Cast overview: | |||
Patricia Wymer | ... | Mindy Evans | |
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Steven Stewart | ... | Jack Thompson |
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Gary Rist | ... | Bill |
Bruno Kirby | ... | Les (as B. Kirby Jr.) | |
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Jennifer Ritt | ... | Gretchen Thompson |
Dennis Christopher | ... | Pan | |
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Marly Holiday | ... | Sandy |
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Anthony Mannino | ... | Stud |
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Robert Almanza | ... | Danny |
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Joe Pepe | ... | Lieutenant Doyle (as Joe Pepi) |
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Max Manning | ... | Bartender |
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Frances Tremaine | ... | Teacher |
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Tom Benko | ... | Reporter |
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Pat Russell | ... | And Spare Change |
Spunky and precocious high school senior Mindy Evans spurns her decent, but frustrated boyfriend Bill and has a fling with hunky married nice guy teacher Jack Thompson. Midy finds out that she might be pregnant. While waiting for the results of her pregnancy test, Mindy decides to alleviate the tension by embarking on an impromptu road trip to Big Sur, California with her loyal best gal pal Sandy. Written by Woodyanders
For me, some films get by almost exclusively on their early 70's era vibes. The Young Graduates is such a movie. It has to be said, though, that this isn't a particularly good example of a counter-culture film - it's definitely overlong and its lack of focus doesn't always do it favours. But it remains passably entertaining on account of its sub-genre and era. It's not particularly strong in the story department but for what it's worth it revolves around a teenage girl who starts an affair with one of her teachers; later on, her and her friend set off on a road trip where they encounter various stock and trade characters of the day.
Made by Crown International Pictures at a time when they were producing their most consistently enjoyable output, this is in essence a teen melodrama that turns into a counter-cultural road movie in its second half. As such, amongst other things, it features evil bikers, hippies and a girl-fronted rock band. These are all good ingredients, even if the overall whole is slightly lacking. Events are complimented by a soundtrack of breezy early 70's tunes which certainly added a bit of additional period value to proceedings. I think this one can best be recommended to anyone fascinated by counter-cultural themed movies from the era in which hippies seemed to be around every corner. It is definitely a very minor and uneven example of this kind of thing though to be fair.