In order to write an expose on how cheerleading demeans women, a reporter for a college newspaper infiltrates the cheerleading squad.

Plot Synopsis:
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movieman_kev from United States
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In order to get an expose, an aspiring reporter (Jo Johnston), joins the cheerleading squad only to learn not to pre-judge people. Of the 3 movies in Anchor Bay's Cheerleader set (the Cheerleaders, Revenge of the Cheerleaders, & the swinging Cheerleaders), this one feels most like a movie. Yea, nearly all the cheerleaders shed their clothes at one point or another, but there's a little helping of social commentary to go with the exploitation. It's a bit easy to see that this is a Jack Hill directed picture and it's better because of it.

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Commentary; 2 TV spots, Jack Hill Bio

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silentgmusic
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Perhaps Tarantino has started the trend of justifying the legitimate place for trash-films in serious movie history. Jack Hill is definitely a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, an obvious maverick who managed to squeeze as many entertaining moments as he could out of his tight budgets (the fact that Roger Corman fired him more than once shows that Hill was a handful, but never seemed to let up). SWITCHBLADE SISTERS is a hoot, as is FOXY BROWN and THE BIG BIRD CAGE. This film, THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS, while not as good as other Hill films, has some of the touches that made his previous films successful.

The cast is great. Hill was good at finding attractive women to embody his screen characters, and the knockouts here include Colleen Camp and Cheryl (Rainbeaux) Smith. The plot is some silliness about a female reporter infiltrating the cheerleadering squad at Mesa University to get the scoop. Her boyfriend turns out to be a real jerk, and the eventual outcome is a confrontation with the snooty Camp and some pretty ridiculous bad guys.

The film copies some of Corman's nurses movies (political conscious, making sure the token African-American character is there.)Yet, the film also seems to be parodying these more serious-minded New World pictures. SWINGING CHEERLEADERS is fun, and a reminder of what drive-in films were like (most exploitation films nowadays are not this fun).

Jack Hill---the man, the movies...

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jeff-150 from Reno, NV
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Remember when they used to show films like these late at night on cable in the eighties and it seemed so daring. High camp film that has now been put on the Tarentino pedestal of high art and I'm not arguing. Lots of sex, polyester, and actors you know are matrons who cringe when they look back at their youth.

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gavin6942 from United States
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In order to write an expose on how cheer-leading demeans women, a reporter for a college newspaper (Jo Johnston in her only role) infiltrates the cheer-leading squad.

By 1974, Jack Hill was looking to escape being typecast as a "blaxploitation director" after making "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" for AIP. They were pleased by the success and gave him a script called "Rape Squad", which he turned down. This film was given to him with financing attached, although he was only given a title and had to develop the script from scratch (with help from David Kidd, who ironically also re-wrote "Rape Squad").

According to co-writer / director Hill, the film had a 12-day shoot, which meant every inch of film shot ended up in the final product. They started work on the script at the end of January 1974 and the movie was in theaters by May (at other times he says February and June, but the idea remains the same). The original title of the script was "Stand Up and Holler" so actresses would not think the film was about cheerleaders.

I do love Jack Hill, and the fact he is called an "exploitation auteur" really sums him up. But this has to be one of his few misfires. The primary plot of the undercover cheerleader is not very interesting, though the booking subplot makes up for it to a point. You might expect this to be nothing more than an excuse for cheerleaders to get naked, but even in that department it is arguably tame compared to many 80s comedies. This more or less amounts to a cheesy made-for-TV movie that probably was never shown on TV.

Arrow Video offers up a deluxe 2k restored blu-ray of the film. While the movie itself is not great (sorry), the Arrow Video version is worth picking up simply for all the extras, because it's always good when we have Jack Hill doing new interviews and providing new commentary. If he hasn't already, he really ought to write a memoir, because he is full of stories about Roger Corman, Francis Ford Coppola and many others. (The disc also has a 2006 archive interview with DP Alfred Taylor, archive interview with Johnny Legend, and a Q&A with Hill, Colleen Camp and Rosanne Katon recorded at the New Beverly Cinema in 2012.)

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jfgibson73 from United States
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A feminist type writer goes undercover to expose what goes on in the cheerleading squad, but ends up siding with the group.

I didn't really like this movie. I didn't like the characters or the story. I think the one subplot that interested me was the student having an affair with a professor, but it got the least time.

I did like the fact that the newspaper editor who was supposed to be progressive was actually slimy, while the football player who was supposed to be dumb was actually a nice guy. I don't really remember how it ended, but it probably had to do with the administrator and coach getting busted for trying to rig the big game for their own benefit.

Uninteresting and forgettable. And the people in the movie were really ugly, too.

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jfm3 from United States
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The last time I saw this movie was in 1991 on USA "Up All Night" and I haven't seen it since. I first saw it in 1983 on cable when I was 12 years old,I had to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to watch it,because it was a "dirty movie". Those were the days. It may be cheesy as hell,but I like it. I noticed that Colleen Camp is in this,and no, there are no nude shots of her. One thing I've wondered about this is what type of movie this is: Comedy? Drama? Action? I think it's all three. I miss this movie and I wish it was available on VHS. I see SWITCHBLADE SISTERS is! Why isn't this one?! SWINGING CHEERLEADERS is way better than SWITCHBLADE SISTERS!

