Weekend with The Babysitter

With the Holiday season in full effect, I received a dvd recorder as a gift. As part of the process of learning to use the machine and the related technology, I am digging into the cratedigger movie vaults (boxes and crates) to find movies that are trapped in the vhs domain. Many of these gems are way out of print, (if they were ever in print) on vhs, and certainly do not have a proper dvd release. I am wrong-- look here.

So that said, the first film that I pulled out of the basement video vault was Weekend with The Babysitter from 1970.

This Crown International picture opens with a cool scene at the CA / Mexico border that shows the border security in place in 69/70. Great mid 60s cars are all over the place. A hippie-aged young person gets taken down after he tries to run after being selected for a search. As I watch the film, I wonder what this has to do with the plot. I guess it is an attempt to have a teaching concept to this mild explotative time killer. "Sex and Betrayal," I guess...

George E. Carey seems to have done just about everything in this film (write, direct, produce) and Susan Romen stars as the teenaged, Honda Dream riding, gogo boot wearing babysitter named appropriately enough- Candy Wilson.

The babysitter randomly shows up one evening, apparently univited, The dad, Jim, is surprised to see her. The doped out wife, Mona, is "going to see her parents" with Mike, the wee laddie son. That leaves dad and the babysitter alone for youthful shenanigans.

The question remains, did Mona really invite Candy over to husband sit as a distraction?

Candy is soon making Tanqueray martinis ("on the rocks") and taking Jim to Sunset Strip, for some beer drinking/acid rock/lightshow/dancing mayhem.

Really, Mona is going to hang out with Rich, to get some drugs while her mom takes care of Mike. After a bit, Rich entices Mona to use Jim's cabin cruiser to sail to Mexico on a drug run.

Meanwhile, Jim takes Candy to the mountain house in his airplane.

This movie has it all, drugs, sex, some violence, motorcycles, motocross, youth rebellion, "rock" music, and hip lingo. The plot is pretty snore inducing. But the exploitative nature of this film tries to cover all bases. Some of the coolest footage is of the early motocross action.