Superchick [DVD] [1973] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Very funny and unique approach to sexual attitudes in the early-1970s, this script presents a free-thinking female lead character not afraid to live an open life with as many men as she feels it takes to round out her existence. Possessing a varied cast of actors from John Carradine to Joyce Jillson, and filmed on location in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, the many plots Jillson as Tara B. True, an airline stewardess, participates in are nicely intermixed and play out all resolved at the end with total clarity. Lots of nudity with sexual situations done in totally good taste put forth to entertain, not offend. Looking at this film is like stepping back in time and participating in the wild, long gone free-spirited times of the early-1970s. It's impossible to not find this film endearing and a movie one will want to see again and again.

I had a dilly of a time trying to figure out if this movie was some kind of feminist statement on the empowerment of women or a soft-core porn movie with very little porn. I soon realized my point was moot as cheese is cheese, no matter what hat it wears.
Superchick stars Joyce Jillson as Tara B. True (Yeah, I know, I thought the same thing). Anyway, Tara is a flight attendant with Crown International Airlines (Hey, Crown International is the company behind this movie...what a coincidence!) and we find that in each of the cities that she makes frequent stops in, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, she has a boyfriend. In New York, there's Earnest, the witty, mature, sophisticated, wealthy brain surgeon. In Miami there's Johnny, the young, athletic type, and in Los Angeles there's Davey, the young rock superstar. He's supposed to be the creative type. They all share one thing in common besides Tara in that they all want to marry her. Also, none of them knows about the others. Being the free spirit she is, she declines all their offers, preferring to keep things they way they are. A really big deal was made how all three of these men fell so hard for Tara, even Johnny, the playboy. And a playboy he is, as we see him getting it on with a rather large busted woman about five minutes before he's supposed to pick up Tara at the airport. Seems sleazy, but we do find out that part of how he makes a living is as a tennis instructor, with a fringe benefit of private lessons with some of his older, rich, female students at his houseboat. Yowsa!
Anyway, the movie sloshes along, providing not so much a story but a string of rather lame vignettes. We get to see Tara at karate school, along with some really horrific fighting choreography. Seems the school has a prestigious visitor from the Far East, a supposedly accomplished martial artist. After some misogynist comments by her instructor and the guest, Tara spars with the martial arts champion, defeating him soundly, and living up the name of the movie. You see, it's funny because she's a girl, and yet she beat them up. Get it?
In another scene we see Tara at a party. Being the 70's, you better believe there was groovy music, free love, and plenty of wacky tobaccy. In a fairly funny bit, the cops are called to investigate noise complaints and arrive at the door of the apartment where the party is taking place. After knocking on the door and identifying themselves, a hipster answers with a doobie in his mouth! Needless to say, The Man proceeds to bust the partygoers. Tara manages to escape. As she's walking through the park, a motorcycle gang tries to accost her...well, there were only three chopper thugs, so I am unsure if that constitutes a gang per say...as Wheelie and the Chopper gang discuss what they're going to do with her, watch for pre-Grizzly Adams Dan Haggerty as a gang member utter a charming line about skipping all the 'motorcycle movie talk' (one of the few subtle jokes in the movie) and just having gang sex with her. They get off their motorcycles, chase her into some bushes, where we are treated to a few minutes of dubbed crashing, bushes shaking, and various other sounds of people getting beat up. We never actual see any of this, and based of the scenes in the karate school I can understand why. No sense in continually pointing out the fact that the actress is incapable of performing in a fight scene, even though her character is supposedly such an accomplished fighter she can beat karate masters and gangs of thugs. The whole fight off screen in the bushes scene is played for comedy, but the routine is as tired now as it was back then. Tara emerges from the bushes, wearing a leather motorcycle jacket and one of the guys' hats, and takes one of their motorcycles.
Eventually we do learn that there is a plot, and it is one involving Johnny, Tara's Miami boyfriend. Johnny owes money for some bad bets made at the dog track, but the gangsters will forgo the money if Johnny gets Tara to carry a package on the plane. The package contains guns, but since she's part of the crew, she wouldn't get stopped. Their plan revolves around a mob courier carrying a large sum of cash from a casino in the Bahamas to Las Vegas. They plan to hijack the plane, steal the cash, and retire to Mexico. The plan seems a little flawed to me, as I think the Mob would have very little difficulty in finding someone who stole a lot of their money in Mexico...whatever. Now these guys are played like bad guys out of a Disney movie, all stupid and bungling like. I especially liked how the head thug in this little group of gangsters talked. At one point, he referred to a gun as a 'heater'. Geez, I thought that term went out bootleg whisky and calling cops 'bulls'. I always enjoy when a lame writer tries to add street cred to his work by using lingo that was popular about 40 years ago. There was some fight scene where Tara was lamely kicking and hitting these guys, but again, probably best not to focus on such scenes when the actress can't perform the stunts and you can't afford a stunt performer to fill in for her.
Oh man, I almost forgot, John Caradine was in this movie...for like five minutes, in a scene was embarrassing for me to watch. I know he had a number of lousy roles, especially at the end of his career, but this one, where he's playing a creepy old S&M freak, has to be the bottom of the barrel.

I really enjoyed this film. Full of great sets and oddball characters with splashes of nudity throughout. The print is exceptional and the music and photography first rate.

Joyce Jillson, the titular "Superchick", has perfect diction and reacts to all of her predicaments with wide-eyed wonder, as if she were a cast member of "Sesame Street" or "The Electric Company". With her precise enunciation, cadaver-pale skin and rather mousy look, she seems more a choice for the "naughty librarian" role (I'm sure this was explored in all its possibilities in Seventies sexploitation...) than a swinging stewardess with a gaggle of man-toys. Nevertheless, "Tara B. True" (that's her name) maintains a bunch of male sex partners on each coast who all want to marry her ("You do indeed fulfill a need in my life", she chirps to one of them, in that weird "After School Special" voice of hers), along with the odd man on the side, including a Marine and ol' John Carradine (in one of his most embarrassing roles), gets high with a groovy black man at a swinging seventies "pot party", and beats up some bikers. Maybe Candice Rialson could've pulled this role off better. Anyhow, the film was competently put together, even if the dialogue was predictable and the jokes not so funny, and there's lots of cool old airline footage and neat seventies cars (a Javelin, no less).

For the Seventies completist, or fans of Joyce Jillson, I would say.

Joyce Jillson plays Tara B. True, a free spirited stewardess with a lover in every "port". This is a reverse "R" rated 70's version of "Boeing Boeing." John Carradine plays a bit role as a retired "B" grade horror actor. That was a tough one for him. The puns and jokes are campy and stale by modern standards. While it was designed to be a comedy, don't be surprised if you groan more than laugh... "even the autopilot made a pass at me." The movie claims Jillson is a karate expect, but it actually looks more like judo. If you expect to see Jillson do a lot of fighting with Uma Thurman karate moves, don't blink.

There is abundant nudity including Candy Samples. The only reason why anyone would watch this film is because Joyce Jillson (1945-2004) of TV's "Peyton Place" and Broadway gets naked.