Movie Review: Gas Pump Girls (1979)
Synopsis: On the night of her high school graduation, June's beloved Uncle Joe has a mild heart attack. With him laid up, she convinces her girlfriends to help her run his struggling gas station. With their scantily clad bodies bringing in enough business to higher more of their classmates and even members of a local gang to open a service station and operate a tow truck, they become an overnight success. However, Mr. Friendly, the owner of the much-larger gas station across the street, is determined to see them fail.
Who's in it? The movie stars Kirsten Baker, Linda Lawrence, Sandy Johnson, Rikki Marin, Leslie King and Huntz Hall.
Review: I came across Gas Pump Girls a few days ago and while it wasn't a movie I would normally put on my list, I saw my favorite Bowery Boy, Huntz Hall, had a role in it and that alone made me curious enough to give it a try. I watched it this morning and it exceeded my expectations.
The movie had pretty much what I thought I'd see in a 1970s comedy. There was plenty of gratuitous nudity, sexual innuendo and (implied) oral sex. Despite that, there were quite a few things about this film I ended up liking.
The thing that impressed me most about this film was how it didn't fall into the whole "dumb blonde" trap you see a lot of other movies from this time period and genre enter. June (Baker) is deceptively smart, with quite a bit of business sense and even showed a willingness to cross some lines to keep her Uncle Joe's (Hall) gas station in business. Her friends showed an equal amount of savvy, though admittedly to a lesser degree.
Mr. Friendly (Dave Shelley) probably could have used a bit more to do as the main antagonist. In fact, his screen time was surprisingly limited for that kind of role. However, despite that, he did just enough to keep June's business endeavor from being an easy success, whether it was hiring local criminals (Mike Mazurki and Joe E. Ross) to harass and threaten June or use his connections to cut off their gas supply. At minimum, their ability to keep the gas station up and running was put in jeopardy.
I also liked how the movie stayed true to its comedy form without becoming too silly. Even the most ridiculous moments in the film, like when they stole gas from Mr. Friendly, are grounded enough to make them reasonably realistic. There also aren't any characters that I would consider over the top to the point they didn't seem real.
In fact, even the gratuitous nudity, at least most of the time, had a purpose (other than maybe early in the film). I don't know if it was something I would consider necessary to the plot but at least they weren't walking around naked for the sake of walking around naked.
My only real complaint about the movie is the ending because it seemed a bit too easy for the good guys to win. This type of film could have gone a number of different directions, including a few whacky ones. Instead, all they had to do was talk to the president of the gas company (Jack Jozefson) and that was it. It was honestly a bit of a letdown considering the movie was so much better than I thought it would be.
Final Opinion: The film might have gone out of its way to show the women topless, and the ending left a bit to be desired. However, I still thought this was a fun an entertaining movie.
My Grade: B
___________________________________________________________________
Here are some reviews of other movies from the 1970s:
Comments
Post a Comment