The Pom Pom Girls
Joseph Ruben's THE POM POM GIRLS(1976) may not be the cheerleader movie you think it is. While marketed as a cheerleader exploitation drive-in flick, it is actually more of a slice of life story about teens in 1976.It clearly was the inspiration for Richard Linklater's DAZED AND CONFUSED and has the same plot for the most part. Robert Carradine plays Jessie who drives a 55 chevy and hangs out with his van driving quarterback buddy Johnny. They mostly drive around, play football and try to pick up chicks. Jessie likes another guy's girl while Johnny is going back and forth between two cheerleaders. The football coach is an asshole and rides Johnny while Jessie's nemesis is Duane, a kinda sad loner with the hot girl Jessie wants. There's not a whole hell of a lot more plot. We get the big game, school rivalry, some groping in a van, classroom schenadigans-the typical teen stuff. It's not the other kind of cheerleader movie, the "tits ahoy" type that metamorphosed and eventually capped with DEBBIE DOES DALLAS. So there's really not enough for you guys, you know who you are.
Carradine is pretty good as Jessie, a fun loving guy but one probably marked for tragedy after graduation. You know the class clown guy who died a few years after high school while drunk driving as opposed to the class clown guy who graduated and became Jim Carrey or maybe Ron Palillo. The nudity is pretty much all during a locker room scene and is brief. And there is no silicone to be seen. The male nudity seemed very gratuitous however. There is a bit of nostalgic sadness that creeps in as you get a subtle feeling that high school is almost over. A couple of the scenes, such as the stolen fire truck prank are a bit false but for the most part it seems like a real portrayal. I felt sorry for the Duane character and never really understood why he was so disliked but that's high school I suppose. Duane even gets a great line at the end, right before the goofy suicide hill REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE climax. The final showdown between Duane and Jessie was silly but pretty painless. Robert Carradine displays no real beer drinking skill as most of it dribbles down his shirt . And for you fans of the late Rainbeaux Smith, she pops up in some scenes but she's not pregnant like she was in THE REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS, so settle down. Not the cheerleader fetishist extravaganza you may have been hoping for but enjoyable enough especially if you were a teen in the 70's.