Best Friends (1975)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Noel Nosseck

Writers:

Doug Chapin (additional dialogue)
Arnold Somkin (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Best Friends ... until they crossed the wrong border

Plot Keywords:

Best Friend | Travel | Marriage | Repressed Homosexual | Motor Home

Cast

Richard Hatch	...	Jesse
Susanne Benton	...	Kathy
Doug Chapin	...	Pat
Ann Noland	...	Jo Ella
Renee Paul	...	Dancer
Ralph Montgomery	...	Bar Boss
Roger Bear	...	Kola
John McKee	...	RV Salesman
Bonnie Erkel	...	Doreen
Julie Clinch	...	Brenda
Michael Gordon	...	Truck Driver
Ray Wilinski	...	Band
Richard Trees	...	Band
Wade Wilson	...	Band

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever Part 4 (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

Good Old Days

I wish that I had Jesse's Girl.... not

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Best Friends is a part of the 8-movie 2-disc set of "drive-in" movies just released to DVD. They're packaged as obviously being filled with sex and some racy and dangerous scenarios. This one is probably not the best of the lot, not by a long-shot. The whole film's story is predicated on the fact that a) these two guys have been friends for 12 or 13 years without any kind of snafu, b) that nothing, *nothing*, has come between the two until Pat (Doug Chapin) is released from jail (I think it's jail, wherever he got the burn) and Jesse (Richard Benton)has found a girl he wants to settle down with, and most important c) that Jesse has never, not once, picked up on the homo-erotic tension from a lecherous being like Pat until this road trip to California.

That was three facts, but besides the point: this is trashy soap-opera stuff, acted with at best 1 1/2 dimensional prowess by its cast (it's not hard to see why Chapin, who could potentially be OK in bit parts or one-scene appearances and coincientally never acted again after thi, way overstays his welcome as the shifty 'friend' with the "tude" on the motorcycle), and with one exception- a disorientating fight on a beach- is filmed with barely minimal competence. I guess Susanne Benton is a nice eyeful, as is Ann Noland who, by the way, has a one-scene 'slip-up' with Jesse on a picnic blanket that is not used at all for any of its dramatic potential. It's not particularly horrendous (although Kathy's line "Jesse, he's trying to kill me!" during the climax had me howling), but don't rush out to see it first among the Drive-in collection.