CLASS OF '74 (1972)
Label: Film Masters
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 80 Minutes 53 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Mack Bing, Arthur Marks
Cast: Pat Woodell, Marki Bey, Sandra Currie, Barbara Mills
Drama, Romance
The Class of '74 (1972) is a light-hearted softcore sex-romp wrapped in hippy idealism and second wave feminism , a kinky pastiche flick that combined footage from the counterculture sexploitation film Gabriella, Gabriella (1970), directed by TV director Mack Bling, starring Barbara Mills as the titular Gabriella, a young woman who experiences a sexual odyssey. That film was purchased by director Arthur Marks (JD's Revenge, Friday Foster, Detroit 9000, Bucktown) and re-shaped into the drive-in flick we get here, re-shaping it into a mildly wild and sexy patchwork of somewhat dubious progressive sexual politics and entertaining sexploitation with some occasionally fun surreal and psychedelic touches that give it a smutty arthouse feel. In its Class of '74 form we have Gabriella (Barbara Mills, The Suckers), a somewhat inexperienced college co-ed who is taken in under the wings of three older students; Heather (Pat Woodell, The Big Dollhouse), Carla (Marki Bey, Sugar Hill), and Maggie (Sandra Currie, The Hangover Trilogy, and the sister of The Runaways vocalist Cherie Currie) who teach her how a woman can use her sexuality to empower herself. The film utilizes rampant flashbacks, even flashbacks within flashback during once scene with a scene where a gay character recalls how he was molested by his highschool gym teacher!
It's a wildly uneven and near plotless endeavor, mostly told in small vignettes as each of the young women recall their past sexual exploits which have lead them to their current views on sexual politics and feminism. it's a fun enough watch, not a great flick, but entertaining for the controversial-for-its-era monologues about sexuality, female empowerment and feminism, and for the early '70s time capsule it is, with images of freeways full on now vintage cars, hippie-ish and loud 70s fashions, and the seedy nighttime scenes of the neon-lot Sunset Strip and the USC campus. We also get a trip to an "EROS: Eternal Rights of Sexuality" seminar, and various sexual encounters including with a photographer, and a ménage trois, and a finale with Gabriella's encountering a swinging couple (Phillip Terry, The Leech Woman, Lynn Cartwright, Queen of Outer Space) on a yacht, with the wife propositions Gabriella into becoming a kept woman for her husband's pleasure. My favorite segment is the story of one of the girl's lecherous father's cruising the Sunset Strip looking for young girls before ending up at a titty bar, along the way passing Tower Records, and a movie marquee advertising Fellini's Satyricon!
The mix of forward thinking but pretty dubious sexual empowerment and sexploitation is fun stuff, a bit head-scratching at times, but totally entertaining and quite charming to be honest, very light and breezy witht he exception of the very odd insertion of the gay character who was molested. It is not a great film, but it's certainly a fun travelogue of sunny California peppered with free-loving sexual exploits, it's choppy for sure and feels every inch like the cut-up of two films that it is, but if you;re a fan of kinky drive-in fare from the early '70s there's a lot to enjoy about it.
Audio/Video: The Class of '74 (1971) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Film Masters as pat of their Limited Edition Archive Collection, advertised as being "Newly Restored from Archival Film Elements". The Arthur Marks footage looks solid with nice texture and colors throughout, bit the omage looks DNR'd and very digital looking with blocky grain structures, the incorporated Gabriella, Gabriella footage tends to look even less stellar, more contrasty and thick looking, skin tones have a much more unnatural copper patina to them, and occasionally it dips into murky standard definition territory. That said, I found it very watchable. Audio comes by way of English DT-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. Dialogue sounds fine and the groovy score sound solid as well, there's some light noise in spots, but nothing that put me off my viewing.
Extras include a new Audio Commentary with Heath Holland from the Cereal At Midnight YouTube channel that was a solid listen, flowed real nice, ge gets into the second wave of feminism as portrayed in the film, and how this is sort of after the hippy movement, the score, how it's quite arty and psychedelic in spots, the marriage of sexploitation and more mainstream drive-in aesthetics, highlighting the careers of the actors, directors and producers, and pointing out footage that was originally shot for Gabriela, Gabriela and the new footage. We also get a 12-Page Illustrated Booklet with writing by Amanda Reyes that gets into how the film explores both the sexual revolution, demism and is still a slice of exploitation. This release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, plus a Limited Edition (First Pressing Only) Slipcover featuring the same artwork as the wrap with a cool Yellow/Purple motif.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Heath Holland from Cereal At Midnight
- 12-Page Illustrated Booklet with writing by Amanda Reyes
- Limited Edition Slipcover (First Pressing Only)
Screenshots from the Film Masters Blu-ray:
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