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Scarecrow-88 from United States
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The prolific Jack Hill directs an exploitation feature this time focusing on cheerleaders and a football scandal..now this is what I seek out for my entertainment. The story-lines(..there are a series of plots focusing on certain cheerleaders and their love lives)aren't that challenging, just simple basic scenarios wrapped up in a tiny bow at the conclusion.

Mesa College Dean, Head Football Coach, and a Math Professor all take part in a betting scheme, fixing numbers in regards to scoring during football games since the team is so talented. An underground college reporter, working on a major assignment for her term paper, decides to join the cheerleader squad to find dirt for it. Joe Johnston is Kate, the sexually liberated reporter who finds herself befriending her fellow cheerleaders, falling in love with the All American quarterback stud, Buck Larson(Ron Hajek) in the process. Buck is the boyfriend of head cheerleader Mary Ann(Colleen Camp), the prim, proper(..and quite naive)daughter of Mesa's Dean. Mary Ann doesn't have a clue that her man is banging all kinds of chicks on campus. Other sub-plots include virginal Andrea(Cheryl Smith)giving her football wide receiver boyfriend a hard time with her sexual hang-ups and cheerleader Lisa(Rosanne Katon)conflicted due to her affair with her married Professor Thorpe(Jason Sommers). Kate must contend with her deteriorating relationship with a campus radical who gets revenge on her, exposing the ditched article on cheerleader exploitation, raising the ire of her colleagues.

I admittedly enjoy this kind of 70's drive-in fare, and as expected Hill understands how to deliver for this market. While the stories are soap opera in college kind of material, at least there was an effort to incorporate social themes reflecting that period of time. There's plenty of crude sex comedy humor throughout which means Hill done his homework. Hill mentions on the audio commentary that he hated football and didn't know that much about it, but I commend his ability to evoke the atmosphere of this particular setting, establishing how the sport could be used for behind-the-scenes crooked activities. Johnston(..I'm quite shocked this was her only performance)is quite appealing as the central character who stirs the pot and Cheryl Smith is beautiful / vulnerable as the dim bulb Andrea without a clue regarding the methods of passionate love-making. I love me some Colleen Camp and she's a fox, looking mighty fetching in her cheerleader uniform. There's some nudity sprinkled throughout, but Hill cuts away before sex commences.

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Michael Pilkington (mjpilkington@yahoo.com) from Richmond, CA
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A feminist reporter (Jo Johnston) who wants to write an expose on how cheerleading degrades women decides to infiltrate the cheerleading squad. Once accepted, she realizes that the cheerleaders aren't bad and finds out that the football games are rigged. She also falls for the team's quarterback (Ron Hajek), and this does not sit well with his girlfriend - the head cheerleader (Colleen Camp).

Semi follow-up to 1973's "The Cheerleaders" is a disappointment. Too many subplots, amateurish performances and writing ruin this loser. Directed by Jack Hill ("Coffy," "Foxy Brown"). My evaluation: * out of ****.

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tavm from Baton Rouge, La.
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Okay, this is my second cheerleader movie in a row I'm reviewing having previously commented on The Cheerleaders. In this one, Jo Johnson is Kate, an aspiring reporter who joins the college cheer team to expose them for their sexual hijinks but ends up finding out about a corrupt fix involving the football games. Ms. Johnson is quite a sexy brunette here surrounded by a blonde Colleen Camp as Mary Ann, another blonde Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith as Andrea, and a female of color Rosanne Katon as Lisa. Yes, there's some sex scenes with the requisite nudity and some funny lines and sequences but there's also some nice dramatic ones concerning much of the plot I mentioned. If I hadn't read the credits on Wikipedia and this site, I would have been fooled this was actually written by two women but it's actually two men as one of them is really director Jack Hill (as "Jane Witherspoon"!). Still, it sometimes felt like there was a feminist spin in some of the scenes and I liked the way the tone changed partly on a dime. So on that note, I recommend The Swinging Cheerleaders.

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Uriah43 from Amarillo, Texas
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Needing another member for the cheerleading squad at Mesa State College the cheerleaders open tryouts for anyone who might be interested. As it so happens a student by the name of "Kate Corie" (Jo Johnston) auditions and is accepted even though the head cheerleader "Mary Ann Putnam" (Colleen Camp) is jealous of her for flirting with her boyfriend "Buck Larsen" (Ron Hajak) who happens to be the star quarterback. What nobody knows however is that Kate only wants to join the squad to dig up some dirt for her journalism term paper. And in the course of her work she discovers a lot more than people fully realize. Anyway, rather than divulge anymore of the plot and risk spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this particular film had a reputation for being somewhat sleazy when it first came out. However, while it certainly had some nudity and scenes of a sexual nature, it wasn't nearly as graphic as I had initially thought back then. Likewise, although it was definitely a low-budget drive-in type of movie that one would find back in the mid-70's, it had a fairly interesting plot which managed to keep my attention for the most part. At any rate, while it certainly wasn't a blockbuster film by any means it wasn't that terribly bad either. Accordingly, I give it an average rating.

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AKAs Titles:


Certifications:
Australia:MA15+ (2007) / Iceland:16 / UK:18 / USA:R