The Pom Pom Girls (1976)

A group of carefree high school seniors are having the time of their lives, filled with sex, romance, and teen high jinks.

Director:

Joseph Ruben

Writers:

Joseph Ruben, Joseph Ruben (story)

Stars:

Robert Carradine, Jennifer Ashley, Michael Mullins

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Carradine	...	Johnnie
Jennifer Ashley	...	Laurie
Michael Mullins	...	Jesse
Lisa Reeves	...	Sally
Bill Adler	...	Duane
James Gammon	...	Coach
Susan Player	...	Sue Ann
Cheryl Smith	...	Roxanne (as Rainbeaux Smith)
Diane Lee Hart	...	Judy
Lou Fant	...	Principal
John Lawrence	...	Sheriff
Sondra Lowell	...	Miss Pritchitt (as Sandra Lowell)
Faith Christopher	...	Mother
John Sebastian	...	Father
Jim Kester	...	Hardin Tough

Storyline

A football player at Rosedale High School is amorous of one of the cheerleaders, who is going with another guy. Another player can't decide which of two cheerleaders he wants to be with. Meanwhile, the Big Game with Hardin High School is approaching, and a prank war is in full swing.

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Plot Keywords:

mini skirt | sex scene | female rear nudity | bare breasts | bare butt | 

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Taglines:

How can anyone forget the girls who really turned us on?

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Crown International Pictures

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Palisides High

Filming Locations:

Albright St & Charm Acres Pl, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$17,883,410

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$26,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Marimark Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A student trying out for the cheerleaders wears an "Archie Bunker for President" T-shirt.

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Goofs

Jesse holds up a book and asks Laurie if they were asked to read it for tomorrow. The book is "Workbook for Gregg Shorthand for Colleges" (1973 edition) which seems an unlikely assignment for a high school male in the mid 1970s.

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Quotes

Johnnie Chrystal: Ah, Duane, tell me, is that crease down the middle of your face, ah, is that your asshole?

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Alternate Versions

There are two versions of "The Pom-Pom Girls" depending on where you buy it. One is a full-screen R-rated version, and the other is a letter boxed PG-rated version. In the PG-version, all female nudity has been removed (mainly in a scene with Jesse and a waitress in his van, and in the cheerleader's locker room).

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Connections

Featured in The Cinema Snob: 42nd Street Forever, Volume 2: The Deuce (2013)

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Soundtracks

I Go To Pieces
(uncredited)
Written by Del Shannon
Performed by Darryl Cotton, Michael Lloyd & Chris Christian

User Reviews

Worth seeing

This is a rare film in that it is a 1970's teen movie that seems to have been genuinely aimed at 1970's teens (rather than drooling adult perverts). The so-called "teen sexploitation" genre would become really big in the early 1980's era of "Porky's" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont", and is still going strong today even in these censorial times. Personally though, the 80's films remind me too much of my own adolescence, and I prefer to leave the modern-day teen films to modern-day teens, but I just can't get enough of the 70's teen films though. Unfortunately, while many of these films are nominally ABOUT 70's teens, very few seem to actually be made FOR 70's teens. Take, for instance, "The Cheerleaders", the movie that started off the craze for sexy and sex-crazed high school and collegiate cheerleaders, which may be considered a classic by some, but can hardly be considered even a remotely realistic portrayal of teenage life in 70's America. The same can be said with the rest of the cheerleader films (which eventually reached their logical culmination in the hardcore classic "Debbie Does Dallas").

This film is different, however, in that it seems to be trying to capture the anarchic free spirit of the era more than just being an excuse to salivate over naked nubile bodies. It actually resembles "Dazed and Confused" (minus, of course, the self-conscious nostalgia) more than "The Cheerleaders". Of course, it's not all that realistic (the kids at one point steal a fire truck, which I think even in the 70's would have more likely been considered a serious felony than hilarious teen hijinks), and there IS some sex and nudity (naturally, with the ever-exploitable Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith in the cast).

There's no point in relating the plot because there really isn't one in these kind of movies--just a lot of random partying, sex, and wacky teen hijinks). The cast is pretty interesting. Besides Smith, there's Robert Carradine, the youngest Carradine brother, who was also in the minor cult film "Massacre at Central High" with Smith and the underrated "TAG:The Assassination Game", but is, of course, most famous for "Revenge of the Nerds". There's also Jennifer Ashley, a minor but ubiquitous drive-in queen, who even showed up in Mexican exploitation films like Rene Cardona Jr.'s sex and shark epic "Tintorera", and the luscious Susan Player who appeared in both American ("Malibu Beach") and European ("Las Adolescentes") exploitation fare. The director, Joseph Ruben, meanwhile would go on to direct "The Stepfather", one of the most cleverly subversive horror films of the Reagan era. This isn't quite as good as any of these aforementioned films (well, I guess it's better that "Tintotera"), but it's certainly worth seeing.