local high school's cheerleading squad, a teenage girl (Stephanie Fondue) vows to lose her virginity to the right guy, but all her good-hearted attempts backfire. Meanwhile, her fellow cheerleaders come up with a plan to help their high school's football team to victory: sleep with the opposing team on the night before their most important game so that the opposition will be too worn out to play.Suffering from heavy-handed script and incredibly amateurish performances, this silly teen sexploitation romp is good for a few laughs and dishes plenty of T&A to satisfy any jaded fan. My evaluation: ** out of ****.

Aside from horror , 70's sexploitation is my second favorite genre and The Cheerleaders is a real winner in the "so bad it's good " category. This movie has it all , girls that seriously look real young instead of movies where the "highschool" girls are reaching mid 30's these girls look actually 18...hell Stephanie Fondue looks actually 16..it's scary. So we've got raunchy comedic sex , the sex in this movie is more on the bizzare comedic side rather than the hardcore explicit side..this is most notorious in the football orgy , and the memorable sex scene between the cheerleader coach and the blonde on the gym bike while bad classical music plays in the background. The film itself gets boring in some parts that just draaaaaaag...but it has enough sex to keep you interested. This is not for people seeking quality filmaking , or even for hardcore porn fanatics...it's just the perfect popcorn film for late night viewing..Oh I also taped this off The Movie Channel late at night after learning it and Showtime air the complete uncut 84 minute version instead of the reportedly heavily edited video version..so if you want a copy of this until this comes on DVD unedited I suggest making yourself a copy...