The Young Nurses (1973)

So much average

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

"The Young Nurses" is a reasonably engaging entry in Roger Cormans' series of "nurse" pictures. Written by Howard R. Cohen, produced by Cormans' wife Julie, and directed by Clint Kimbrough, it follows the Corman / New World formula of sex, nudity, action, and a little social / political commentary. Our three luscious leading ladies are Jeane Manson as Kitty, Ashley Porter as Joanne, and Angela Elayne Gibbs as Michelle, and each gets her own story thread. Kitty falls for Donahue (Zack Taylor), a young man dominated by his pompous dad (William Joyce). Joanne oversteps her boundaries as a nurse in order to treat a patient properly. And Michelle is an activist who discovers a drug ring working out of their hospital. Each is a serious minded, passionate young woman, and of course they all look good in and out of clothes.Overall, this feels pretty routine for the series, but at least it avoids being melodramatic and does have some appreciable, mild doses of humor. There are some genuinely poignant moments to be found, such as the one with an aged black man played by the legendary comedy relief actor Mantan Moreland, in what was sadly his final feature film appearance. There are some very fine actors in supporting roles and bits - Allan Arbus as a demanding head surgeon, Mary Doyle as the extremely stern head nurse, Don Keefer as a hospital chemist, Nan Martin as a stuffy reporter, Sally Kirkland as a patient at the clinic, Dick Miller (always nice to see this guy!) as a hard-hearted cop, and Caro Kenyatta as Michelles' boyfriend Lester. The real treat, though, is in seeing the legendary filmmaker Samuel Fuller in a fun, two scene role as a villainous doctor.Daniel Lacambre does the very impressive cinematography, Barbara Peeters (future director of "Humanoids from the Deep") is the art director, and Gregory Prestopino supplies the groovy rock score.Decently entertaining trash for fans of 1970s New World product.Six out of 10.

In this movie, which is the 4th film in the "Nurse Series", three young nurses are all trying to make a difference at a local hospital. The first nurse named "Kitty" (Jeane Manson) is a pretty blonde who takes a liking to one of her patients and tries to make sure that he doesn't aggravate an injury he sustained in a boating accident. The second nurse, "Michelle" (Angela Gibbs) has discovered that a patient of hers has died from a drug overdose and decides to investigate where he obtained the drugs. The third nurse by the name of "Joanne" (Ashley Porter) recognizes that there is an extreme shortage of doctors in the hospital and in the course of her duties takes on some of their responsibilities even though she lacks the necessary credentials. Now obviously the plot is a bit unrealistic and suffice to say the movie suffers as a result. Likewise, several of the scenarios were a trifle clichéd and were more or less rehashed from the other films in the series. Additionally, although I thought Ashley Porter--and to a lesser extent Jeane Manson--were nice additions to the scenery, neither of them were really able to bring this film up to even an average rating. In short, I consider this to be a rather weak entry into the "Nurse Series" and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

This movie was a follow-up to the hit Roger Corman quickie The Student Nurses and went along similar lines, but had a completely different cast and no story carry-over. Once again, the idea was to weave together a story of young professionals trying to succeed amid the temptations of the swinging early 70s. The cast are attractive but very inexperienced unknowns and the script does them few favors. The story focuses on a drug ring operating out of the hospital where the trainee nurses work, and they decide to investigate, an action that runs counter to the usual anti-establishment tone of the series. Beyond that nothing much of interest happens. Mostly this was just another exercise in soft-core titillation, with the camera following the girls in their tight uniforms along hospital corridors, and then off to parties where they smoke dope, take off their tops and have sex. The problem here is that the series creators were pretty much out of fresh ideas and so just recycled the same old character conflicts from earlier in the series: sexist doctors, older nurses who aren't with it and rigid administrators who are more concerned with protocol than patient care. Yawn. As a result this movie is now not very entertaining, except perhaps as camp. The dialogue probably sounded fairly hip at the time (or maybe it didn't) but it is pretty laughable now, and unless the viewer couldn't get enough of 1973 and is looking for a groovy, mod era experience, and any old one will do, I would avoid this type of movie at this point. It's cheap-jack, not very well or very imaginatively made and even fails to satisfy as exploitation, since very little sensationalistic happens and nothing happens that we hadn't already seen in the earlier installments.

A trio of young nurses get into all sorts of trouble at a hospital: sweet and sunny Kitty (an endearingly spunky portrayal by lovely blonde Jean Manson) falls for handsome boat racer Donahue (likable Zach Taylor), gutsy and assertive Joanne (well played with spirited aplomb by fetching brunette Ashley Porter) breaks protocol while aspiring to be a doctor, and socially conscientious Michelle (a fine performance by Angela Gibbs) investigates a drug ring operating out of the hospital. Director Clint Kimbrough, working from a tight and to the point script by Howard R. Cohen, relates the eventful story at a constant snappy pace, maintains an amiable tone throughout, and delivers more than enough yummy female nudity and steamy soft-core sex to satisfy exploitation movie fans (Manson in particular looks absolutely delectable sans clothes). The attractive and appealing cast keeps things humming: Manson, Porter, and especially Gibbs excel in the lead roles, with sound support from Allan Arbus as tough, but fair chief surgeon Krebs, William Joyce as smarmy rich jerk Fairbanks, Mary Doyle as snippy head nurse Dockett, and Kimberly Hyde as sexy candy striper Peppermint. Popping up in nifty bits are Dick Miller as a mean, unsympathetic cop, Sally Kirkland as a woman at a sex clinic, and Mantan Moreland in his last role as an old man. Legendary director Samuel Fuller contributes a neat, but regrettably brief appearance as smooth and ruthless drug ring mastermind Doc Haskell. Daniel Lacambre's sharp cinematography gives the picture a pleasing sparkling look. Gregory Prestopino's funky bluesy score and the groovy jammin' soundtrack further enliven this nifty little flick.