At Mesa University, Kate has decided she wants to join the cheerleading squad to write a story about the way it is demeaning to women. The main women on the squad are promiscuous but naive when it comes to the world outside of the college. Mary Ann just wants to marry her boyfriend Buck, Lisa wants to be with her math professor, and Andrea thinks she wants to lose her virginity. When she goes deeper into the story, she finds out that there is something else going on with the team, the coach, and the dean.
THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS is directed by Jack Hill who has directed BLOOD BATH and FOXY BROWN. This is referred to as an exploitation film. It is a type of “b-movie” or grind house film that feature nudity, sex, drug use, suggestive themes, violence, gore, and even mayhem. In this particular case, the movie falls under the nudity, sex and suggestive themes category with almost every scene with nudity or talk about sex.
The movie has a completely different feel than some of the other films that I’ve screened of Jack Hill’s. It has that stereotypical 70’s porn feel without the full on sex scenes. I think this is exactly how Hill wanted the movie to be.
Cast
Jo Johnston – Kate
Rainbeaux Smith – Andrea
Colleen Camp – Mary Ann
Rosanne Katon – Lisa
Ron Hajek – Buck
Ric Carrott – Ross
Jason Sommers – Prof Thorpe
Ian Sander – Ron
George D. Wallace – Mr. Putnam
Jack Denton – Coach Turner
The transfer is a 1080p AVC presentation.
The film is a 2k scan from the original source materials. It is very cleaned up from the condition I assume it was in before the restoration. The details are under an even grain that shows its age. This is a plus because the video hasn’t been smothered in EE or waxy looking faces. The coloring looks especially great in the cheerleader’s uniform and bright clothing that the characters wear. However, the picture does have some white washing of the skin tones and coloring can be inconsistent. It can happen randomly from scene to scene but this could also be from the source materials.
The audio is an English PCM mono mix.
The mono mix has to share one speaker with the dialogue, effects, and the score. The dialogue can become muffled at times but it doesn’t ruin the mix. The 70’s music comes through well with it being a little soft on the bass. It does sound very good by being just a mono channeled movie.
-Audio commentary by writer-director Jack Hill, exclusively recorded for this release
-Interviews:
Interview with Jack Hill
Archive interview with cinematographer Alfred Taylor
Archive interview with Hill and Johnny Legend
-Q&A with Hill, and actors Colleen Camp and Rosanne Katon: This was recorded at the New Beverly Cinema in 2012.
-TV spots
Disc Details
2-disc set w/1 Blu-ray and 1 DVD
Running Time
91 mins
Edition Ratings
Rated R
Region Coding
Region A
Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio Mixes
English PCM mono 1.0
Subtitles
English SDH
THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS reflects exactly where cinema was in 1973 if you were making exploitation “b-movie”. Like I said, there is some comedy, nudity, sex, and gambling which arguably carried the movie. The acting in it it’s spectacular but they get the overall message across. The Blu-ray has a well-done 2k restored video and a strong audio mix. The bonus features are decent and there are plenty of them to learn more about the movie. I would say pick this up if you like the genre or cheerleaders.
