Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Michael_Elliott The Student Nurses (1970) ** (out of 4) When Roger Corman broke away from AIP he formed New World Pictures and this low-budget film ended up being a huge hit and got the company off to a great start. The film is pretty simple as we're introduced to four nurses in their final year of schooling and we see their personal dramas, a lot of which surrounds sex. THE STUDENT NURSES was the first of what would end up being a five film series and it's pretty funny to see that this film really isn't all that naughty. Today the movie is sold as an exploitation picture but when you take a step back and actually watch the film you'll notice that it's more melodrama than exploitation. The one selling point of the film is that all four nurses are incredibly beautiful and there are several scenes that feature them naked. I'm willing to bet that people flocked to drive-ins because of the nudity and not because of the stories. The stories themselves are all pretty simple. One woman gets knocked up by a deadbeat. Another struggles with her affection for a doctor. Another falls for a patient. None of these stories are all that interesting but there are some pretty weird moments in the film. One such case is a very bizarre abortion sequence, which has to be seen to be believed. There's also a weird musical sequence that I'm not quite sure what to make of. Elaine Giftos, Brioni Farrell, Barbara Leigh and Karen Carlson play the nurses and all of them are extremely cute but also manage to deliver better than expected performances. THE STUDENT NURSES certainly isn't a great film but it's far from being awful. Fans of the 70's drive-in films should get enough entertainment out of this to make it worth viewing at least once.

Dave from Ottawa ... but still not really very good. The idea with this series was to weave together a story of young professionals trying to succeed amid the temptations of the swinging early 70s and within a fairly rigid institutional setting. The very attractive cast of unknowns included striking Playboy regular Barbara Leigh and former Miss Arkansas Karen Carlson, both of whom got quite a bit of work throughout the rest of the 70s, 'bouncing' from one TV show to another. The actresses acquit themselves pretty well despite the limitations of time and budget and their own comparative inexperience. The script also occasionally tried to work in a serious issue. For instance, one of the girls becomes pregnant at a party and has to go through a rather humiliating interview with an unsympathetic medical establishment to get approval for an abortion. This is quite a good scene and fits well with the strong anti- establishment tone of everything.Mostly though, this was just an exercise in soft-core titillation, with the camera following attractive young women in their tight uniforms along hospital corridors, and then off to parties where they take off their tops, smoke dope and have sex. The script cross-cuts from one character's tribulations to another, but once each girl's central issue has played itself out, nothing really comes together. Movie does not have much of an ending. It just tapers off and stops.Writer-director Stephanie Rothman tried her best to make the proceedings relevant and the dialogue probably sounded fairly hip at the time (or maybe it didn't) but it is pretty laughable now, as are the attempts to make the party scenes seem exciting by using a lot of way out psychedelic camera angles and edits (spins, tilts etc.). That stuff was a few years old by the time this movie was made and almost becoming clichéd.The movie was a big drive-in hit at the time, of course, mostly thanks to a sexed-up ad campaign that promised more than the movie delivered.

Woodyanders Four lovely young nurses in their last year of nursing school experience all kinds of turmoil and excitement in their lives: sweet Susan (winsome brunette Elaine Giftos) tries to comfort the bitter, terminally ill Greg (a moving performance by Darrell Larson), eager, but neurotic Phred (lovely blonde Karen Carlson) romances handsome gynecologist Jim Caspar (affable Lawrence Casey), free-spirited hippie Priscilla (the stunningly gorgeous Barbara Leigh) gets impregnated by laid-back drug dealer Les (the solid Richard Rust), and compassionate Lynn (nicely played by Brioni Farrell) helps out angry Mexican revolutionary Victor Charlie (the excellent Reni Santoni). Despite the fact that this film was made for Roger Corman's legendary exploitation outfit New World Pictures, it's anything but your standard mindless piece of leering soft-core schlock. Instead, it's a very pleasant, charming and even often thoughtful time capsule of the social and political upheavals of the groovy early 70's (the subplot involving Lynn and the revolutionaries is especially potent and provocative). Special kudos are in order for director Stephanie Rothman, who brings a welcome and refreshing intelligence and sensitivity to the material. Moreover, the four attractive and appealing female leads all turn in sound and praiseworthy work. Scottie MacGregor likewise impresses as wise supervisor Ms. Boswell and ubiquitous 70's trailer voice guy Ronald Gans supplies the off-screen voice of a psychiatrist. Stevan Larner's polished cinematography, the fantastic rock soundtrack, and the flavorsome folksy'n'funky score by Clancy B. Grass III are all up to speed. A real sleeper.

Kat Miss I rented a copy of this from my local Blockbuster expecting nothing much but the usual amount of T & A and sex. But after I watched it, I was surprised by how thoughtful it was, that it was about something after all.I'm not going to go into the plot, because I think it's more effective if you enter into this film cold, knowing nothing about it.This was the first film produced by Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Knowing Corman, I had figured that it would be low budget, but look like it cost more. I was right. Filmed on a budget of 150,000 it looks like it cost 1 million dollars.The video box makes this film look like a sex romp. Anyone watching this film for sex alone is bound to be disappointed. This is a smart, sensitive film that deals with serious issues such as abortion, protests, independent living and moral conflict. One possible reason for this is "The Student Nurses" was directed by Stephanie Rothman, a woman. Therefore, it ends up being less sleazy and exploitative than if it had been directed by a man. Most exploitation films are sleazy, no brainers. It's great to see an exploitation film that makes you think when you finish seeing it.